James Gunn's take on the Man of Steel has been met with overwhelmingly positive reviews, but that's par for the course for just about any superhero project with Gunn in the director's chair. From Guardians of the Galaxy to The Suicide Squad, he knows what makes a good, audience-investing, action-packed romp, and Superman is no exception.
That being said, Gunn's secret to success isn't as elaborate as a Fortress of Solitude or as diabolical as a chunk of glowing Kryptonite. Rather, his approach seems to be something his contemporaries at Marvel and WB might have forgotten: what it means to be a classic superhero flick.
In the interview with GQ (seen above), Gunn breaks down all of his most iconic movies, most of them running in the superhero genre, to the surprise of absolutely nobody. As he unpacks the likes of Guardians of the Galaxy, Super, and Superman, Gunn also gives a sharp critique of the status of movies today.
Here's what Gunn said:
"I don't believe in 'superhero fatigue,' I believe there's mediocre movie fatigue. I think you can tell stories about anything. If you see the same gangster movie over and over and over again, you're gonna get so bored, but if you see different types of criminals doing different things, that are involved in different activities, different levels of morality, it's not going to ever get boring. And I think the same thing is true about superheroes, and if the only thing we have to offer is one character showing up and seeing two characters we've never seen on screen before, that was really exciting when it first happened, nobody cares anymore."
Gunn later added:
"You see the same thing happening across the board with movies in general. That people are not making the movies that get people in the cinemas... I want the cinema-going experience to continue... Going to a theatre and seeing the magic of cinema. "
This isn't the first time James Gunn has called out his contemporaries. Even before his departure from Disney and Marvel, he was out and proud about his stance on the movie industry. Gunn's passion and the success of Superman will be the catalyst needed to revitalize the cinematic world.
Gunn's work is setting the bar for how we might see future superhero movies in the near future. His methods trim the fat, give the audience precisely what they want, and (per most of his other movies), the hype game is strong. It doesn't have to be rocket science, just science fiction.
Superman has made audiences everywhere remember what comic book movies could be like. Not just harkening back to the Christopher Reeve films, but sprinkling in elements of the 2000s-era Marvel flicks as well. It's truly a breath of fresh air to see these elements in play again.
Gunn has essentially reintroduced the classic, true-to-form superhero formula. It's a battle of good and evil featuring a likable, powerful, heroic figure fighting for right and stopping the forces of darkness in a way only the panels of a comic book could previously express. Hopefully, we'll see more filmmakers learn by his example (looking at you, Marvel).
James Gunn's Superman is in theatres now!
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