This movie was made by the same guy who made the Guardians of the Galaxy movies, and it shows. There's a lot of the same sort of tropes going on, and you could see lots of things in this movie taking place in a GoG film, with the characters swapped around. I think a lot of people would consider the depiction of Superman as disrespectful, although I don't believe that was Gunn's intent, I think he thinks this version is "relatable" as if that's the point of Superman (the "super" part is kind of a hint). He's just as earnest and nice as Christopher Reeves' character, and the people he deals with are giving him an even harder side-eye in this even more post-ironic era, but he lacks the dignity and gravitas that Reeves brought to the role, and he's not as charismatic as Henry Cavil. He also comes across as a lot dumber and more shallow. I suspect James Gunn is like one of those annoying & hyperactive kids, who got so many participation trophies and invitations to talk about his feelings, that he never learned to moderate it, and is writing Superman as awkward and socially inept, because HE feels that makes Superman relatable.

I think that, too, is why Gunn appears to have made statements asserting a political element to this film, even if it isn't really apparent, or at least not offensively so. I think he inserted a lot of political dog whistles and so forth into the script, and if you share his ideology or understanding of current politics, you will recognize and appreciate them, but they are very ignorable otherwise, because they are so lazily & specifically coded. There is a very Slavic sounding Eastern European tyrant attempting to invade another country, and I am pretty sure if you are seething with hatred towards Vladimir Putin, you will happily cheer against him, even if there is no physical resemblance or other specific analogous behavior. Another scene of a group of people declaring their support for Superman or else asking him for help, at a moment when the rest of the world isn't too keen on him, might be heartwarming if you are the sort to automatically grant more significance to the fact that they are dark skinned, and their fictitious desert country's name ends in "-bad", but otherwise raises all sorts of questions and logical issues, and to a certain extent, supports a diegetic criticism of Superman when the scene actually seems intended to refute it.

The film raises the question of Superman's intervention in geopolitical conflicts, but doesn't do anything with it. It's not an issue over which Superman is conflicted, and he mostly gets annoyed when someone tries to point out the complications of the situation, while the film itself is portraying him as acting in good faith, and pays lip service to the argument that he is a private citizen and there should not be political ramifications to his actions. But as referenced above, Superman is dumb, socially awkward and inarticulate and doesn't really voice a coherent argument for his position. Meanwhile, the movie adds in all sorts of superhero secret aspects to the international conflict that MAKES it Superman's business, thus begging the question.

The film shares a tendency I noted in the last Gunn film I saw, Guardians of the Galaxy 3, to show lots of damage and disaster stuff taking place, and then handwave it away with little exploration of the consequences of the failures of structural integrity we see. At the same time, the movie is creating excessive action situations with attempted inflation of the stakes, that don't land, because it's so cartoony, you never really believe the characters are in peril.

They are also trying to play up a mystery about one of the antagonists, and the reveal is basically the most obvious answer to anyone who has watched science fiction. IDK if a deep lore Superman fan would figure out, or if the name of this mysterious villain is a red herring that would fool the readers of picture books. I seem to recall "Ultraman" being a name I've heard of elsewhere, though IDK if it was a parody or Superman analog diegetic to another work. Or maybe it was from that alternate universe that Marvel created to let the Avengers beat up the Justice League without DC suing.

As far as the performances go, Superman is awkward, twitchy, says the wrong thing a lot, and does not seem to understand journalistic procedures, and is apparently a bad writer. He makes dinner for Lois Lane, telling her "it's your favorite XXX", to which she responds, "NO, XXX is your favorite." It's stuff like this that makes me think he is supposed to be on the spectrum, or else the creatives are, and think this is quirky, and not assholish. Part of Superman being extremely good and extremely nice, is that it is out of sincere concern for other people. Someone like that does not conflate others' preferences or likes with their own, they do not constantly accidentally offend people, because they care about how their words will be perceived and speak accordingly (especially if they are professional writers, and thus should have a vocabulary sufficient to express themselves well, but then, Brandon Sanderson exists, so... ). Another thing is that Superman is specifically cited to be extremely trusting, when as I recall from articles I read about classic Superman comics, he went to extraordinary and extreme lengths to conceal his secret identity, especially from Lois. All in all, I can't say if the acting is competently executing a weird script, or is a weird performance of a character, and I can't, for the life of me, remember the actor's name. Nicholas Hoult is Lex Luthor, and I don't see much difference, aside from the hair & garb, between his version, and Jesse Eisenberg's. He's just a less, well, quirky a la this version of Superman, than Eisenberg's Luthor. He is introduced with his climactic evil plot against Superman in full swing, with multiple sci-fi magic aspects all up and running, which makes him almost implausibly impotent and capable until it's time for his plans to fail. Assisting him against Superman is a nannite-wielding woman called "Engineer" with the typical omnipotence-unti-she-isn't power scope granted such characters in current media, and the aforementioned mysterious Ultraman. Also, among his vast array of technicians and other minions is a somewhat heavyset guy named Otis, and a much more attractive, if just as superficially vapid, Miss Tesmacher. She is another one whose characterization is "whatever is convenient at the moment" and whose motivations for various actions come straight out of Gunn's ass with zero build up or development.

Rachel Brosnahan plays Lois, being less skeevy than her role as the call girl turned lesbian on House of Cards, and less annoying and less of a walking argument for anti-Semitism than she appears in commercials for her title role in "The Marvelous Mrs Maisel." Other actors I recognized were Wendell Pierce, maintaining the joke from Man of Steel of a black guy, playing Perry White, and the members of a superhero team called the Justice Gang, played by Nathan Fillion as Green Lantern, Edi Gathegi as Mr Terrific, and the ubiquitous Isabela Merced as Hawkgirl (I don't think she's a fem-swap for the guy from Black Adam; I seem to remember both a Hawkman & Hawkgirl, appearing concurrently in the CW shows). Pruitt Taylor Vince, who usually plays fat bald criminals plays the most redneck version yet of Jonathan Kent, Frank Grillo plays a general named Flag, having received a promotion since his appearance as a colonel in the first Suicide Squad movie, and apparently recovering from being killed off while being played by a younger actor in "THE Suicide Squad" written & directed by Gunn, which is still in continuity, because John Cena has a cameo as his character from that film. Also, it seems like Gunn got together with a bunch of his buddies from the Guardians movies to film the scenes in the Fortress of Solitude, featuring Bradley Cooper, Michael Rooker & Pom Klementieff playing robots and holograms, and presumably Vin Diesel playing the sound of the ice cracking. Oh, and Gunn's brother has a brief bit as Max Lord, who, played by different actors, was on the Supergirl show and was the best part of the execrable Wonder Woman sequel. So if you are looking for a superlative about this film, it's arguably the best work featuring Max Lord.

Of the three big summer blockbusters due out this year, it's better than Jurassic World: Afterbirth, and it's anyone's guess where Fantastic Four will stand next to them. How you think it compares to Mission Impossible depends largely on your movie tastes and attachment to the respective franchises. F1 seems to be the best movie, largely by default, of this summer (I have not seen "Sinners" because I'm about tapped out on Jordan Peele's race baiting), and 28 Years Later was ambitious but flawed.