Superman (2025)

Disappointingly, I seem to be the only person I know who has been unable to connect with the newest James Gunn superhero flick.

I will admit, I am not the biggest fan of superhero films in general, but I enjoyed Matt Reeves’ The Batman (2023) and I grew up with a love for the Raimi Spiderman (2002) trilogy. Throughout my teens, I read comics, adored Christopher Reeve as The Man of Tomorrow, and would’ve happily described myself as somewhat of an Alan Moore fanboy. All this to say, it is not some bias against Superman or superheroes that has formed my opinion but,- and perhaps Moore isn’t the best writer to evidence my impartiality with- rather, the completely clichéd and unoriginal plot that the film revolves around.

Gunn’s sci-fi plot seems entirely unimportant and never manages to make me really care about the characters, placing Superman in either strange politically-heavy discussions about fictional nations and the ethics of American foreign policy- which seem to be heavy handed stand ins for Israel and Palestine, but due to the sheepishness and cowardice of Gunn’s writing, I am unable to credit him for taking any kind of political stance- or in boring conversations consisting of sci-fi mumbo jumbo that say and mean nothing. The climax to this film- which I will not spoil, although I’m not sure you could accurately describe it as spoiling anything- contains an utterly embarrassing deus ex machina that made me almost audibly laugh in the cinema. Something I only stifled due to my respect for the other people that seemed to be enjoying the film.

Most frustrating to me, is that I can understand how people have been conned by the schlock on display. In its best and most personal moments, Gunn gets closer than anyone in decades to what the Superman character should and can be: a man who wants to help and can’t forgive himself when he fails. The quiet, introspective scenes of the film have a tenderness and shame which are inherent to Superman as a character and, for the most part, seem to work on an emotional level to the point that they blindside people to the actual plot, which is utterly incomprehensible nonsense. Gunn has lazily thrown together a haphazard sci-fi story and then plugged Superman into it while building an emotional arc and paying attention to the truth of the character. I didn’t think James Gunn was a great writer or director before this film, but I don't think he’s a complete hack either. Unfortunately, he allows himself to fall into lazy, sub-par work more often than not in this film, and I am unable to simply glance over it due to the sections that work, which are few and far between.

As for performances, there is a bit of a mixed bag on display. Corenswet plays The Boy Scout like a boy scout: positive, caring, empathetic- only lapsing into anger when his black and white moralistic view is put into question. He plays a very good Superman, and proves himself to be a great casting after the whole controversy surrounding Henry Cavill’s replacement. Rachel Brosnahan and Edi Gathegi put in impressive performances as Lois Lane and Mister Terrific respectively. Gathegi in particular being the only funny character in the film, managing to inject the not quite witty dialogue with a humour that was attempted, but not accomplished, throughout the rest of the film. Nathan Fillion, however, is painfully generic as the Green Lantern, and didn't get a single laugh out of me for the entire film. I was extremely surprised by Anthony Carrigan who seemed simply lost in there, with an really unconvincing performance that I am suspicious of being cut down for the film’s runtime, as he seemed to flail around from one emotion to another with out any natural feeling of progression. Still, the material seems to be the biggest issue in terms of performance, with stilted, expositional dialogue and jokes that simply didn’t land.

It’s a shame that the plot kept me from connecting with this film as there is something to Superman’s characterisation here, and there is potential in some of the emotional beats, but I’m tiring of the lazy jokes and lazy plotting of Gunn’s writing. There was a time when his films could get by on charm alone, but the charm is wearing thin and the substance beneath is minimal. But hey, at least the dog was fun.

2/5.