Review: All Star Superman (2011)
★★★★½
What if Superman had a terminal illness? That’s what “All Star Superman” is all about. This adaptation devotedly translates its rich, thoughtful, and sincere source material into the cinematic form and is surely an underrated gem amongst the DC Universe Original Movies. Its structure is somewhat shackled by the comic book’s episodic format, but it also stands as its own self-contained story. The “Trials of Hercules” feel is charming, entertaining, and (most important of all) inspiring.
The animation here is simple yet stylistic, totally avoiding the more rote animation of later DC Universe Originals and staying true to the aesthetic of the source material. Between character designs so tenderly soft, landscapes so wistfully imaginative, and colors so vividly pretty, I’m often reminded of the delightful visual style associated with Studio Ghibli movies. The voice acting is all quite charming, with Hendrick’s powerful, passionate Lois and Denton’s soft, wise Superman as stand outs.
The freedom with which the creators introduce us to new, utterly bizarre characters and the zeal with which they lean into the pulpy comic weirdness of the source material is utterly satisfying. Oftentimes, cinematic adaptations of comic books don’t trust their audiences enough to involve strange characters or worlds or plot devices without endlessly explaining them, their origins, powers, limitations, etc.
But here, the creators realize that the superhero genre is uniquely positioned to explore various ideas along the science-fantasy spectrum and can do so with an unbounded imagination, not needing to stop every five minutes and spoon-feed boring, irrelevant exposition to an audience whose imaginations are very much ready to be expanded. This very much pays off with Superman’s endlessly imaginative Fortress of Solitude.
The tour through some of Superman’s more obscure rogue’s gallery members is delightful. “All Star Superman” has one of the best, most terrifying and creepy takes on Parasite we’ve ever seen. The Kryptonian couple are short lived but ultimately a heartwarming subversion of characters like Zod. And Solaris, another parasitic villain, is an equal parts threatening, thematic, and imaginitive note to end on.
This is also one of the best iterations of Lex Luthor, fully realizing his potential as a painfully realistic foil for Superman, someone who is on the surface a fully realized person, but only according to his own coldly mechanistic view of human existence. Despite his technical genius, Lex has a shallow understanding of the human condition and is totally ignorant of Superman’s *benevolent* sense of life. Lex is someone who can’t fathom the positive-sum, someone for whom the success of anyone else diminishes his own, someone who looks at humans and sees nothing but conflict and doom and hatred. The philosophy of Superman is so beautifully contrasted with Lex’s here. I think we are so drawn to this seemingly eternal battle of opposing world views because it likely rages on within us all at times.
“All Star Superman” is fundamentally a story about death, morbidity, and parasitism but at the end of the day it’s also a resounding call for hope, optimism, and gratitude. It’s a grim storyline but by focusing on Superman, the most anti-grim character of all, the movie feels anything but. “All Star Superman” realizes the genre-defining promise of *aspirational storytelling* in a uniquely poetic way, depicting Superman’s most super feats as all within the grasp of ordinary humans.
Something so intelligent and refreshing about “All Star Superman” is the fact that its story basically never relies on Superman’s physical abilities. He saves the day using his wit, his kindness, his moral conviction, and his deep understanding of the human condition. More than any other story, “All Star Superman” highlights how Superman is so much more than a strongman. He’s a scientist, an explorer, a cosmopolitan whose home is the entire cosmos. He’s interested in preservation, science, and humanitarianism. He wants to better the entire human race down to his last breath.
Our ordinary notion of “superhero” as merely someone who protects us from crime or natural disasters is challenged and stretched here. Superman is so much more than a reactionary defender in this story. Instead, this movie argues a superhero is one who strives to advance the cause of all life. A superhero is one who lives their life in honor of all life, not in the sense of “sacrificing” their own life, but in the sense of uplifting life, of enriching life, of worshipping life. Instead of a purely reactionary concept, “superhero” becomes one of progress and growth. In Superman’s eyes, humanity has unlimited potential and he wants to help us realize it. That is the mark he’s determined to leave.
Illustrating that wisdom is his most super power of all, Superman greets death as an old friend, with grace, gratitude, and fulfillment. To the very end, he fundamentally cares about the progress of humanity and the betterment of all living beings. He leaves behind a giant diary journal and a Fortress of Solitude filled with ancient beings and artifacts, which his robots plan to maintain for posterity. His unconquerable concern for the universe beyond the short time he’s gifted strangely invokes both an inhumanly God-like nature and a fundamentally human, maybe even child-like, capacity.
Last but not least, Superman squares away his two most important human relationships: Lois and Lex. In them, his lasting impact most clearly lives on. This is seen when Lex, a man we thought wholly irredeemable, has a moment of existentialist revelation via Superman’s extraordinary senses and sees past his mechanistic sense of life, ultimately helping carry on Superman’s heritage. And for Lois, rather than any grief, suffering, or resentment, she has nothing but an undying hope in Superman’s return after he’s done “fixing the Sun.”
What a beautiful note to end on.
What a beautiful character Jerry Siegel and Joe Shuster created.
