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MOVIE REVIEW: Superman (M). NO. Sorry. Close but no cigar. I went to the screening full of optimism and hope DC finally could make a second halfway decent super hero movie to follow its first Wonder Woman effort. Yes, it hit the target a few times. But a bullseye?

Sadly no, even though I had my fingers and toes crossed. Was James Gunn's version better than what was dished up in Henry Cavill's murderous outings in the cape, namely "Man of Steel" and "Batman v Superman: Dawn of Justice"?

Yes, and by a long way. But was it better than the too-often-maligned Brandon Routh version of the last son of Krypton in "Superman Returns"?

Not really.

And does it even come close to Christopher Reeve's 1978 classic, the quintessential "Superman"?

Hell no. 

For me, it starts with the Superman "S". For the life of me, I can't understand why every new iteration of Supes needs to reinvent the wheel where his classic symbol is concerned. At least director/writer Gunn kept the man of steel's red undies on the outside. I mean, who knows how they wear their underwear on Planet Krypton where Kal-El, er Clark Kent is from originally?

But kudos for not again subjecting audiences to another long-winded and unnecessary origin story and instead setting this one three years into Superman's emergence as a crime-fighter.

We start with Superman (David Corenswet) battered and bruised from his first defeat in battle, so those of you who, like me, grew up with an indestructible super hero, here's your first surprise. He bleeds.

The arrival of Krypto the dog is another, more pleasant surprise. Haven't seen him since the animated "The New Adventures of Superman" back in the mid-to-late 60s and he (mostly) brings the comic relief.

But that's part of the problem. While pitching this Superman as an established super hero in a world that also has other metahumans such as Guy Gardiner's Green Lantern, Hawkgirl and Mr Terrific - who stole the movie for mine - there is some notable tinkering with his back story which doesn't sit as comfortably.

In trying to show Superman's "humanity", Gunn forgets that he ISN'T human but has been nurtured as one by the Kents who first found, then fostered him. Superman is an alien, otherwise he wouldn't boast the powers that are heightened by Earth's yellow sun.

So much of the movie is not explained, with the viewer expected to take much on face value. The accusatory nature of an interview Superman does with Lois Lane (Rachel Brosnahan) is not just contrived and overlong, but as far distant from the sweetness of a similar scene from the 1978 film as you could get.

That Lois (Margot Kidder) was suitably starry-eyed but of course now we need more realism because, you know, you're supposed to take super hero films so very seriously.

At least DC does, although it has tried to be a little more moderate here. Trouble is, a Russian roulette scene and city building after city building being demolished - which in that important "realistic" world would surely mean thousands of deaths - and some sort of being who can torture Superman, just isn't the stuff of joy for the little kids.

That's why it's rated M and several unsuspecting mothers were escorting their tiny tots out while the film was in progress.

Gunn also could never quite decide what the tone of this one would be, a Marvel-style adventure with a sly wink of reassurance to the audience that yes, we know it's all just a little silly. Or a drama. You would have thought Gunn, who anchored Marvel's wacky Guardians of the Galaxy movies, would have found the perfect mix.

Lex Luthor (Nicholas Hoult) has so much power, genius and resources at his disposal that his ultimate motivation to be a king is borderline ludicrous.

Yes, they also continued to copy Marvel with a scene after the credits have rolled, and while this was a step in a better direction for DC, it was a far smaller step than many of us hoped.

Go see it again? No thanks. Give me another screening of "Thunderbolts*" any day.