It's been a while.
Recently I decided to watch two superhero movies on the same day; the most recent adaptations of among the oldest running American comic book superhero IPs.
By this point these characters have been interpreted on the big screen numerous times already to varying degrees of success, so I didn't expect the world. I just wanted a fun outing at the movies.
I started the day with James Gunn's Superman, followed by lunch and then the Fantastic Four. I was a little surprised with how both movies decided to eschew the titular characters' origin stories, correctly assuming that following multiple prior adaptations, a majority of the audience are not so keen on sitting through another hour of parents or uncles getting gunned down. These Superman and Fantastic Four, while still green, are already established protectors of their home cities and have endeared themselves to the citizens with their heroics.
On top of this, the heroes are also immediately shown to have had contact with some of the other characters from their comic book history, if not their most famous arch nemeses. Superman for example receive the assistance of Green Lantern, Hawkgirl, and Mr. Terrific when contending with a particularly troublesome enemy, while Marvel's First Family, having been around as a unit for one year already at the start of the movie, is revealed to have successfully pacified the threat of the Moloids.
The two movies also embrace the silliness of the medium of their origin, never ultimately taking themselves too seriously. Eager to shed the sombre reputation cultivated by the previous adaptation by Zack Synder, Gunn's Metropolis is colourful, wacky, irreverent even. Robot assistants in the Fortress of Solitude, fringe characters you've probably never heard of before, and pocket universes are just a tenth of Gun's madcap DCEU. Fun fact: both movies feature a black hole.
But ultimately, only one movie did a good job of entertaining me, and that is the Fantastic Four.
Superman is such an unfocused mess to me, with its 387 characters showing up rather needlessly, as well as its scattered plot. One minute they're on the invasion of one made-up nation by another fake country, the next they're whisked away to a pocket universe opened by Lex Luthor, and in between they're breaking into the Fortress.
Gunn was immensely successful when utilising fringe characters in his Guardians of the Galaxy trilogy for the MCU and then in his Suicide Squad soft reboot, but this decision has worked against him when adapting the most famous comic book character of all time, distracting the audience from the major plot of the movie. There's just too much going on.
And this is perhaps a matter of personal opinion; to me DC and Marvel characters are beloved for different reasons. DC heroes (especially the core ones) remind me of Greek gods, larger than life, more stoic, and mostly unburdened by daily nuisances that are faced by mere mortals. There is much to criticise about Snyder's take, but his characters seemed epic and the tone was intense. But the latest Superman adaptation seems to portray him as more grounded, and the tone unserious. It is understandable that he was hired due to his success of making his previous MCU work enjoyable, but it seems he has made the latest DCEU Superman too lighthearted
Perhaps it's rather ironic that the latest offering by MCU, a franchise which in recent years has been criticised for overreliance on ill-placed humour, has reined in its levity somewhat. Moments of mirth are still abound, but the jokes generally land and are timed well. The hiring of Vanessa Kirby and the now-ubiquitous Pedro Pascal had felt like stunt-casting for me, but I now realise that their gravitas and range are needed to carry what would otherwise essentially end up a schlocky sci-fi B-movie. Pascal's Reed Richards is believable enough as a scientific genius whose brilliant mind is tasked with saving his world from destruction (a role he spends more time in, as compared to as Mr. Fantastic). Kirby in the meantime does magnificently to ensure that Sue Reeds is more than just the Invisible Woman, displaying an animalistic rage when her unborn child is threatened by an interstellar god.
Johnny Storm's character as expectedly shoulders the brunt of the comic duty, but he is no mere comic relief. The rogue is played with pathos, and is portrayed as the glue that holds his family together. Having dispensed with its origin story, gone also is the self-pitying remonstrations of Ben Grimm (I don't believe he's referred to as The Thing even once), and by this point he has reconciled with his physical transformation and forgiven Reed. He has relatively little to do this time, but I don't doubt he can do more when this character is fleshed out more in their next appearances. And First Steps, arguably the best adaptation of Marvel's First Family, has made me look forward to their next appearances.
That's not to say it's perfect. The fake out ending is annoying, while some CG sequences look iffy, to be frank. It is not on the same tier as Iron Man, Winter Soldier, Homecoming, No Way Home, Infinity War. First Steps is serviceably entertaining, no more, no less.
It is rather curious that one movie, made by an established director who is well known for embracing the zaniness of the source material in his prior work, has not stuck its landing, while the other, directed by a guy you've probably never heard of (Matt Shakman), has succeeded in reviving the cinematic reputation of Fantastic Four. Maybe MCU will pull yet another Iron Man and reenergise this flagging franchise. Whereas for DCEU, surely it's back to the drawing board (again) for them.
My VERDICT: - Superman 6/10 - Fantastic Four 7/10
