Superman (2025) Warner Bros./Action-Adventure-Sci-Fi RT: 129 minutes Rated PG-13 (violence, action and language) Director: James Gunn Screenplay: James Gunn Music: John Murphy and David Fleming Cinematography: Henry Braham Release date: July 11, 2025 (US) Cast: David Corenswet, Rachel Brosnahan, Nicholas Hoult, Edi Gathegi, Anthony Carrigan, Alan Tudyk, Nathan Fillion, Isabela Merced, Skyler Gisondo, Sara Sampaio, Wendell Pierce, Beck Bennett, Mikaela Hoover, Christopher McDonald, Pruitt Taylor Vince, Neva Howell, Maria Gabriela de Faria, Terence Rosemore, Stephen Blackehart, Frank Grillo, Bradley Cooper, Angela Sarafyan, Zlatko Buric, Milly Alcock.
Rating: ***
Two years ago, we bid farewell to the DCEU (DC Extended Universe) with the water-logged Aquaman and the Lost Kingdom. It kicked off ten years earlier with the bombastic Man of Steel starring an intense Henry Cavill as a dark, brooding version of Superman. It was a sign of things to come for the franchise. In the words of Shakespeare, the DCEU movies are a lot of “sound and fury signifying nothing”. The decision to end it is nothing short of a mercy killing.
Welcome now to the DCU (DC Universe), a rebooted version of the franchise created by James Gunn (Guardians of the Galaxy) and producer Peter Safran (of The Conjuring Universe). Their inaugural film is Superman, yet another attempt to resurrect a series that’s been grounded for more than 40 years. The last good one was Superman II back in ’81. After that, it went downhill with one low-flying disappointment after another. Nobody’s been able to recapture the magic.
The new Superman is hardly what I’d call magical. It is, however, the best Superman movie since the 1981 sequel. It’s not as good nor does it come that close, but it comes closer than any of the others. That alone is praiseworthy. Writer-director James Gunn gets it mostly right. He fixes a lot of Zach Snyder’s mistakes starting with his approach to the material. Although he touches on certain real world issues (i.e. immigrants, stirring up hatred in the media), he keeps things relatively light. That is to say, he doesn’t weigh down Superman with a lot of serious stuff. It’s actually fun once it gets going.
There is NO substitute for Christopher Reeve. The late actor is the definitive Superman/Clark Kent. He nailed both personas perfectly. His successors haven’t measured up. Brandon Routh (Superman Returns) was bland. Henry Cavill took himself and the hero WAY too seriously. Honestly, there was nowhere to go but up with Supe and Clark. That brings us to David Corenswet (Twisters), the latest actor to don the red cape. As Superman, he’s very good, the best since Reeve. He’s less successful trying to pull off Clark Kent. He doesn’t give off the right amount of mild-manneredness. He’s just some guy from another planet trying to navigate a relationship with hard-nosed reporter Lois Lane (Brosnahan, The Marvelous Mrs. Maisel) while trying to find his place on Earth among the humans.
While Superman is entertaining, the storyline is somewhat messy. It’s all over the place with Superman once again trying to save the world from the nefarious machinations of megalomaniacal bad guy Lex Luthor (Hoult, Mad Max: Fury Road). As always, he’s out to destroy Superman and doesn’t care how he does it. Here, he stokes the flames of xenophobia by shifting the public’s opinion of the Kryptonian metahuman. Luthor produces proof that he’s here to enslave us not protect us. This, of course, causes all kinds of problems for Superman. Now seen as a villain, he’s being hunted by the government who have agreed to let Luthor deal with him once he’s in custody.
That’s a basic overview of the plot of Superman. There’s a lot more than that going on. This time, Superman has a trio of super-powered allies who call themselves “The Justice Gang”. Well actually, only Green Lantern (Fillion, The Rookie) uses that moniker. His cohorts Mister Terrific (Gathegi, For All Mankind) and Hawkgirl (Merced, The Last of Us) just roll their eyes. They don’t always agree with Superman. When they help him take down a monster terrorizing Metropolis, he wonders if the creature could have been subdued instead of killed. That’s how far his altruism goes. Luthor has his own super-powered accomplices, nanotech-infused Engineer (Faria, Deadly Class) and Ultraman who’s remotely controlled by Luthor via drones. Oh yeah, Superman has a super-dog this time, Krypto. He’s a playful pooch with behavioral issues.
The supporting characters include Jimmy Olsen (Gisondo, Booksmart), a boyish photographer who has a secret thing going on with Luthor’s idiot influencer girlfriend Eve Teschmacher (a very funny Sampaio). Wendell Pierce (The Wire) plays gruff Daily Planet editor-in-chief Perry White). Pa and Ma Kent, the earthlings who raised Clark, are played by Pruitt Taylor Vince (Identity) and Neva Howell (Greedy People) respectively. Alan Tudyk (Firefly) plays “4”, a robot who oversees day-to-day activity at the Fortress of Solitude. Plus, there are a few cool cameos scattered throughout.
The cast does a fine job playing characters we all know and love. Brosnahan shows the same flinty spirit in her interpretation of Lois Lane. Gisondo brings a modern sensibility to Jimmy playing him not as an idiot but an admirer of Clark. His reactions to Eve wanting to be with him are priceless. Pierce is good, but he’s underused. Fillion, sporting a silly bowl haircut, is a riot as Green Lantern. Merced kicks ass as Hawkgirl.
Top honors go to Hoult as Lex Luthor. He wisely opts not to try and recreate Gene Hackman’s cartoonish performance and instead depicts Lex as a dangerous sociopath (not unlike Elon Musk). He doesn’t walk around calling himself “the greatest criminal mind of our time”. He shows it in his actions. At one point, he shoots an innocent human in an attempt to elicit information from an imprisoned Superman weakened by Kryptonite. He just about steals the movie from the hero.
Okay, so this Superman is a mess. It’s not so much an origin story as it is a reintroduction. In fact, we get no scenes of his childhood in Kansas other than some home movie clips in the final scene. It’s a silly movie that attempts to be serious at times but not overly so. I didn’t feel like I was being beaten over the head with all the CGI and noise. I had fun with Superman for the most part. It’s not perfect, but the Man of Steel is the best he’s been in decades.
P.S. No, I’m not going to address all the pro-immigrant BS that’s been circulating. I only hope the controversy does the same for Superman that it did for Barbie two summers ago.
P.P.S Stick around for both mid-credits and end credits scenes.
