In writer/director Christopher Nolan’s conceit, this idea of openness and trust was betrayed by Odysseus (Matt Damon), in tricking the Trojans to accept the “gift” of a giant wooden horse, secretly filled to the rim with Greek warriors, all of them furious and miserable after spending the better part of a decade away from home in order to win the war for their king, Agamemnon (Benny Safdie). After the appreciative Trojans dragged this giant horse into their city as a symbol of peace with the Greeks, Odysseus and his men snuck out of the structure in the middle of the night, and opened the previously impenetrable Trojan gates in order to let the rest of their army inside, sacking the place in a fury of raping and pillaging. Odysseus won the war, such as it was, but, as Nolan has it, lost a good bit of humanity in the process. 

Many will compare this film to 2000’s Gladiator, and it’s an apt comparison, for better and worse.

Based loosely on the classic western True Grit, the original comics focus on a dispirited Kara (Supergirl’s actual name), taking refuge on a distant planet, and becoming embroiled in a dispute between a fierce, young girl named Ruthye, whose family was  brutally murdered by the villain Krem of the Yellow Hills, part of a group of bloodthirsty brigands terrorizing the local planets. When this same Krem shoots and poisons Kara’s beloved dog, Krypto, she and Ruthye track down the pirates together, in a race against time, in order to get the antidote, and settle things up between Ruthye and Krem.

It all feels perhaps a skooch played out, by this point, especially since an enormous percentage of such post-Jaws flicks (including several of the Jaws’ sequels) have been mindless, idiotic moneygrabs, with shameful CGI effects, and a slew of wooden, one-dimensional characters to use as chum in the water. This aggressively bland film is next in a long line of grubby, shoddy and spiritless fare —  in fact, it’s not even the first film to have come up with a plane crash in the Pacific as its primary hook (2024’s No Way Out) . 

Pandora is bigger, bolder, bluer, and more aggressively immersive than ever.

Wright is working more or less within his element here  —  stylized violence surrounded by biting satire (a recurring bit featuring a reality series called“The Americanos”  —  a Kardashian stand-in family  —  is particularly ripe)  — and proves a good match for the material, even as King’s plot starts grinding its gears in the third act. 

For this film, a loose adaptation of Thomas Pynchon’s novel Vineland, the shots vary between languid and almost thunderously violent, from the lilting trills in Jonny Greenwood’s soundtrack, to abrasively coarse auditory punch-outs. At times, it’s like the effect of flipping through random channels on your TV, the sudden change of tone and timbre shocking you with their contrast.  

So, does this reboot fly? Only through turbulence.

Previous attempts to cinematically portray Marvel’s first family have fared, shall we say, poorly, from the Roger Corman-produced cheesefest back in 1994, to the reviled pair of early aughts flicks by Tim Story; to the even more despised misfire by Josh Trank, which led to many essays worth of angst about studio interference and the incredible pressure on young filmmakers to succeed at cost of their souls. 

For the most part, however, Gunn has seemingly gotten Superman pretty much right. Corenswet is a real find, able to convey both Superman’s idealistic innocence and his feisty fury in equal measure (not unlike Chris Evans’ unforgettable Captain America). It’s a Superman willing to take a joke, and look at his life askew, without being overly concerned with appearances. 

I think there’s ample room for Jerry’s brand of hyperbolic amplitude as an antidote to the usual mindless summer tentpole regurgitations and superhero frolics of the modern era. It’s time to take it back a notch or two, with some added vroom vroom thrown into the mix.

F1: The Movie is nearly a lap-by-lap redux of 1990’s Days of Thunder.