Superman review: An entertaining relaunch for the last son of Krypton ...Middle East

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It may seem like only yesterday that Henry Cavill was dispensing truth, justice and the American way as DC’s big-screen Man of Steel — actually, it was a cameo in 2022’s Black Adam.

However, with writer/director James Gunn (Guardians of the Galaxy trilogy, The Suicide Squad) and producer Peter Safran now the head honchos of a revamped DC Cinematic Universe, a new Superman takes his bow in the relatable shape of David Corenswet, who is more genial Boy Scout than Cavill’s brooding take on the last son of Krypton.

Gunn cuts to the chase immediately – no origin story here – as we encounter our hero three years into his role as Earth’s protector, but only after crash-landing bloodied, battered and bruised in the Antarctic.

Luckily for him, he’s able to get a solar top-up at his nearby Fortress of Solitude, thanks to whistling up assistance from playful, caped super-mutt Krypto (in a scene-stealing live-action debut).

Soon back into the fray against the super-powerful Hammer of Boravia, who handed him his cape earlier, little does Supes know that it is billionaire Lex Luthor (a menacing Nicholas Hoult) who is pulling strings behind the scenes, so consumed is he by his seething hatred of the alien so beloved by the people of Metropolis.

Along with the nanite-powered Engineer (Maria Gabriela de Faria), the masked Ultraman and a gigantic fire-breathing monster, Luthor makes Superman’s life a misery, reducing him from trusted guardian to a pariah with an identity crisis and incarceration in a seemingly inescapable secret jail.

But what of the Daily Planet’s ace reporter Lois Lane (Rachel Brosnahan)? Her relationship with Clark Kent/Superman is close, of course, despite bringing him to book for interfering in a foreign conflict (a Russia/Ukraine allusion, perchance?) and for his poor social media presence ("Superman doesn’t have time for selfies").

However, she’s also instrumental in persuading members of super-team the Justice Gang to come to his rescue as the world teeters on the edge of destruction and skyscrapers begin to collapse (again).

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Gunn knows his DC Comics lore and introduces a colourful bunch of metahumans not seen in earlier DC blockbusters, with the likes of tech genius Mr Terrific (a cool Edi Gathegi), egotistical Green Lantern Guy Gardner (Nathan Fillion, complete with the character’s trademark pudding-bowl hairdo) and Metamorpho the Element Man (Anthony Carrigan) all getting time to show off their powers and sling some pithy quips.

You can also look out for a slew of cameos from the cast of Gunn’s Guardians of the Galaxy films.

But with so many characters to introduce, so much action and drama to deliver and a future franchise to establish, the likes of Daily Planet editor Perry White (Wendell Pierce), reporter Jimmy Olsen (Skyler Gisondo), Frank Grillo’s Rick Flag Sr (father of the deceased leader of the Suicide Squad) and Isabela Merced’s Hawkgirl are left underused and underwritten.

Nevertheless, subtle nods to the original Superman epic from 1978, not least the regular refrains from John Williams’s iconic and still rousing score, certainly swell the CGI-heavy fantasy action, while Corenswet is refreshingly convincing in and out of costume and the chemistry between himself and Brosnahan’s Lois bodes well going forward.

Gunn has certainly delivered an entertaining relaunch. Only time and healthy box-office returns will tell if his rebooted DC Universe has the legs for a prolific franchise.

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