You can’t get mad at a fan film! It’s always nice to see people play the hits, and when Superman: Solar stays in that ball park it’s positively lovable. Much like the titular character, the film is at its best when allowed to ‘cut loose’ and do a flying action scene with a dynamic camera which captures no small percent of the dynamism of Man of Steel, the short’s obvious inspiration.
Everyone involved here is giving it their all, but the standard deviation of quality scene-to-scene ends up quite wide. For example, there’s a scene towards the end where Clark meets Lois Lane to accept a job at the Daily Planet suffers terribly from the choice of set location, which ends up making the placid Clark seem like he’s borderline harassing Lane simply by remaining present in the tight corridor. Lex Luthor has an extended cameo by a chap doing a stellar Jason Statham impression, which is certainly a new direction for the character — I wanted more of that guy. And the green screen is pretty competently done, with only some evidently strained lighting choices and backspill in the desert fight to complain about.
It’s that connection to Man of Steel which is Superman: Solar’s Achilles’s heel though. Snyder’s film is both saint and sinner to this adaptation, with constant commendably-executed visual references somewhat at war with a script that has a little of the ‘fix-it’ ethos about it. When it’s not dubious pablum put into the mouths of side characters (the Clarks “saved our business” says one man, so he won’t be turning them in to the FBI) the script is relitigating twitter arguments which border on theodicy. Aping Batman v Superman’s news studio scenes, a pair of broadcasters debate whether an invincible man is braver than the troops. A delightfully hard-nosed Lois Lane asks directly if Superman is a ‘dictator’, but is bizarrely placated when he basically answers ‘yes’.
The central conflict of the film isn’t drawn from Man of Steel however, it’s ostensibly pulled from the page of Grant Morrison’s All-Star Superman where Superman rescues Regan, a suicidal teen, from a rooftop. I’ve long argued that the page in question is very specific to the format and context and would prove difficult to adapt to another medium, and this does not dissuade me. The scene as adapted quickly swings into bathos, but the absurd dialogue between Superman and the teen — who gives a performance that rescues the affair — ends up coming round to its own poignancy. They connect, not because any of Superman’s mantras hit home, but just in that they make a silly shared conversation on this rooftop, and connect, and sometimes that’s all someone needs.
As I said above, ultimately it’s quite a fun watch. Making films is hard! Hollywood, with its outlandish budgets, often makes it seem like the easiest thing in the world. This fan film aims high, and I can’t hate that.
