Superman Red Son Movie Review (2020) | Intriguing yet Undercooked

Intriguing take on a Superman from a different world. Writing the Superman Red Son Movie Review about the movie that is based on a 2003 comic book series by Mark Millar. Yet another one directed by Sam Liu, the movie tries to do different, a universe you might find hard to become an instant fan of, but leverages well on a unique prospect.

With varying possibilities of the existence of different versions of earths, this one comes straight from Earth 30 where Superman’s childhood was basically streets of Soviet Union. Red Son tries to build itself around an atypical likelihood that a contrasting upbringing with disparate ideologies will give us an entirely different superhero.

A superhero conflicted by his principles and thoughts, who isn’t afraid to take a life if necessary. He has an idea that he carries about the world, and he tries to mould things his way by hook or by crook.

The movie is divided into different subplots, that try to cover as much alternate realities as possible. While to some extent, it is a delight to see those versions try to cover as much ground as possible, it still ends up feeling a tad uncooked. The movie feels rushed and the emotions unbaked.

Enough said already, let us proceed with the Superman Red Son Movie Review with a little bit of analysis to get going.

Plot of Superman Red Son

The movie commences with some bullies trying to pick on a small boy, whilst a girl named Svetlana (Lana Lang in this universe) chases after them trying to protect the poor lad.

In his defense, the child shows Svetlana, that he was only running from them so as to avoid hurting them. So young and yet so powerful in his thoughts!

Whilst a childhood memory gets forgotten, the child grows old and joins the government to fulfil the destiny Svetlana had once indirectly laid out for him.

Lois Lane

Lois Lane is, wait for it, the wife of Lex Luthor in this universe. Whaaaat? Insane, right? As it is easy to guess Lois doesn’t approve of Luthor’s methods.

She secures an interview with the Soviet Superman and tells him about the things that the Russian Government hid. It leads Superman to a Gulag where Svetlana is held captive. It is a poignant take of how Superman forgot about her, after getting involved with the government shenanigans.

A dying Svetlana breaks it to Sups:

This is a world where the strong live, and you are the strongest of all of us.

The Soviet Superman is coarse in his decisions, a quality they are trying to depict inbred in his credo. It is shown in the way he incinerates Stalin

Luthor

Luthor remains a genius in this universe too. He creates another version of Superman with his DNA and calls him Superior Man. The duo fight it out, and you get to see glimpses of Bizarro in him as Lex tries to use Superior Man to his maximum potential.

He is created in a manner so as to represent America and its ideals. Working close to the President and then eventually becoming one, the movie tries to hand us over a cold war vantage from the past.

With Luthor and Superman acting as the leaders of the world, the former doesn’t stop himself from attacking the superpower in various ways, which also starts straining the relationship he has with Lois.

Superman, with the help of a reprogrammed brainiac lobotomizes rebels, and those who didn’t share his mindset.

The Batman Story

The Batman story is probably one of the best parts in the movie. The way the character is introduced with the death of his parents in a gulag, (you wonder in how many of those realities they have ended up so) under the backdrop of bats, insinuates the horror that the Soviet Superman is about to face.

Batman remains the bloke with a twisted past. Only this time, the government he is fighting against is none other than ruled by Superman. Glimpses from the past like The Dark Knight Returns and flashes from the Batman v Superman: Dawn of Justice, come revisiting when you see Batsy exploits Superman’s weakness. This time it is the Red “Sun”, ah, the irony!

The awesome news is Batman remains sheer badass in this universe too, using Wonder Woman’s lasso against her. After giving Sups the beating of his lifetime, when things go south, he sacrifices himself before Superman could lobotomize him.

You wish it could have lasted longer, but that’s how short his stint was.

Hold on for a while, just taking your attention away from Superman Red Son Movie Review once, for this:

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Wonder Woman

Wonder Woman’s piece of mind is a conflicted craft. It is fueled by admiration for the Red Son for the most part, but then it is also conflicted by Superman’s acts.

The movie is intermingled with varying ideologies in one form or the other. Wonder Woman learns the truth about Superman the hard way, after seeing what he has been doing to the people, the punishment he is meting out to those who didn’t follow his dream.

She had chosen to stay blind for the better half of the movie, but then eventually decides to walk away from his life.

Brainiac

While there have been so many interpretations of the criminal mastermind, Brainiac’s interpretation in this movie however fails to impress you much. Even though he works on a ploy to dupe Superman, the movie’s rendition of him is a bland affair.

You can almost feel how good the writing must have been but the portrayal just takes away all the internal milling that we were supposed to get.

The part where he tells Superman that he always had a choice of bringing back the miniaturized world of Stalingrad, but he chose not to, is a gripping bit that forces Superman to brood over his actions. It also causes him to hit an epiphany that changes the way he was thinking all this time. Superman, the epitome of hope and righteousness becomes who he really was supposed to be in a different earth.

Downsides of Superman Red Son Movie

Superman Red Son movie tries to open a debate with a literal depiction of trying to put the world in a bottle. If you think about this angle, it justifies the aforementioned argument. You just wish there was more substance to it.

Apart from the fact that the movie tries to bottle too many sub-plots in one movie that could have easily become one episode each, there is its shoddy direction of the flick that can’t be overseen.

You can’t help but try to put it up against the quality of the work done by DC in the past for e.g. in the movie The Killing Joke and wonder how as technology moves forward, we are yet to find a commonality in the quality of DCAU movies.

The direction could have used some treatment since you fail to feel the core of emotions. With so many stories scooched in one, we keep on moving from one branch to another, without letting the emotion from one sieve in properly. That is one of Superman Red Son’s biggest drawbacks.

The Final Verdict

If you take a look at the story of Batman , there is so much substance in it, I mean, if someone were to make a movie or a TV Series on this subject, it could become so much more. There is so much content that can be leveraged out of this. So many things that the comic and the animated show couldn’t do justice.

If you like our Superman Red Son Movie Review you are gonna love the movie review of Justice League Dark Apokolips War.

Check out the trailer of Superman: Red Son here: