There’s a dichotomy at the heart of Superman, the James Gunn-written and directed latest effort to live up to the Man of Steel’s name and reputation. No, it isn’t the divide between Clark Kent and Superman. All due respect to Quentin Tarantino, but there is no more well-integrated hero in comics. Neither Clark nor Superman is the mask. He is who he is, whether he’s wearing glasses and messy hair or a cape and that perfect spit curl.

No, the split lies between expecting the audience to get what’s being laid down and directly explaining it to camera so no one can possibly miss the point. On the side of trusting the audience to get it or catch up quickly is Gunn’s decision to skip the origin story, the early Smallville years, and the arrival in Metropolis. Over the blues and whites of an Antarctic landscape, on-screen writing quickly sets the stage for the film. Superman (David Corenswet) crash-landed in his baby rocket 30 years earlier. He’s been in Metropolis for three. Today is the first day he fought someone who made him eat his lunch. Oh, and metahumans have been a part of life since before the American Revolution.

It is a wise choice that fast-forwards through beats so well-known that you’d have to mount a worldwide search to find anyone over the age of 4 who doesn’t know them. Additionally, it allows the movie to skip the whole “wait, people can fly now?” hurdles that would challenge Gunn and Warners’ attempt at a cinematic universe. Superman got here, you know how. He grew up. You know where. Even though there are other super-powered people, Superman is THE superhero. You know that. Now off to the races!

Gunn also trusts the audience to get on board with the other superbeings, even if they aren’t comic book fans. Anyone watching gets exactly the type of person Guy Gardner (Nathan Fillion, a perfect match of character and actor) is the moment he opens his mouth. Isabela Merced’s Hawkgirl and Anthony Carrigan’s Metamorpho are less defined, but that fits both of their rather limited roles. Mr. Terrific (Edi Gathegi), on the other hand, spends about 15 minutes making the film a two-hander with Lois Lane (Rachel Brosnahan). Comic fans may bristle a little at Superman’s interpretation of the character. I know I got a little anxious every time he opened his mouth that the characterization or dialogue might tip over into something stereotyped. Ultimately, though, Gathegi keeps Terrific upright, portraying him as a man too intelligent not to be exasperated by almost everyone and everything around him.

Where Gunn seems to stop trusting the audience is in their ability to understand any sort of subtext. Someone declares that believing in people might be the most punk rock of all. Superman almost barrels the camera while explaining that, actually, he is human even if he wasn’t born on Earth. While we may live in a post-Garth Marenghi world, shouting—sometimes literally—themes and characters’ motivations to camera is a bit much. If one can trust the audience to go along with Metamorpho briefly being reduced to only a flying head and vapor trail, one can trust them to get that Superman is defined far more by his adopted planet than his biological one, without a monologue saying it.

There is one exception, though, I must confess. When Lex Luthor (Nicholas Hoult) tears into a rant about why he hates Superman so much, it is a thing of beauty. Maybe it is because Lex is a villain and one expects a certain amount of self-indulgent overexplaining. Perhaps it is because Hoult makes a wonderful meal of the words. Whatever the reason, that moment of declaring motivations just works.

Speaking of what works, Corenswet is on point as Clark/Superman. Again, while sometimes saddled with saying things out loud that his actions already made clear, he still sells them. He makes the ‘aw-shucks’ and ‘gee whizzes’ that spot his dialogue feel natural. His chemistry with everyone—be it romantic/sparring with Brosnahan, antagonistic with Hoult, or gentle concern with every background artist he encounters—is lovely. It is wonderful to have a Superman one can just declare great rather than offer, “Well, I think he could be terrific if the script were better.”

Even better is Brosnahan’s Lois. She’s nearly ideal as the hard-charging investigative reporter who isn’t afraid to put down the proverbial pad and paper and get in the mix when necessary. As noted above, when the film takes a brief detour into being the Lois and Terrific show, there isn’t a moment where the audience doubts she belongs there and is every bit as essential to saving the day as the guy in the costume with the T-spheres.

There are also plenty of bits bound to make viewers and comic book fans smile. The Superman robots, led by 4 (Alan Tudyk), and their insistence on their own lack of emotion. Krypto (people love that dog). Jimmy Olsen (Skyler Gisondo) getting an update that feels modern yet accurate to the character’s history, drawing inspiration from the 2019 Superman’s Pal series by Matt Fraction and Steve Lieber. The rest of the Daily Planet feeling “right” even in (INCREDIBLY) limited screentime.

Superman isn’t flawless. The fight sequences, frequently a highlight of Gunn’s work, work for everyone except the Man of Steel. His are often too frantic and zoomed in to get a feel for them. Also, I don’t ever need to see Superman punch an unsuperpowered man’s teeth out of his mouth, and neither do audiences. Still, what the film gets right—the man and the Superman of its title, his friends, his love interest, his fellow heroes—it gets very right. It doesn’t matter if this is the launching of another DC Comics cinematic universe. It matters that it is a good Superman movie.

Superman lands in theatres starting July 11.

Superman Trailer: