The Simplistic Moral Lessons of “Superman”

The world may be going to hell, but the writer and director James Gunn has graced it with a sunshine “Superman.” The most recent installments in the franchise—Zack Snyder’s diptych “Man of Steel” (2013) and “Batman v Superman: Dawn of Justice” (2016)—had a hectic, howling, near-apocalyptic sense of tragedy, but Gunn’s vision is bright, chipper, and sentimental. Admittedly, there’s a blast of grimness right at the start, but it’s only a ruse.