Superman Review
Superman (2025) Film Review, a movie directed by James Gunn, written by Jerry Siegel, Joe Shuster and James Gunn and starring David Corenswet, Rachel Brosnahan, Nicholas Hoult, Skyler Gisondo, Bradley Cooper, Maria Gabriela de Faria, Sara Sampaio, Tatiana Piper, Pruitt Taylor Vince, Frank Grillo, Isabela Merced, Terence Rosemore, Jake Tapper, Nathan Fillion, Angela Sarafyan, Pom Klementieff, Michael Rooker and Alan Tudyk.
James Gunn’s Superman is just that, James Gunn‘s Superman. This isn’t the Superman I grew up on. One reason for that is because there are too many characters in the new film. You might as well have just called this movie, Superman & Friends, because that’s what it really is. David Corenswet has been cast as Superman this time out and although he’s not as great as Christopher Reeve or as intriguing as Henry Cavill, it’s hard to put Corenswet at the bottom of the Superman list simply because he’s so charismatic and appealing to watch. Meanwhile, Rachel Brosnahan gives off majorly effective Margot Kidder vibes as Lois Lane.
I have to admit it takes a long time to warm up to Gunn’s approach to the material here which is over-the-top and overloaded with unnecessary characters. However, the bottom line is that you’re either a James Gunn fan or you’re not. Richard Donner is long gone and so are the days of the safe and heroic Superman. This new film features a new kind of modern day Superman who lives on the edge. This picture also co-stars Nicholas Hoult as a Lex Luthor who doesn’t have Gene Hackman’s charisma, but can be as bad a meanie as he needs to be to serve the logistics of the script.
Once Superman’s dog appears on-screen, you know you’re not watching the Richard Donner films of the 1970’s and 1980’s. Words come on-screen that explain Superman’s trials and tribulations to people who don’t know his backstory and these readings eventually propose the fact that Superman has been defeated for the first time. Luthor has a squad of people (and non-human villains) looking to take down Superman for their own profiteering schemes. A bald Hoult is certainly good, but he probably wasn’t born to play this role. It’s not until Corenswet’s Superman faces Luthor head-on and explains to Luthor how he, Superman, is more human than alien that the movie really comes together oh so nicely. Corenswet’s performance had been lacking a little agency until this point and the actor (and Gunn) ultimately carry the movie home with some nice last-minute saves such as Superman’s explanation to Luther why Superman is, indeed, the real deal.
Corenswet’s superhero suffers a lot here from being exposed to and enduring his poison (Kryptonite) to being nearly suffocated to death all the while being sometimes reluctant buddies with an overly wild little dog who may just belong to (spoiler alert) Supergirl, herself. Superman shoots the breeze with Brosnahan’s Lois Lane from the Daily Planet in sporadic “interviews” for the paper too. Gunn basically knows what he’s doing. This is what would happen if the type of movie Guardians of the Galaxy was merged with the old 1970’s/1980’s Superman movies. So many characters come and go that the attention is taken off Hoult and Corenswet’s characters too much at times, though.
This film gets more political than it becomes romantic and that was a misstep of the movie which wastes great chemistry between Corenswet and Brosnahan. Isabela Merced plays “Hawk Girl” while Edi Gathegi plays “Mr. Terrific.” These two characters, in particular, look out of place, but you can’t blame Gunn for trying to throw in everything but the kitchen sink in his iteration of the Superman legacy.
Cast as reporter Jimmy Olsen is Skyler Gisondo. We see his character dodging prostitutes at one point to get a scoop from Luthor’s half-brained girlfriend who carries a torch for Jimmy. Gisondo has some of the most clever scenes of the film and handles them well. Olsen is the unsung hero of sorts here who has just enough of a decent personality to move his role along at a smooth and steady pace. Spoilers won’t help you determine if you would like this movie, but there are a few slow spots. Brosnahan, although she looks and acts the part, has some moments of well-placed energy that are usually undermined a tad by a lackluster script.
This new Superman feels like The Suicide Squad by way of the original Superman comic strip, but when Gunn goes off on political tangents, the movie suffers more than it should have. There are a number of things that occur here that belonged on the cutting room floor, but Corenswet doesn’t steer himself wrong in terms of the way he creates a character who would be more heroic if everyone he faced wasn’t trying to one-up him in the intelligence department. Luthor calls Superman an idiot as Hoult’s role becomes a more complicated challenge for the actor than it should have been as the scenes get more thematically advanced towards the end. Luckily, Gunn keeps the movie feeling fun and fresh despite its several flaws. The biggest problem is the movie’s abundance of characters which makes the movie feel uneven at times.
As Superman plays out, the film felt, at times, like it was “not my Superman movie” until the concluding scenes piece everything together somewhat seamlessly. Of course, the end with Lois and Superman embracing and kissing feels like a tacked-on way to leave a good taste in audience’s mouths after some very odd sequences which don’t really always properly advance the plot.
Corenswet and Brosnahan are likable stars and new pros at the acting game who make this film feel more interesting that it could have been in another set of actors’ hands. We don’t have time for the “nice guy Supermen” we used to have in our earlier films based on the comic book. Lois and Superman have the requisite chemistry together they should even though the last scene of them embracing seems to warrant a place in a tighter film. Bradley Cooper even appears in a role made famous by Marlon Brando, but Cooper is probably doing someone a favor here rather than trying to achieve artistic greatness.
These days, Corenswet wears the superhero attire the correct way, more or less, as the new Superman, but the movie gets bogged down in cute dog scenes more than heroic action sequences that would engage audiences a little more. Too many times, Gunn goes for cheap laughs and thrills more than he should have, but the film is technically proficient enough to enjoy on the more basic levels if one can overcome the movie’s sense of occasionally feeling just a tad bit pretentious due to its pedigree. Buildings fall and heroes and villains (monsters, robots or otherwise) clash in Gunn’s way more than the way we’ve grown accustomed to from earlier Superman pictures. That may just be the way DC fans want it- for now, at least.
Rating: 7/10
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