Ultra HD Blu-ray Movie Reviews

Watching James Gunn’s Superman, I’m reminded of the expression, “That was a choice,” although I don’t mean it in the sarcastic, millennial way. There have been so many interpretations of the chap in blue tights and red cape, in the comic book pages and on screen and elsewhere, each unique in some way. Leaving behind Zack Snyder’s dour, objectivist Man of Steel, this new-ish take—largely inspired by Grant Morrison and Frank Quitely’s All-Star Superman limited series—casts the character as a benevolent, good-hearted, selfless lug once again. He’s an unapologetic do-gooder if you will, one who doesn’t wait for permission to step in and help, and that’s a choice I can get behind. On the other hand, giving the greatest superhero of all time so little screen time in his own movie, and having him spend so much of that time in all manner of defeat, isn’t doing Kal-El any favors.

As Superman/Clark Kent, David Corenswet flaunts Juilliard-honed thespian chops and a physicality that make this hero real and relatable, while Nicholas Hoult displays a seething intensity as nemesis Lex Luthor, and Rachel Brosnahan never disappoints, here as ace reporter Lois Lane. Prologue text informs us that Supes has been on the scene for three years now, and he’s been making quite a name for himself, but that all changes in an instant when a dark secret about his alien origins is revealed. A firestorm of prejudice and betrayal is ignited as personal agendas are exposed amid escalating international tensions. Heavy stuff, but no sweat: Our guy looks like he never skips a day in the gym.

Although there’s no possessory credit on the cover, it would be fair to put Gunn’s name before the title here. He’s extensively referring to his own playbook, relying upon his tried-and-true tricks. His long takes and creative decision to show a spectacular battle out of focus in the background in favor of relatively mundane foreground action I still very much enjoy... but another kaiju? Attacked by going for its eyes? And ultimately defeating it from the inside? Really? I have a tremendous admiration for Mr. G., but I suppose I was privately hoping that with this first movie of his fledgling “DC Universe,” he’d have swung for the fences.

Touted as “Filmed for IMAX,” ostensibly utilizing IMAX-certified cameras and production guidelines, Superman arrives on 4K disc in the cinema format’s 1.9:1 expanded aspect ratio for the entire runtime, rather than alternating between different rectangles, which I’m not sure that I’ve ever seen before. That makes the black bars top and bottom barely thicker than for the standard Academy flat widescreen ratio of 1.85:1, which of course is just a tad wider than the screen-filling 1.78:1 (16:9). The primaries of the Supersuit are only the beginning (literally: he crashes into a pure white snowbank in the first scene), and everything from city streets to bizarre locations, from human faces to monstrous skintones are rendered with a natural quality that further helps to ground the fantasy in reality. Despite countless instances of fast motion, the high-bitrate image is always stable with pristine detail in the digital capture and elaborate visual effects.

That fast motion is ably supported by the eager-to-please Dolby Atmos audio. Many wild fight scenes offer plenty of activity between the speakers along with ample bass, which also underscores the wanton destruction in and around Metropolis. There’s lots of flying, too, which makes welcome use of those height channels, and the 360-degree mix brings us another happy Gunnism: a smattering of groovy pop tunes. As far as the “original” music, I absolutely adore John Williams’ work for the 1978 Superman, it’s one of my all-time favorite scores, but to continue relying upon it so heavily (a sin committed by Superman Returns as well) isn’t respectful, it’s shortsighted.

The bonus content is a good news/bad news scenario. Much like Warner’s Furiosa, Superman contains both an outstanding hour-long “making of” plus some genuinely intriguing, easily digestible featurettes. However, the original announcement promised a director commentary, gag reel and deleted scenes, but further examination revealed that these would be “coming soon to digital,” meaning that they will live in the cloud and not on the disc. A Movies Anywhere digital copy code is supplied in the package, so I guess we can access those extra extras that way (no commentary as of press time), but this is a troubling development for physical media collectors, and the sooner this practice ends, the better. I will say that the lenticular slipcase (not shown in the official photo above) that changes between Clark and Superman is pretty neat, although no one I showed it to could see the switch.

I’ve been saying for a long time now that there’s only ever been one truly great Superman movie, and that opinion hasn’t changed. But James Gunn’s Superman is essential viewing if we want to take what promises to be a long and surprise-filled trip through his interconnected DCU, and this disc is a more than adequate place to start.

Chris Chiarella