Time: 129 Minutes
Age Rating: M – Violence
Cast:
David Corenswet as Clark Kent/ Superman
Rachel Brosnahan as Lois Lane
Nicholas Hoult as Lex Luthor
Edi Gathegi as Michael Holt/ Mister Terrific
Anthony Carrigan as Rex Mason/ Metamorpho
Nathan Fillion as Guy Gardner/ Green Lantern
Isabela Merced as Kendra Saunders/ Hawkgirl
Director: James Gunn

Superman (2025) is the start of the DCU following the conclusion of the DCEU a couple of years ago. I will admit that I wasn’t exactly that excited for this movie. I like director James Gunn’s work on the Guardians of the Galaxy movies, but overall, I’m not a super big fan of his style and the trailers weren’t inspiring much confidence in me. Still, I decided to watch it in the cinema for myself. My feelings are a little complicated, but I can say that I liked it.

The writing is my main issue. Throughout the whole movie, you do feel that it was from the director of Guardians of the Galaxy, certain aspects and writing choices feel very Gunn, for better or for worse. The tone is all over the place, bouncing between goofiness and attempts at heartfelt emotion and while I think it worked for GOTG, for Superman, it didn’t really gel for me and it felt a little uneven. The humour (also distinctly Gunn) was very hit or miss for me, and it sometimes undercut the emotional weight of particular dramatic scenes. Gunn made the decision to not have his Superman movie be an origin story, instead jumping into a Superman who has been working for 3 years. This means that Lois Lane, the Daily Planet, Lex Luthor, the Fortress of Solitude, all of them are already established in this world. While this means the movie doesn’t need to dedicate time to introducing them, they don’t get the kind of screentime or depth you might be hoping for. We barely see Clark Kent at the Daily Planet, and while we do get some scenes with Lois and Clark, not nearly as much as I would’ve liked to have seen (which is disappointing since those scenes were amongst the highlights of the film).

The movie has such an erratic pace, it always feels like it has a rush on. There are barely any moments to breathe and as such, no time to process things. There is a notable twist some ways into the movie which some people are really not going to like (I didn’t have any strong feelings about it). It’s meant to be this incredibly impactful moment, but I didn’t really feel said impact, perhaps it might’ve helped if we were allowed to sit with it for just a moment before moving onto the next plot point. Part of the problem is the fact that the movie has a lot it needs to cover. The movie already has a lot as a Superman story with subplots and multiple characters to keep track of and easily could’ve stuck with. But then it also adds in a group of heroes known as the Justice Gang with Green Lantern, Hawkgirl and Mr. Terrific, who also take up even more screentime. There are multiple scenes of characters giving exposition to the camera to convey information to the audience quickly, summarising the plot or their characters. I couldn’t help, but feel that it was because the movie just doesn’t have enough time to actually stop to convey it in any better way. An extra 15 minutes to let everything breathe would’ve done absolute wonders. Additionally, the time dedicated to a particular subplot involving Jimmy Olsen, could’ve been channelled into literally anything else in the movie instead. My favourite moments of Superman were the rare times where it does slow down, such as the few conversation scenes between Clark/Superman and Lois, or scenes with Clark and his parents. Superman does actually aim to be endearing and heartfelt and I very nearly felt that emotion, and it was disappointing it didn’t quite reach that for me. I will say that I was never bored, rushed pacing aside, I generally enjoyed it, and Krypto the super powered dog is also pretty good and a standout.

David Corenswet is great as Clark Kent/Superman and is the film’s greatest strength. He brings such warmth, sincerity and believability to his role, although I wished that we got to see a bit more of his Clark Kent in this movie. Rachel Brosnahan is also really good as Lois Lane, she and Corenswet share believable chemistry. I just wished that they had more screentime together, and that she had more screentime in general. The aspect of the movie I was most looking forward to was Nicholas Hoult as Lex Luthor. Writingwise, I do think that Luthor was a little disappointing, I couldn’t help but feel that there was something missing. That being said, Hoult absolutely delivers on his part. He is wonderfully cartoonishly evil, chewing up the scenery, and conveys Lex’s immense hatred for Superman. Earlier on, I said that the Justice Gang was an unnecessary addition to the movie that just added to an already overstuffed plot. However, Edi Gathegi as Mr. Terrific was a standout and was really great in his part.

I found James Gunn’s direction to be a real mixed bag. The visuals are all over the place. Henry Braham is the cinematographer, who previously shot The Flash, and with Superman you certainly felt that it was shot by the same person (although Superman most of the time doesn’t get nearly as visually ugly outside of one sequence later on in the movie). It ranges between being visually beautiful, to bland, artificial or downright bad looking. It’s mainly its daytime scenes where it looks flat, while the darker lit scenes look better. I’m also not a fan of the constant wide angles, it felt pretty wonky and not necessarily in a good way. The action is pretty good and entertaining. They’re certainly very loud and the camerawork and pans can be dizzying and jarring. But it does pick up notably in the third act, and I do like the representation of the super powers on screen, especially Superman’s. The soundtrack from John Murphy and David Fleming is pretty good and has some standout moments, even if it relies on being similar to John Williams’s theme a bit too much.

Superman is a mixed bag, visually and totally inconsistent, overstuffed and messy and erratically paced with barely chances to breathe. However, the cast and action largely deliver, it had some good moments, and it is enjoyable. I can say that I’m at least on board with David Corenswet’s Superman going forward, and am looking forward to the next time he’s on screen.