{"id":160781,"date":"2025-07-12T21:53:11","date_gmt":"2025-07-13T03:53:11","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/?p=160781"},"modified":"2025-07-12T21:53:11","modified_gmt":"2025-07-13T03:53:11","slug":"movie-review-superman-2025","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/2025\/07\/12\/movie-review-superman-2025.html","title":{"rendered":"Movie Review: Superman<\/i> (2025)"},"content":{"rendered":"

<\/meter> 4.0 Acting
\n<\/meter> 4.5 Production
\n<\/meter> 5.0 Story
\n<\/meter>\u00a04.5\u00a0OVERALL<\/strong> with a \u2665<\/p>\n

\"Superman<\/a>
David Corenswet as Superman<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

I loved Superman<\/em>.<\/p>\n

James Gunn has given us a movie that feels<\/em> like a comic book — like issue 75 of some long-running series. It starts in media res<\/em>, 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.<\/p>\n

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?\u00a0 The government is already worried about things?\u00a0 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?<\/p>\n

\"Superman<\/a>
Superman 2025 poster<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

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<\/em>. 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<\/em> like we’ve been here before, like we’ve seen another half-dozen movies with these characters, actors, and reality.<\/p>\n

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.<\/p>\n

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.<\/p>\n

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.<\/p>\n

\"Krypto<\/a>
Krypto!<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

And, yes, Krypto the Super-Dog is here. And he’s wonderful.<\/p>\n

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.<\/p>\n

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.<\/p>\n

But I feel confident in saying Superman<\/em> (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.<\/p>\n

Do you want to know more?<\/em><\/p>\n