SUPERMAN (2025)
Superman must reconcile his alien Kryptonian heritage with his human upbringing as reporter Clark Kent.
James Gunn left Marvel Studios to co-run the DCU with Peter Safran, and his updated Superman is ground zero for this new endeavour. But can audiences succumbing to “superhero fatigue”, in an era where even the mighty MCU’s floundering, possibly get excited by the third take on Superman in two decades? And by one that wants you to forget everything since Man of Steel (2013) ever happened, and embrace a new vision for all those ancillary comic-book characters? It’s a big challenge. But at least a hard reset allows for the previous mistakes and messiness to be forgotten about (only John Cena’s Peacemaker makes the leap between universes), and for a degree of optimism to return. And God knows we’re in short supply of that today.
Wisely, Superman eschews his origin story and drops us into a colourful and firmly established universe that’s been populated by “Gods and Monsters” for three centuries. Superman (David Corenswet) is the new kid on the block, yet the strongest ‘metahuman’ that ever existed, contending with a vibrant and chaotic world where traditional human foes like billionaire industrialist Lex Luthor (Nicholas Hoult) have the means to create ‘pocket universes’ and release kaiju as mere distractions. And he’s not alone. Other superheroes and supervillains exist too—like the so-called ‘Justice Gang’ of Green Lantern/Guy Gardner (Nathan Fillion), Mister Terrific (Edi Gathegi), and Hawkgirl (Isabela Merced)—as well as his own super-powered and often disobedient dog Krypto.
Gunn’s approach feels like a live-action cartoon, with all the action and spectacle $225M can muster. It makes little sense to do otherwise in today’s cultural landscape, when you’re up against the enormity of the ever-expanding MCU, although simpler times when Superman was the only superhero in “our world” held greater appeal to me. It’s difficult to get truly excited by anything Superman does in this film, as his existence itself isn’t particularly unusual for humanity, as everyone deals with extraordinary situations every other day. The citizens of Metropolis are avoiding a giant creature stomping around town one day, the next evening there’s a gigantic bioluminescent starfish floating around (literally being ignored by Lois), and the city is later torn apart by a black hole… all in the same week! And when extraordinary people and extraordinary situations are commonplace, it feels very ordinary.
The casting is a definite hit, as the crucial roles of Clark Kent/Superman and Lois Lane (Rachel Brosnahan) are beyond reproach. The actors have great chemistry and relaxed rapport, even if it’s disappointing to see the Clark Kent alter-ego situation has again been dropped. Lois not realising her sweet but nerdy colleague at the Daily Planet is secretly the man of her dreams, and the greatest of all superheroes, feels essential to me. It’s not the same when she’s dating Clark and, for her, his “secret” extends as far as him not really needing the glasses he wears to work.
One can only assume Gunn feels like the Clark/Superman dual identity thing gets in the way of the storytelling, as you have to keep finding excuses for their positions in the plot. Still, I sorely miss seeing Clark having to fake being a wallflower, before tearing open his shirt and tie to reveal the ‘S’ of his costume, flying off to the rescue. The classic “Clark Kent” in this movie barely gets any screen time, as he’s more often without his glasses in the company of girlfriend Lois at home, or cruising through the skies as Superman. The tradition of an alter-ego continues to work brilliantly for Spider-Man (and to a lesser extent Batman), so I’m not sure why filmmakers are so against it with Superman.
Superman also provides interesting modern updates to its themes and the political flavour of various characters, particularly Lex Luthor — who has the clench-jawed ego and tech expertise of Elon Musk, mixed with the underhanded criminality and traitorous deviancy of Donald Trump. A significant backdrop to the film’s story finds two fictional countries at war, Boravia and Jarhanpur (read: Russia and Ukraine), the cartoonishly awful President of Boravia is definitely Vladimir Putin (who’s secretly getting help from Luthor/Trump), and a key part of Luthor’s plans involves discrediting a good person — Superman —in the eyes of the general public. He even has a literal army of keyboard-warrior monkeys posting ‘fake news’ to social media 24/7 inside a pocket universe. These real-world inspirations lend Superman a feeling that it has a reason to be updated once again, despite the last iteration masterminded by Zack Snyder ending in recent memory.
Gunn is ultimately working hard to change a younger generation’s view of Superman as dour and serious (as played by Henry Cavill), so it’s big and bold, bright and colourful, with Superman a more virtuous and optimistic character without that becoming cloying. Gunn certainly understands the character better than Snyder did, and wisely “de-powers” him so he doesn’t feel invincible without any Kryptonite around. One could argue Superman is actually weaker than he needed to be, as we’re introduced to him bloodied and beaten in the midst of a fight, and most of his enemies give him a run for his money in every encounter. Kryptonite does make an appearance, but this version of the character feels beatable even without its presence. That’s ultimately a good move, although I’d have appreciated more moments when Superman didn’t feel like he was on the back foot and close to defeat every single time. It was hard to sense that he was significantly more powerful than super-friends like Mr Terrific, who is a great addition simply because he’s so low-tier that it’s fun getting to know what his skill set and personality are.
The VFX are excellent and I appreciated that every set-piece on Earth happens during bright daylight. It’s great to see superheroes flying around without night or rain/snow to hide any shortcomings with the visuals, and it helps bring that Silver Age comic-book flavour to everything. The way the action is shot by Gunn feels similar to the style he utilised in his Guardians of the Galaxy movies, with the camera often close to the subjects, roving and whipping around crazily, sometimes with heavily choreographed fights happening all around a single character witnessing it. And yes, there are a handful of needle drops, although the choice of pop songs isn’t as successful or catchy as the ones deployed in the Guardians trilogy.
The original music score by John Murphy and David Fleming is another let-down, however, as the only thing memorable about it was the instances when they’d riff on some of John Williams’ iconic “Superman Theme” — which makes it feel like a lazy shortcut to delivering goosebumps to older fans.
The only downsides with the action are that Gunn’s intimate style is rarely switched up, so there are very few wide shots where we can just appreciate things happening from afar. We’re always near the shoulder of characters, or right in the face of Superman when he’s soaring through the clouds, and it starts to feel a little claustrophobic. Gunn also chose the smaller 1.85:1 aspect ratio, which makes everything feel “TV level” —when every previous Superman film has been 2.35:1 or wider. Maybe its IMAX release with a 1.90:1 aspect ratio helps matters as it’s more enveloping.
The cinematography by Henry Braham (Road House) and production design also didn’t impress me that much, again making the film feel like a ridiculously high-budget superhero show on The CW at times. The look of the Daily Planet and LexCorp buildings were particularly disappointing as they were so generic inside, while the icy Fortress of Solitude just borrows the aesthetic of the 1978 Richard Donner film.
While entertaining throughout and a welcome antidote to the grim aesthetic of the defunct Snyder-verse, Superman ultimately feels like it’s too focused on having big things happen every few minutes. It’s eager to please; a tail-wagging dog of a movie that just wants to play and have fun. But the moments that left an impression on me were the more down-to-earth interactions between actors, which essentially boils down to whenever Lois and Clark had an actual conversation —or a Kansas farm moment between the Kents (Pruitt Taylor Vince and Neva Howell) and their recuperating son. But that’s only three or four significant but fairly short scenes, as we’re otherwise sat gawping at spectacle and distractions.
James Gunn doesn’t seem to trust the audience to have the patience for slower scenes of conversation, or any sense of ebb and flow. It’s a restless movie, throwing a lot at you so you rarely have time to let a cool moment breathe. Some of the peaks of action might have hit harder had they come on the heels of a slower build to them. But as a fun reset and confident rolling out of a new superhero universe, it’s easy to imagine the rest of the DC heroes and villains fitting in well here. A super start to a new cinematic universe, even if Superman itself has plenty of shortcomings.
USA • CANADA • AUSTRALIA • NEW ZEALAND | 2025 | 129 MINUTES | 1.85:1 | COLOUR | ENGLISH
Cast & Crew
director: James Gunn.
writer: James Gunn (based on characters from ‘DC’).
starring: David Corenswet, Rachel Brosnahan, Nicholas Hoult, Edi Gathegi, Anthony Carrigan, Nathan Fillion & Isabela Merced.
