The Newest ‘Superman’ Trailer Has Me Extra Frightened Than Ever

Tickets for Superman at the moment are on-sale. I bought mine by means of a particular Amazon Prime / Fandango promotion for Prime members and get to go watch the brand new James Gunn film two days early on July eighth. I’m genuinely hoping that this can be a return to kind for DC and the Man Of Metal, however each trailer launched up to now has me nervous, and the newest two-minute spot has me extra involved than ever.

It’s laborious to place into phrases precisely why that is, partly as a result of there’s lots to love concerning the movie’s route – or what we are able to inform about its route – up to now. I’ll begin with the nice.

Initially, I like the casting throughout. David Corenswet is a good alternative for Superman and Clark Kent, and each glimpse of him in motion or delivering traces is pitch excellent. I additionally love Nicholas Hoult who performs the movie’s most important villain, Lex Luthor. The remainder of the solid, from Rachel Brosnahan’s Lois Lane to Nathan Fillion’s Man Gardner/Inexperienced Lantern, is on-point. Anthony Carrigan as Metamorpho, Isabela Merced as Hawkgirl, Wendell Pierce, and many others. and many others. I may rave all day concerning the casting.

I additionally just like the extra upbeat, constructive tone of the film. Superman is a beacon of hope. This can be a character who feels at odds with a lot of recent cinema and trendy tradition as a result of he’s so optimistic and earnest. Even the one-liner on this trailer appears like upbeat banter quite than the snarky, sarcastic quippiness we discover in so many superhero films nowadays.

So what’s it about this trailer that has me nervous? Just about the identical issues I’ve famous up to now.

First, the visible results are jarring. There are some cool moments right here, however the total impact is disagreeable. What’s with all of the slow-motion, Mr. Gunn? If we wished egregious use of slow-mo motion pictures we may simply ask Zack Snyder to return to DC. The abundance of wide-angle, fishbowl pictures can be very off-putting. And what’s with this shot of enamel bouncing off the digital camera? This simply appears to be like terrible to me:

I don’t hate the colour pallette however I don’t find it irresistible, both. I’m even glad to see such a colourful superhero film given how inert and darkish and lifeless, or simply plain drab, so many DC films have been in recent times. There’s a spot for darkish and gritty in DC and it’s known as Gotham, however far too many different movies on this franchise have felt colorless and bland. This bucks that development. However maybe it bucks it too laborious, as a result of at timesthe color-grading simply appears to be like low cost and makes the visuals look faux. Which jogs my memory of movies just like the current Flash (although, once more, extra saturated and fewer bland).

I’ve gotten responses from followers who say one thing sarcastic like “oh no a comic book e book film that appears like a comic book e book!” however this isn’t the issue. I’m all for comedian e book films wanting like comedian books. I simply don’t love how this one is shaping up. It appears to be like extra like a industrial than a film at occasions, if that is sensible. A few of the scenes – like this one with Superman laser-beaming a bunch of baddies – appears to be like like a bizarre cutscene from a online game.

The CGI is simply . . . it’s not good, particularly in pictures the place Superman himself is clearly nearly totally CGI. I’m undecided why individuals are defending it so passionately. You see followers saying issues like “it’s a superhero film with flying and superpowers and also you complain that it appears to be like faux?” However the trick with filmmaking is to create immersion, particularly once you’re doing magical issues, whether or not that’s dragons, magic or superhero stuff. If the particular results look faux and even too clear, you break immersion.

Then there’s the solid. As I mentioned above, it’s a beautiful solid nevertheless it’s additionally simply large. This can be a two-hour film (which is an ideal runtime!) however we have now so many characters, I can’t think about any of them getting the screentime they deserve. I fear lots concerning the pacing and this simply turning right into a frenetic mess with an excessive amount of plot squeezed into too brief an image, like spreading far an excessive amount of butter over too little bread.

Followers appear fairly hyped about Superman, so perhaps I’m simply overly cynical and want a dose of Superman’s effervescent optimism myself. I need to be improper. I would like all my issues to be laser-blasted into oblivion. If the story is sweet, I can most likely look previous all the remaining, and I’ve loved loads of Gunn’s work up to now, which assuages a few of my fears. We’ll know a technique or one other in lower than a month. Right here’s the newest trailer:

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