I loved Superman.
James Gunn has given us a movie that feels like a comic book — like issue 75 of some long-running series. It starts in media res, both of Superman’s life and of his current battle (continued from last issue!). It doesn’t feel the need to hand-hold us into deep discussion and detail and backstory of everyone and everything, but trusts us, beyond a few opening words on the screen, to keep up as the story starts at high speed, characters pop up left and right, and the action never really lets up.
I mean, Superman’s been around for years? Metahumans have been on earth for centuries? Guy Gardner is a Green Lantern and that means something? The government is already worried about things? Luthor’s had time to put together a multiple plots against his arch-enemy? And we didn’t need a full movie to explain it?
The comic book feel extends as well to some aspects of the plot, which in places enjoys — or suffers from — the ability of the comics to have the reader just turn the page and ignore some sort of hand-waveable reality hiccup. That aside, the setting feels believable (for all its SF/Fantasy elements) because it is presented as not only believable but on-going. We’ve never seen this precise Metropolis and DC Earth before, but it feels like we have, not just because so much parallels the basic Superman setting, but because it acts like we’ve been here before, like we’ve seen another half-dozen movies with these characters, actors, and reality.
The movie is funny, it’s dramatic, it’s moving, it’s fun, it’s violent, and it has perhaps one of the best “this is what a super-hero battle looks like from the perspective of a civilian caught in the middle of it” sequences I’ve seen.
The production quality is overall top notch. I believed a man could fly. I thought the action sequences were well done. And a special call-out to David Fleming and John Murphy’s solid soundtrack, and Gunn/Warner Bros. for spending the money for them to make extensive (but still their own) use of John Williams’ iconic Superman score.
The cast is all great for their parts, whether the role is nuanced, character, and/or scene-chewing. Special commendation goes to David Corenswet as an eminently human Clark/Supes, Nicholas Hoult as a finely maniacal Lex Luthor, and Rachel Brosnahan as a believable Lois Lane. The rest of the actors, whether their characters are human or metahuman, do their jobs well and are written/directed by Gunn just as they need to be.
And, yes, Krypto the Super-Dog is here. And he’s wonderful.
I guess, on reflection, I understand why some folk have complained (pre-release) that this Superman is too (i.e., any) “woke,” since (a) he’s interested in the world, not just the country he lives in, (b) some distinctly self-aggrandizing villainous types paint him as a menace for being an immigrant and (literal) alien, (c) he live in a great metropolitan area that includes civilians of color, and (d) he preaches kindness, helping people, and personal responsibility to be a good person. But, frankly, if those sorts of things bother you, I suggest you avoid reading any Superman comics since his introduction in 1938.
Be that as it may, I have to be honest — I’m a comics fan and a soft touch for super-hero movies (I even have nice things to say about the least successful MCU productions). So one might expect I’d enjoy this film to at least some degree. Granted.
But I feel confident in saying Superman (2025) has instantly landed in the nebulous Top 5 Super-Hero Movies I’ve Ever Seen list. I am looking forward to see more of Corenswet and more of the new DC Universe James Gunn is helping build.
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