In another era – even a few years ago – I would have gone to see this movie in cinemas very happily. But along with being less interested in most movies that come out in theatres generally these days, when this was announced I just groaned, saying to myself 'again?'

Then, when I saw the trailer that was stuffed with characters that looked like they should have been left in the comic books and never committed to celluloid (Nathan Fillion with that idiotic haircut? The frigging super-dog?) my already-low interest plummeted further.

But the kid who grew up in the spectacle-as-cinema era of the 70s and 80s is still in there somewhere, so I figured I'd probably catch up with it on streaming some time or other.

The first big question to ask is whether it has any reason to exist. We've seen this character in four movie franchises (as well as a handful of TV shows) since I've been around – what possible point of difference could it offer?

It has to be said new DC co-head honcho James Gunn does do something different with the actual filmmaking. The whole thing has a very day-glowish colour palette that reminded me of the way Martin Scorsese lit and shot different sections of The Aviator in the filmmaking styles of the era each sequence depicted.

It's even expressed in star David Corenswet's costume – back in the Christopher Reeve days we were accepting of simple coloured tights, but Bryan Singer and Zack Snyder made Brandon Routh and Henry Cavill a lot more technology-inspired.

Corenswet will actually remind you of George Reeves' iteration - the suit looks like it was made on Earth out of actual fabric by a designer who loved the 60s rather than being some symbiote alien second skin type thing.

Gunn also has his camera wheel around in a very comic book fashion, sometimes using what looks like a slightly distorted fish eye lens. There's one very prosaic shot where Lois Lane (Rachel Brosnahan) comes around the corner of a bar or counter and Superman follows her, and it's staged like an action scene, with the camera whooshing around to follow them.

In another mark in its favour, it's not another origin story. As the opening titles tell us, Superman has just lost a battle with some alien being thing. It's a long shot across the icy wastes of the arctic and something comes rocketing into the frame to explode against the ice. We zoom in and it's a bloodied, exhausted Superman, who calls Krypto and tells him to carry him home.

The Fortress of Solitude erupts from the ground and his small army of AI robots nurse him back to health, but Superman has to get back to Metropolis to neutralise the alien threat.

But more trouble is brewing thanks to industrialist Lex Luthor (Nicholas Hoult). Superman's unilateral actions are already being questioned after he'd intervened in a brewing conflict between two fictional warring nations, but nobody has any idea Luthor is in league with the corrupt president of one of them.

He sends a giant monster to attack the city as a distraction while he breaks into the Fortress of Solitude to learn how to beat his nemesis. Superman can only defeat the giant creature with the help of the stupidest element of the movie, a trio of heroes consisting of Green Lantern Guy (Fillion), Hawkgirl (Isabela Merced) and the supremely stupidly named Mr Terrific (Edi Gathegi), who floats around on a flying chair and controls a small fleet of drones... or something?

The three constantly argue, including about their names (Guy wants them to call themselves the Justice Gang), but they help Superman take down the creature before the real bombshell drops. With his shapeshifting alien thing sidekick called only The Engineer (Maria Gabriela de Faria), Luthor has decoded the rest of the broken message Superman's parents sent with the probe that bought him to Earth as a baby.

He's always used it for comfort, hearing his parent talk about how they believe he can help humanity and be an example to the Earth, but it turns out the rest of the message was them exhorting him to enslave and control the human race if they don't accede to his superior power.

Superman is horrified about the true purpose he never knew about, and public sentiment turns against him. He agrees to surrender to military authorities, wanting no part of controlling the world, but because of a deal they have with Luthor they hand the hero to him and he locks him away in a netherworld called a pocket universe (yes, it's another fucking multiverse) where he's banished all his enemies.

It's up to Lois to team up with Mr Terrific to find Superman and help break him out, sending the pocket universe spewing out in the real world that causes a literal tear in reality approaching Metropolis.

Superman and the Justice Gang have to fight a clone version of himself (Ultraman) as well as go and head off the war about to explode between the two feuding nations. Luthor's put-upon girlfriend Eve, who secretly holds a candle for Jimmy Olsen (Skyler Gisondo), has a part to play in exposing Luthor's true motive, and it all ends in a whirlwind of plotting, bright colours and movement.

Was it worth watching? Sure – it's fun as disposable as the type Hollywood specialises in. Did it do anything sufficiently different to make it essential viewing?

I'd say no, and ordinarily I might attribute that to the fact that we've seen the character so many times before, but Todd Phillips and Joaquin Phoenix proved how great performances, story and filmmaking could give a tired old franchise or character thrilling new life with Joker, so it's made me a bit less forgiving of movies that don't stand out enough from previous versions.