Warning: This review contains some spoilers about the plot
In the summer of 2013 after a Superman hiatus following the Christopher Reeve movies, fans got their first glimpse of a new portrayal of perhaps the most classically beloved superhero of all time. Man of Steel, which played in theaters across the world, turned out to be a fairly gritty take on Superman, featuring a much darker version of the hero than fans were used to. Now, after a long run of DC blockbusters by Zack Snyder, DC is giving the keys to their most iconic hero to a new filmmaker. Coming off his Guardians of the Galaxy success and role as co-CEO of DC Studios, James Gunn gets the opportunity to create his own portrayal of the beloved Superman character in 2025. With seemingly more initial widespread appeal than its Man of Steel predecessor, James Gunn’s Superman stars David Corenswet in the lead role, and promises a return to a much more traditional, hopeful superhero.
As the movie begins, fans are starkly introduced to a bloodied and beaten Superman who looks much more human than I personally was expecting. This soon becomes a theme as Superman’s human-like flaws are on full display early on. The film presents a foreign conflict where a US-allied nation invades a neighboring country, while Lois Lane proposes that Superman’s nobly intentioned intervention in the conflict was perhaps not completely thought out. The back and forth between Corenswet’s Clark Kent and Rachel Brosnahan’s Lois Lane on this topic had me excited for a film of ideological differences that asked some fairly large questions, such as just how much can one person – even someone as powerful as Superman – actually achieve on their own. This type of question being the backdrop of a movie showcasing Superman’s humanity set the film on a track that I thought was headed towards a fairly realistic depiction of a “perfect” hero failing to do as much good as intended. I foresaw Lois challenging Superman’s beliefs and forcing him to blend his innocent desire to do good with her darker view of the world, creating a more complete person and hero.
However, I was let down as the movie soon morphed into a purely action driven narrative and the topic of that argument between Lois and Clark was never really brought up again. Instead, Superman was simply correct about everything and overcame anything in his way with his morality and innate goodness.
The superhero – super villain conflict was still done in a pretty interesting manner though. A lot of the actual action felt redundant and unimpressive – perhaps a quality associated with the difficulty of choreography for fight scenes involving flight. However, Nicholas Hoult’s Lex Luther was a welcome addition. He played the role of Lex as more of a tech billionaire evil businessman than an actual genius. His evil nature was so dramatic at times, it took me a little while to get used to. Once I indulged in the theatrics though, his performance was really fun to watch. I appreciated that his character is smart enough to be self aware of his envy, leaning into the trait to achieve his goal of establishing a lasting legacy.
For the sake of fun entertainment, I love the addition of the Justice Gang. All three characters bring their own distinct personalities and provide most of the humor in the film. Edi Gathegi’s Mr. Terrific stole the show in my opinion. With his fluently choreographed fight on his way to save Superman, Mr. Terrific had by far the best action sequence of the movie. It was reminiscent of Chris Pratt’s opening Guardians of the Galaxy scene – still one of my favorite scenes of the MCU. Unfortunately, Mr. Terrific’s fascinating powers and somewhat concealed personality made me far more interested in his character than Superman’s. Honestly I think any of the Justice Gang members would have made for a more interesting protagonist than the somewhat basic Superman character we got. David Corenswet plays the part well, but there’s only so much he can do with a character that has so little development or internal conflict.
Clark’s relationship with Lois was only slightly more interesting than Superman’s character himself. The beginning of the movie set up their differences in a very real and interesting way. However, once Lex and the Justice Gang got involved, there were seemingly bigger fish to fry, and their relationship was put on the back burner, without much time to establish a real connection. As a result, it seemed like their resolution and final kiss only happened because that’s what is supposed to happen in a Superman movie, not because it was earned. Perhaps this is also a byproduct of James Gunn’s intention to not give the fans yet another origin story. We are placed in the middle of this world where Clark and Lois are already together, and we are asked to believe in their relationship based on our existing knowledge of the story, rather than built up development with these specific characters.
Yet, Superman’s adopted parents, the Kents, are some of my favorite characters in the film despite their limited screen time. They are written and portrayed in such an endearing and relatable way, where I almost automatically feel like I understand their bond with Clark. The discrepancy between Clark’s strong connection with them and his much weaker one with Lois is likely due to the fact that we are only being asked to believe that Clark has loving parents here, a much easier relationship to convey and less consequential to the story than his dynamic relationship with Lois. For smaller, non – major characters this “in media res” opening paired with good writing can create very real characters, even if it has the opposite effect when done for someone as significant to the narrative as Lois Lane.
John William’s Superman theme plays just about every thirty minutes of the movie as it is integrated along with John Murphy’s soundtrack additions. It functions pretty well, but it’s reflective of a lot of the movie. The score, as well as the movie, relies on fans’ previous knowledge and love for the franchise, rather than creating and building up its own themes. It’s all done in a way that works well enough and makes for a solid movie, just not a great one in my opinion.
