Superman ~ Review - 7/11/2025

What makes Superman, well, super? Aside from being neigh-invulnerable, super strong, and having the ability to fly, just what exactly makes him a hero? Is it his ability to punch things hard? Or, perhaps, there’s something more.

Superman as a character has been a tough nut to crack for Hollywood. This is partially because of Christopher Reeve’s iconic performance in Richard Donner’s 1978 Superman: The Movie. The other problem is that Superman feels a little square and old-fashioned to our modern sensibilities. Bryan Singer tried to bring Superman into modern times by contrasting him against the cynical world of 2006, all while aping Donner’s aesthetic. Zack Snyder’s approach was to lean into the operatic mythological aspects of the character in Man of Steel, Batman v. Superman, and Justice League. All these modern approaches to Superman have their merits, and they work up to a point. But Singer’s version was too beholden to the 1970’s, while Snyder’s version was too stoic – there was a remove from the audience in those films. Something has been crucially missing from the Superman character in his big-screen appearances.

James Gunn’s Superman is a new franchise starter that eschews the traditional origin story. Instead, the film opens in medias res, where Superman/Clark Kent (David Corenswet) has been around Metropolis for three years, has been dating Lois Lane (Rachel Brosnahan) for three months (and subsequently she knows his secret identity), and he lives in a distinctly comic book-y universe. Magic, super science, and other superheroes all co-exist next to each other.

After getting involved in a political conflict between two warring fictional countries, Superman has found himself at odds with humanity. As various governments and citizens wonder what Superman's intentions are. Complicating things, industrialist tech-mogul billionaire Lex Luthor (Nicholas Hoult) has made it his entire mission to wipe out Superman and everything he stands for. To do this, Luthor has concocted a scheme that will bring Superman down without throwing a punch.

What surprised me most about Superman was its quirky tone. Writer/director Gunn has crafted a film that has the vibe of a hangout indie comedy more so than a mega-million-dollar superhero franchise starter. The film has less of an overarching villain plot, per se, and is comprised of several interconnected vignettes involving Superman.

I have to admit, it took me a moment to groove to what Gunn was doing here. The first chunk of the movie moves at a breakneck pace, throwing ideas, characters, and sequences at you almost with reckless abandon. However, once I keyed in to what the Gunn was doing, I was completely onboard. I loved the fact that the film is so unapologetically a comic book. Krypto the super dog is a major presence. Superman fights a giant monster at one point. And a superhero team dubbed the “Justice Gang” comprised of DC Comics second-stringers; Mr. Terrific (Edi Gathegi), Hal Jordan (Nathan Fillion), and Hawkgirl (Isabela Merced) are all part of the texture of the world. The film presents an earnest, colorful world, and watching the film feels like what it was like to read a random issue of the Superman comics when I was a kid. However, the thing I keep coming back to is how kind the film is, and how its warm beating heart is fully on its sleeve.

None of this would work in the slightest without David Corenswet. He has the toughest role of making Clark/Superman feel like a real person. The challenge is that Superman, while naïve, is not an idiot. Corenswet pulls off this tightrope with aplomb, bringing Superman's inherent empathy to the fore. Superman is a thankless role for a movie star, because the character can easily get lost in the noise of the film, or the long shadow of Christopher Reeve can swallow him. Corenswet manages to carry the movie, especially in the more emotional moments, particularly with Lois and with the scenes with his dad, Johnathan (Pruitt Taylor Vince).

It should be no surprise that Rachel Brosnahan is a fantastic Lois Lane. She played a plucky Lois Lane type on The Marvelous Mrs. Maisel, and she brings that same His Girl Friday energy to her work here. Brosnahan also brings a world-weariness to the role, which bounces off Corenswet’s naïve sincerity nicely.

Nicholas Hoult brings an ambitious cruelty and pettiness to Lex Luthor. I feel like in other interpretations of Lex, the filmmakers have a little too much fun with him – either falling in love with the performance (as with Gene Hackman), or having him spout big philosophical ideas (like Jesse Eisenberg), but here Luthor is a true villain. Nothing about him is lovable or endearing, and Hoult’s performance is cold, calculating, and terrifying all at the same time.

There’s a moment, roughly in the middle of the film, where Lois chides Clark for not being punk rock and being uncool and a square. However, in our world where might makes right and petty grievances and gleeful cruelty rule the day, empathy and kindness are transgressive acts; they are punk rock. That’s what makes Superman a hero. James Gunn's Superman is here to espouse empathy and compassion in one big, weird, compassionate comic book movie.

Three and a half out of Four Stars