Superman (2025)

Superman (2025)

I walked in not knowing what to expect with the new Superman movie.  Let’s not beat around the bush- Henry Cavill was a bad-ass Supes.  Cavill is a good actor and perfect for the part, so what wasn’t to love about his take on “The Man of Steel”?  He was tough, buff, and… serious.  We’ll touch on that stoicism later.  And like many of you, I’m walking in with questions.  How does David Corenswet hold up?  Do the other characters matter?  Who are the other characters in this film?  What direction did they go with it?  Furthermore, DC seems to be at somewhat of a crossroads with their films.  Superman, being their flagship character and intellectual property, is obviously going to lead the way for whatever else they have coming down the line.

I’ll admit, the previews and pre-movie speculation hasn’t done this movie leagues of justice.  Frankly, they’ve made Superman look wimpy.  All the trailers show him getting beat, bleeding, calling for his dog to help him, getting thrown through 100 yards of astro turf, etc.  So far, in the previews, we’ve seen Superman getting his ass beat.  But if you weren’t able to tell, this is all on purpose.  We’ve already had James Gunn in the pre-apology media session saying (and I am deeply paraphrasing here) “Relax, I did this so we can have actual stakes.  You see, Superman is too strong.  We’ve got to make him weaker, and beatable, to keep things interesting”.  

So I get it, or at least I thought I did while walking into the theater.  Within 5-10 minutes of watching this, I realized that this was actually a very new take on “The Last Son of Krypton”.  In this version, we’re asked “What if Superman was kind of a pussy?”.  Not a full-on pussy, mind you.  But more like a regular dude who’s not really gone through it in life, yet.  A fairly normal young man from the midwest who listens to pop-punk.  And also a guy who is at this very moment getting his ass beat.  It’s touching.

The overall tone of this film is quite the shift from the previous Superman films, and I can’t say it’s not a welcome change.  To try and sum it up; they’re gone back on most of the ultra self-importance and seriousness of the previous films.  Gone is the slow and dreary horn music.  Gone are the hallmark-channel levels of melodramatic weight and sadness.  Instead, they went with more of a “Guardians of the Galaxy” type of vibe.  

To further explain Superman’s new “vibe”;  Clark Kent is much more of an everyman, and (perhaps inexplicably) more comfortable with his powers and place in the world.  However, he’s still very green and navigating his way through life as a new superhero.  He’s really kind of a wuss, and I can’t help but to think this was done in some sort of meta-joking way.  You can almost tell that Gunn has watched “One Punch Man”, or is at least aware of it, and is trying to flip the entire Superman mythos on its head.  Or maybe I’m wrong on that, but it really seems like it.  While this version of Superman could be less “believable” for some, I think it works.  

David Corenswet’s performance is great, and calls back to the innocence and simplicity of Christopher Reeve’s Superman.  I think a lot of the initial flak that Corenswet has received is actually due to the costume being not as fitted, and maybe not as cool as previous superman costumes.  Also, he’s playing a much younger, weaker, inexperienced version of Superman than we’re probably used to seeing.  Afterall, he’s playing a guy who needs his cousin’s dog to save his ass from getting stomped out by bullies.

If anything “stole the show” here, it’s 100% Edi Gathegi as Mr. Terrific.  Every eye-roll, every sigh, every line this guy says is pure gold.  You might even say Mr. Terrific takes this film up a whole letter grade.  Imagining the movie without this character… viewing might be a little rough.

Also like the 1980s Superman movies, this movie is corny AF.  That’s not a bad thing, though.  The light-heartedness, and more simplistic, wholesome approach is actually welcome.  However, some of the script does get “woke”, for better or worse.  It’s self-referential enough that you may be wondering if these interjections are jabs against popular culture, or sincere activism.  At times, I honestly couldn’t tell.  It’s not the biggest deal, but honestly a little distracting at points.  Some examples would be references to “grooming”, foreign policy and/or immigration, and a blatantly obvious attempt to model Lex Luthor after Elon Musk in a politically biased and negative light.  Also used as a plot device, extensive mention of a “secret haram” that is probably a metaphor for some kind of Epstein Island situation.  Now that I think about it, I wonder if AI wrote the script for this movie?

UMS Rating: B-