Superman may be the most comic book movie I’ve ever seen in my life.

Unless you’ve been living on another planet, then you’ve heard that a new Superman film was coming out. Directed by James Gunn, this new film arrives at a time when love for the superhero genre has faded. Which is interesting in the sense that this new film embraces comic books to a degree that I’m not sure any other comic based film has. Guardians of the Galaxy, another James Gun product, also embraces the weirdness of comic books. Yet I’m not even sure that film comes close to embracing the full strange scope of what comics can be in the same way that the new Superman film does.

Consider the following unique parts about the film. A super powered dog, Krypto, who flies and wears a mini-cape. A series of robots, all themselves wearing capes, simply called “The Superman Robots.” A giant interstellar octopus thing that superheroes fight outside the windows of skyscrapers while people inside carry on as if life is normal. That’s before you talk about pocket dimensions, interdimensional rifts, and artificial black holes. Superman as a film is not afraid to embrace all the pseudo scientific weirdness that is a part of comic books.

But that’s all just the window dressing, the world in which the story unfolds. And the story isn’t a complicated one. It has small “twists” but from the start, you know who the villains are. You know who the good guys are. There are no spy-level twists or any international intrigue that will keep you wondering about what’s really going on until the last moment.

No. This movie is about Superman, also known as Clark Kent, and his nemesis, Lex Luthor. Of course, these two are surrounded by a great cast of characters, but the movie is chiefly interested in exploring the two differing world views of its main hero and villain. Lex can be summarized by envy and selfishness. Clark can be summarized by hope and selflessness. From these differing qualities, they affect the world in vastly different ways. The film is clear about how unchecked ambition and selfishness can destroy the lives of others. On the other hand, the film is also quite clear that selflessness and setting an example for others can lead to acts of heroics by others that can also positively affect the world.

So who are those other characters? Well, Lex is primarily surrounded by the overly cheerful Ms. Teschmacher, Ultraman, and the Machinist, in addition to a gang of minor sycophants who act as his office team. Clark, on the other hand, has the Daily Planet team of characters such as Lois Lane and Jimmy Olson. However, as Superman, he also has the Justice Gang, consisting of Guy Gardner, Hawkgirl, and Mr. Terrific. Luthor’s behavior, in the end, is destructive and pushes people away. Clark’s behavior, on the other hand, inspires people to be better.

Of this cast, Lois Lane and Mr. Terrific are two of the most standout characters. Lois explicitly draws a contrast between herself and Clark from the start of the film. They’re very different people who see the world quite differently, because they are quite literally from different worlds. That doesn’t make Lois a bad person, just very human, distinct, and truly an emblem of the hard hitting reporter who is after the truth. Mr. Terrific, on the other hand, is one member of the Justice Gang. Terrific’ s existence, he claims, is to live for technology with little interest in human emotions. He just happens to be on the good side. But Mr. Terrific, throughout his appearances, strikes me as among the most human members of the cast. His interactions with literally everyone, from Guy Gardner to Lois to Superman himself, always are highlights of the film.

The only major con I can see to myself is how busy it is, and how it’s paced. Personally, I had absolutely zero issues with the pacing and rapid sequences. But your mileage will definitely very. The movie starts in media res, with Superman having just come off a beating, and the film never lets up from there. We’re rapidly introduced to multiple conflicts and characters over the first 30 minutes that lead into the main conflict that will occupy the last hour and a half of the film. That first 30 minutes will definitely be rough for non comic fans. It will also most likely be rough for those who have difficulty following fast paced films. It will definitely strike some as disjointed, though I had no problems following the thrust of that first half hour, and understood it was setting up what was to come over the following hour. Yet I will also admit that it may be difficult for some viewers.

On the other hand, there have been some criticisms about the film I simply cannot understand. I do not think James Gunn undercuts emotional moments with humor. In fact, I think that he lets those moments sit quite long enough. It’s simply that at some point the scene switches to something less dramatic. That’s simply scene transition, and the conflict is not undermined by those transitions. New scenes add to what came before as separate storylines begin to come together as the last conflict builds. I also don’t believe this movie doesn’t take Superman seriously enough. I truly believe anyone who thinks so just wanted a repeat of a grim, unhappy Superman. There are multiple times when Superman fully demonstrates the seriousness of the situation and his commitment to human life. He demonstrably saves people time and again, he struggles with his identity, he fights back over and over from the threshold of defeat. And Superman repeatedly emphasizes what he is about and his raison d’etre, no more greatly summarized than when Lex and Clark have two speeches that mirror each other, except with each espousing a different ethos.

But if you want to know how this movie hit me, I can summarize it like this. I set my phone down and never looked at it once. I laughed at all the great jokes. I felt my heart swell at the brave moments. I felt my heart beat when Lois and Clark struggled and grew their relationship. And I cried multiple times before the film came to its tremendous end.

Superman is in theaters now.