Movie Review - Superman (2025)

[Dave Gray]

Superman (2025)

Premise: Three years after coming out to the world as Superman, Clark Kent struggles with his legal and ethical place in the world as public opinion is shaken:  Is he inspiration for good, a protector, or a ruler to be feared and worshipped?

Rating: Great fun, but unapologetically comic-booky.

This movie is going to be divisive, I think.  Of the people we went with, everyone in the group enjoyed it quite a bit, save for my wife.  She found it storyless and confusing.  And while I don't agree, I understand.

Superman is much, MUCH more comic-book inspired than certainly any Supes films before it, but more than almost all comic-book movies, in general.  It's as if you went and bought a graphic novel that covered a story midway into his career and just started reading.  The film assumes you know the setup.  There is only backstory on the characters insofar as that which helps tell this current story.  We don't learn about Superman's origins or powers, Lex Luthor's motivations, or any introductions to characters, even those that are F-list in popularity.

The film just isn't interested in telling you who anyone is or what their powers are.  But it introduces that there are meta-humans that are around and you are kinda dropped into it and that's that.  There is a version of Green Lantern that I've literally never heard of (Guy Gardener) and if you aren't familiar with any of that, maybe you'll be turned off when he starts slapping tanks around with a giant green hand.  There are so many other characters dropped in, each with crazy comic-book concepts, and you just go with it.  To name a few: Krypto, Ultraman, Mr. Terrific, Hawkgirl, Metamorpho, The Engineer, Fortress of Solitude Robots, Lexbots, Interdimensional Monsters.  And that's not counting the staff of the Daily Planet, the government task force, concepts like pocket dimensions, flying spacecrafts, war profiteers, alien babies, etc.

Another thing that James Gunn does is populate scenes with characters that you can tell are plucked from comics -- they have too distinct of looks and tag along where you don't expect them, but they aren't really important in THIS movie, specifically.  It seems like he's put actors in scenes that can be used later and used any opportunity to put named characters where you'd normally see extras.   Some actors are way more famous than the role portrayed.

And I haven't even brought up hints and cameos to other things, of which there are several.

It's a lot...

That said, it's what I liked about it.  It is so unconventional, in terms of how, not only to tell a comic book movie, but to start a comic book universe.  It's like you started the Marvel Universe with Guardians of the Galaxy 2 and just threw the audience in head-first.  It's just a warts and all take on unapologetic DC Superman with all of its crazyness out in front, much like we saw with Guardians and The Suicide Squad.  How are you going to make a talking tree work?  A bazooka-toting racoon?  A king shark?  Polka Dot Man?  Just f'ing do it, that's how.

So, that's a lot of what makes this movie what it is and whether or not you connect with it or don't will likely stem from this.

That said, onto the film itself: David Corenswet is perfect as both Clark and Superman, from frame one.  You never question it.  Superman is every bit the character that you know him to be.  It's a different take than both Cavill and Reeve, in that he's fully earnest, but also kinda goofy and a little vulnerable.  Clark isn't bumbling like Reeve and he isn't brooding like Cavill.  But he's undeniably good and that's never in question and he wears it on his sleeve, throughout.

The cast is great: Lois, Jimmy Olsen, even the goofy superheroes are all well played and, to my surprise, integral to the film and not just quick cameos.

The film is a little bit rude here and there, with James Gunn humor peppered through.  The tone is more fun and silly than grounded and dark.  No jokes are cringey but I also didn't find the movie laugh out loud funny, save for a few gags.

What didn't work as well for me as I'd hoped was the music.  It reuses John Williams' iconic score, but remixed in a way that doesn't hit with the same grandiose power.  Also, Gunn uses modern music and some slo-mo sequences that feel very much like the hallway scene from Guardians 3 or the Harley fight sequence in The Suicide Squad -- but it just doesn't land as well.

All in all, I enjoyed this movie quite a bit, but I can see how you'd just think it was a mish-mash of outlandish silliness if you weren't bought in.  Also, it's a springboard into thinking about the rest of the DC.  Whatever Batman comes from this universe is going to be able to have the likes of Man-Bat, Calendar Man, and Egghead.  Tonally, this opens the door to do whatever you want.  I fully expect Batman to have a giant penny and a T-Rex in the Batcave, like the comics.  It's that nuts.

[Phishfan]

The last thing we needed was an oriigin story. I'm glad it is getting good reviews. DC really needed a home run.

[Fau Teixeira]

I saw it yesterday, i thought it was good. It was a happier superman movie than we've been getting.

I hated the reeve superman movies, that one Superman returns movie was horrid. But i did like the Henry Cavell superman character.

This is a totally different direction. You can tell it's James Gunn, it had a guardians of the galaxy feel to it for sure. It was fun, and kinda lighter and it worked.