Steve Miller

A GENUINELY stupid movie for genuinely stupid people. As I sauntered out of the theater, feeling like no one could really appreciate this monstrosity, I was reminded that I'm vastly outnumbered by throngs of idiots that enjoy lowbrow shite. A 20-something female exclaimed, "A drunk Supergirl! What an interesting concept!" Her male sidekick asserted, "A Superman clone, brilliant!" REALLY? This dog (not Krypto, the film) is so laden with tired cliches and rushed storytelling, Gunn's strategy is to dump enough nonsense on viewers that there's no temptation to reconcile one part with another. While action scenes have to be high octane these days, Gunn resorts to actually asking characters (particularly Lex) to EXPLAIN what is happening before our eyes because he doesn't have a clue of how to tell a story visually. While his characatures are mundane and stereotypical, he still manages to crap on the conceits of tried and true norms of the Superman franchise in attempts to be clever. Ma and Pa Kent are lowbrow Ma and Pa Kettles (if you don't know, Youtube), and there's no way that they raised cleancut Clark. Clark's Kryptonian parents are "Arabs" that advocate harems and sexploitation. Huh? And Jimmy's a lady's man, while Superman is a dumbed-down version of Christopher Reeve...In fact, every white guy in this flick is under assault as a blunderer, evildoer, or other specious stereotype. The real heroes are Mr. Terrific, Hawk Girl, and Lois, while Superdude is along for the ride. There's a roughly hewn morality that awkwardly trips over allusions to modern sociopolitical crises that will undoubtedly piss off some of our global neighbors. The cast is by and large a big yawn, a nothing, weakly populated (undoubtedly) by nieces and nephews of studio execs, but Clark and Lois almost work (there's potential), as do a few moments in the narrative that come and go, opportunities lost in the fray of Gunn's impatience, immaturity and near complete inability to think outside of the box (or Xbox), and even write convincing dialog. But then again, he's a man of his time, I guess: GENUINELY stupid. Enjoy.