Reflection to Insight

On July 11th, James Gunn’s Superman film debuted in theaters. After getting a chance to watch it, I have to say it was an awesome and thrilling experience. In this movie reflection, I’m going to give my thoughts on the film, but I’ll do so in a non-spoiler way for those who haven’t seen it.

General Thoughts

Going into the film, there were three things I was hoping to see from it.

1. Sell me on David Corenswet being Superman.

2. Be an entertaining and engaging watch.

3. Get me excited for the new DC Universe James Gunn is building.

I can honestly say, the movie absolutely accomplished all three of these for me.

David Corenswet is a talented actor who captured the magnetic personality that Clark Kent/Superman often has. He was kind, considerate, and hopeful throughout the film. No matter who it was, animal, human, etc., he always looked after their wellbeing and did everything he could to keep them out of harms way.

Seeing him interact with other characters revealed just how much he cared for the people closest to him as well.

His relationships with Lois, Ma, and Pa, were all great. They each had phenomenal chemistry and many heart warming moments together.

David Corenswet’s Superman portrayal is one that I think will be great for the DCU moving forward.

As for the entertainment side, I found that this film was more fun than I originally expected it to be. There were comedic moments sprinkled throughout the movie, as well as serious and perilous ones too.

When the movie needed to hit a certain emotional note, I think it managed to do so most of the time.

The action was off the charts and very spectacular. The camera angles during Superman’s flying were very smooth, and the choreography of each fight was well set up and executed.

Though Clark faced some challenges, he also felt powerful as this version of Superman.

As I somewhat mentioned before, the characters had very organic chemistry with one another, and you could especially feel this between Clark and Lois as they’re relationship was explored in the story.

Ma and Pa Kent were also great additions to the movie, and their relationships with Clark as his parents felt natural and believable. They were very caring and sweet individuals, and you could sense the love they had for their son.

Some may also notice that the film feels as if it’s moving between plot points very quickly. And while I noticed this myself, and even feel it could have benefited from having an extra 15 to 20 minutes to help it breathe, I think the pacing was still done pretty nicely.

And to the third point that I had, James Gunn pulled off excellent world building for the universe this Superman lives in.

If you’ve seen the trailers, you know that there are some other superheroes who make an appearance within the storyline.

It felt like these heroes were not only humorous in their own way, but they also had really good on screen chemistry with one another and Clark Kent.

When these individuals showed up, they only left me wanting to see more of them, along with the other heroes James Gunn plans to introduce in the future.

This DCU feels vibrant, energetic, and adventurous. I think comic book fans who are deeply attached to these characters will have a good time with this movie.

James Gunn really cared about telling a great story set within a unique superhero world, and I think he nailed the assignment.

Theme

Superman is seen as an individual with great levels of power. The film explored a topic about how one should live and operate when they’re gifted with so much strength.

Should you utilize your gifts to serve others, or benefit yourself? Especially when serving yourself is at the expense of others?

I believe this ties in nicely with something we have to question and reason with in our own lives.

We don’t have the ability to fly, lift skyscrapers, and move at Mach speeds.

However, each one of us has different strengths and gifts that are unique to us. We all have attributes the Lord has given us, in hopes that we will love and serve Him using them.

He hopes that we will take what we have and pour it out lovingly towards other people.

With this in mind, we all have freewill, and we can choose to use our gifts anyway we desire.

We can choose selflessness, or selfishness.

In Romans 15: 1, it says “We who are strong have an obligation to bear with the failings of the weak, and not to please ourselves.”

I think if we all choose to look towards the interests of others, and do what we can to help ease their burdens, this world will find a great deal of healing in the areas of brokenness that exist.

We must remember that in and of ourselves we are not strong.

Our true strength comes from the Lord and the Holy Spirit working through us.

But if we are open to the Lord, and we let Him work through us in His strength, we will live one of the most fulfilling lives we ever could.

This wraps up my movie reflection for Superman. I hope you all enjoyed it and if you watch it, I hope you have some solid take aways from the movie as well!