Update: July 8, 2025
Dragonlord’s Review of James Gunn’s SUPERMAN (No Spoilers)
Bottom Line: Offering plenty of fun action, striking imageries and great performances, Superman is a joyful, earnest, albeit unorthodoxly narrated, reboot that finally gets the main character right and heralds a magnificent start for the brand new DC Universe.
A Superman adaptation is a tough nut to crack. During the 90s and early 2000s, there were several Superman movie projects in various stages of development that were cancelled (
Superman Reborn, Tim Burton’s
Superman Lives, J.J. Abrams’
Superman Flyby, Wolfgang Peterson’s
Batman Vs. Superman). Bryan Singer’s
Superman Returns (2006) failed due to its lack of action, outdated storytelling and rehashed plot points. Zack Snyder’s
Man of Steel (2013) was arguably good but the characterization of Superman was not on point and the film’s bleakness and dour tone damaged the DCEU from the very start.
Now, it’s writer-director James Gunn’s (
Guardians of the Galaxy trilogy,
The Suicide Squad) turn to take a crack at the Big Blue Boy Scout. And by golly, he’s done it. Gunn actually created a Superman movie that is straight out of the comic books, specifically this captures the spirit of Grant Morrison’s highly-acclaimed
All-Star Superman. Learning from his time in Marvel Studios, Gunn wisely foregoes another origin story and hits the ground running with Superman in his third year of superheroing. In some ways, this feels like a sequel. Advice to those that are going to watch the movie, it helps if you treat it as you are watching one of those Superman animated movies with their non-origin and standalone stories.
David Corenswet is wonderful as Superman/Clark Kent. (And I will shamelessly brag again that
I fancasted an unknown Corenswet four years before he was even officially cast.) Christopher Reeve, Brandon Routh and Henry Cavill are still a better fit than Corenswet in terms of looking like Superman. But in terms of characterization, I think Corenswet is one of the best one on the silver screen. Unlike other modern versions of Superman where he is portrayed as distant and stoic or dark and brooding, Gunn injects his Superman with so much warmth and humanity that makes him very likable and relatable. He also has moments of doubt, anger and insecurities but still tries to do good in the world.
Just like what Marvel Studios did with Captain America, Gunn is not afraid to portray Superman as a cheesy boy scout with both endeavors successfully resonating with audience. One of the most endearing part of this Superman is he is mindful of his actions in battle, trying not to destroy properties and makes a Herculean effort to save every civilian and even animals from collateral damage. Absolutely loved his emotional speech to Lex Luthor at the end, cementing my belief that Gunn understood the assignment and totally gets the character.
Nicholas Hoult is surprisingly my favorite live-action version of Lex Luthor yet, movies or TV shows. Not only does Hoult’s Luthor splendidly emanates charm, intelligence and ruthlessness that we’ve come to expect from the villainous archvillain, it’s so refreshing to see this Luthor implement a coherent strategy and systematic set of actions with satisfactory end results. Of course he becomes unhinged much later, but that’s just par for the course for the character. For me, Hoult's Lex Luthor perfectly captures the essence, motivation and pettiness of the character and his verbal sparring with Superman is just perfect. Hoult’s various facial expressions are also a source of entertainment for me. Plus I get a kick out of watching the Team Luthor crew enthusiastically doing their jobs in the command center. I absolutely loved that Luthor had to coach Ultraman in his fights, calling specific numbers with pre-coordinated moves and attacks. The only thing I’m kinda iffy about was that scene where Luthor is holding a revolver and doing what he did. Hoult auditioned for the Superman role but lost to Corenswet. Part of me would like to think that there’s some of that below-surface resentment spill in to Hoult’s performance and Luthor’s vendetta against Superman.
Bringing that Mrs. Maisel energy to her performance, Rachel Brosnahan was good as Lois Lane. She has great chemistry with Corenswet and the two are cute together. Gunn gives Lois ample things to do like uncovering an international conspiracy or forcing Superman to question the legality and ramification of his actions or just helping out Superman when he’s in trouble.
The Justice Gang (working name) comprising of Guy Gardner, Hawkgirl and Mister Terrific was a delightful addition and a great support for Superman. Nathan Fillion was funny as the abrasive Guy and will be a crowd favorite. His Green Lantern powers looked cool on screen and looked way better than previous iterations. She didn’t have much to do but Isabela Merced was amiable enough as Hawkgirl. Considered one of the smartest humans on the planet, Mister Terrific finally makes his big screen debut and Edi Gathegi was, well, terrific. Gathegi infuses the character with gravitas, charm and a dose of cool swagger and sass reminiscent of 90s Samuel L. Jackson. For sure one of the highlights of the film is Mister Terrific’s cool action sequence which reminded me a lot of Yondu’s arrow scenes from
GotG.
I have to give props to Gunn for consistently casting international beauties in his films. Venezuelan actress María Gabriela de Faría was really good as the villainous Engineer. Love her mean look, she brought that Faora vibe with her and was a surprising formidable threat to Superman. Portuguese actress Sara Sampaio was amusing as the ditzy Eve Teschmacher who at first seemed like just a vapid, self-absorbed girlfriend of Lex. Longtime Gunn friend Mikaela Hoover was nothing special as Cat Grant but she was great eye candy anyway. Though she just voiced Robot #12 and just said a couple of lines, Hong Kong-born actress Grace Chan is a stunning beauty when I researched her and that’s why I’m mentioning her.
Rounding out the cast, Alan Tudyk was funny as Robot #4. Anthony Carrigan was just okay as Metamorpho. I missed his specific personality and charm that he exhibited in
Gotham and
Barry. But the most polarizing portrayal for me is Skyler Gisondo as Jimmy Olsen. Skyler is absolutely on point as Jimmy Olsen in terms of the look. But for some weird reason, they made Olsen into this chick magnet where hot girls are drawn to him. I was hoping there would be some explanation later on but none appeared. I was also dismayed with how he wrote “mutant toes” in his contacts in regards to one of his exes and how a bit exploitative and dismissive he was with that ex. I dunno, it was just off brand for the typically good-natured Jimmy Olsen. Oh well, at least Jimmy didn’t get shot in the face this time around. Just an observation here but Jimmy Olsen is one of the rare non-popular characters that reverted back to being white after being race-swapped in other modern entertainment mediums.
The film is not afraid to explore its Superman mythos and embrace the sillier side. Putting Krypto in a serious live-action movie should not have worked but not only does Gunn pull it off, the mischievous and undisciplined super dog is one of the highlights of the film. There's a nice surprise reveal at the end on the reason why Krypto is such unruly dog. Bringing back the Fortress of Solitude with its ice and crystal design and putting in robot servants with a dry wit are just examples of embracing the lore of Superman. Bringing back the outdated red trunks was a controversial move but it just works and adds to the charm to the character/movie. Plus you really don't pay attention to it after a while and just accept it as it is.
Gunn is renowned for his needle drops but he dials it way down in
Superman, opting to use just a couple of songs in the movie. One standout use of a song was the Mister Terrific fight sequence (still trying to find the name of the song). Unorthodox choice but I absolutely love Gunn’s use of Teddybear’s “
Punkrocker” to close out the movie. Though I was not familiar with the song before this but I was rocking along with the song thanks to its catchy hook. Gunn must get lots of coffee because he has consistently shown he can close a show. You just leave the theater with this feel-good buzz. Speaking of music, John Murphy’s score is just awesome and the revised John Williams Superman score is simply rapturous.
Superman is a love letter to its comic book roots and especially made for fans as it captures the joy and spirit of reading a comic book. It’s like starting to read a new title in issue 12 without prior reading the issues before that. But the story is so good, you understand what’s happening and continue reading it. This is not an origin story, treat this movie as a sequel. This movie will not hold your hand as new characters are constantly being introduced and the movie’s plot moves at a brisk pace. There are two post-credits scenes at the end. Even if I wasn't smiling constantly, I was grinning internally all throughout the movie.
RATING: 8/10 or
8.5/10
IS IT WORTH WATCHING IN THEATERS: Yes,
Superman is a cinematic experience. A must-watch in theaters in the biggest screen possible. If you only allow yourself to watch 2-3 movies in theaters a year,
Superman should be one of them. But of course if you’re already a hater or prejudged it, just sit this one out.
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