The new Superman movie doesn’t fly in the face of convention – and that’s a good thing

NEW YORK — The world’s in a bit of a mess right now, if you haven’t noticed, and I would surmise we’ve all felt some increased psychological strain. (Congratulations to me for the understatement of the year.) Luckily, emotional rejuvenation can occasionally be found by entering an air-conditioned movie theater on a hot day, eating an unseemly amount of buttered popcorn, and watching a mindless movie with dazzling special effects, broad jokes, simple heroes and villains, and a cheerful conclusion.

I am happy to report that the newest Superman movie (simply called “Superman”) fits this bill nicely.

The DC Comics adaptation — nowhere as epic and robust as the 1978 picture starring Christopher Reeve — is not intellectually taxing in the slightest, but it is clever and buoyant and good for either a family outing or if you want to fib at work, say you have a dental appointment, and hope no one recognizes you if you slip into the cinema by yourself.

The legend of Superman has been around for 87 years, so this new version wisely assumes you know who the guy is, where he came from, and what he wants to achieve. We witness no origin (in which he is sent, like an interplanetary Moses, from the doomed planet of Krypton) and trudge through no introduction (his secret identity as Clark Kent, a mild-mannered reporter in the city of Metropolis). Watching early scenes in which he and his gal pal Lois Lane kibbitz over dinner feels like checking in on a television series you used to watch, but haven’t been paying attention to in a few years. That’s a risky way to make a major franchise film, but writer-director James Gunn has bet wisely. Everyone knows the score here, so let’s get to the action — bring on the madcap villains, whacked-out sci-fi concepts, fight scenes and zingy banter.

The latest iteration of Kal-El — the Last Son of Krypton, nourished by the yellow sun of Earth, and transformed into Superman — is played with a dashing, bright warmth by David Corenswet, a relative newcomer to mainstream entertainment and, sound the trumpets, a Jew! (Fellow reporter Lois Lane is played with sparkle and wit by Rachel Brosnahan, not Jewish, but also the star of “The Marvelous Mrs. Maisel,” so this pretty much gets her in the club.)

Superman himself has long been, to quote the great rabbinical scholar Walter Sobchak, “as Jewish as f–ing Tevye.” Beyond the Hebraic name Kal-El (Light or Voice of God), his Moses-like space capsule, Krypton being a stand-in for a post-pogrom Pale of Settlement, and the fact that a physical manifestation of the Old Country, Kryptonite, threatens to expose someone assimilated into American culture, the character was created by two second-generation Jewish-Americans living in Cleveland reacting to antisemitism. There are also other soft indicators of the character’s heimish qualities. (He worships his mother, for example.) You can check out my lengthy interview with the foremost scholar on this issue, Roy Schwartz, for more.

But do the character’s Jewish roots or actor Corenswet’s background factor into the storytelling in this new adventure? No, not really. There aren’t any subtle winks that I picked up on, which was a smidge disappointing, but perhaps to be expected. There are, however, ample parallels to important current events.

Superman is, of course, American pop culture’s most famous immigrant, and the US government’s distrust of him is a constant source of conflict. The film’s release just a week or so after US Congress passed Donald Trump’s “One Big Beautiful Bill,” packed with a $100 billion increase in spending for Immigration and Customs Enforcement, is a coincidence that could not be more fitting. The movie’s perspective is far from subtle in rejecting the Trump position.

The plot of “Superman” begins when (off-screen) the Man of Steel prevents the somewhat Russian-like nation of Boravia from invading the somewhat Pakistani or maybe Iranian-like nation of Jarhanpur. Even though Boravia is technically a US ally — and Superman’s loyalty is to the nation that adopted him — he uses his interventionist might to prevent the hostile action. He bashes tanks, harming no one, but saves lives. Sure, he admits, the Jarhanpur nation has never been the best friend to the United States, and the Boravian propaganda machine said they hoped to liberate the county from rotten leaders, but innocent people were going to die — and the government was going to let it happen.

This version of Superman would likely be called “chaotic good” by those who play Dungeons & Dragons (the only people nerdier than readers of “Superman” comics), and that certainly is a bold position for a mainstream blockbuster.

There isn’t, however, a one-to-one comparison with current American foreign policy in the story. Confronting Boravia feels like standing up to Vladimir Putin and his invasion of Ukraine, but taking unilateral military action in defense of Jarhanpur feels a bit like Trump’s recent strike against Iran. It’s a little bit complex. Gosh, not even superhero movies can be black-and-white these days!

Thankfully, the movie is not all ripped from the headlines. A lot of it is goofy comic book fun, like when a giant eyeball attacks Metropolis or when countless trained monkeys are deployed by the malicious Lex Luthor to say nasty things about Superman on social media. (James Gunn is a longtime veteran of fantasy films, and is the mind behind the “Guardians of the Galaxy” trilogy at Marvel, DC’s primary competitor.)

Hopefully, this all comes across as rather positive. But I do want to reiterate that this is a lightweight and somewhat frothy approach to a character that, in its last version, Zack Snyder’s “Man of Steel” and its follow-ups, was very serious, brooding, and dark.

Some viewers may come away feeling this picture lacks a certain amount of heft, and they won’t exactly be wrong. Even with its zippy, thrilling action-adventure sequences, those on a budget ought not to feel they are missing out on too much if they wait a few months and watch this via streaming.

But for those holding out for a hero, and who need a jolt of truth, justice, and the American way, this is a strong summer treat.