Superman (2025) Review

So the first film of Warner Bros. new DCU is out and is it any good? I think so. When Superman was first announced James Gunn announced that getting Superman right was important to him so her personally took on the task of writing and directing this film. The result of this I liked overall but it also came with some flaws. Let's dive into it and as a heads up I will be marking a separate section for spoilers so just look out for large bold spoiler warnings, but here are my overall thoughts.

This iteration of Superman is bringing back the fun and color of live-action Superman movies. The DCEU version of Superman was in muted and dark colors starting from Man of Steel to Justice League and with a more serious tone. This version of Superman is more colorful and full of hope. This is shown through a brighter color palette and the personality and tone of Superman. David Corenswet plays the titular character and he might be my favorite live-action depiction. It's hard to say for sure because Christopher Reeves is so iconic and he was really good as well. What sets these two apart is that Superman/Clark Kent in this film shows more emotion. There are more complex emotions shown from Supes. He is hopeful, but he also gets angry, frustrated, and vulnerable. There is a particular moment between him and Lois Lane that shows some of these well. 

David Corenswet as Clark Kent

As many people know there are two sides of Superman: the reporter, Clark Kent, and the hero. As Clark Kent he is more aloof and slightly goofy, but as Superman he is more assertive and cheerful like a radiant sun is shining over him. It's like as Superman he puts on the best and most confident version of himself that he wants to show the world and Clark Kent is when he is relaxed and you might even say there is a third side of him when he's at home away from the desk at the Daily Bugle and away from the super heroing that he only shows to those that he is close to. What I like most about this depiction of Superman is that it shows how kind and corny he is. He says things like "golly" and takes the time out to make sure that everyone is safe. He really emphasizes on saving lives which until somebody else pointed out to me that we haven't seen in any superhero movies in a long time. Superman is also inspirational in this film. His virtues and actions set a foundation for others to follow and it's just good to see.

Another character I thoroughly enjoyed in this film was Rachel Brosnahan's Lois Lane. I will go all the way and say that she is the best Lois Lane to date. I liked the animated universe one, but I think Rachel beats her. Her performance of Lois has more spunk and toughness in her. It's quite hard for me to describe fully, but I love it. I think I also noticed from another person's review that Lois's eyes were purple which is something I liked about the Superman the Animated Series Lois. The only thing that would make it perfect for me is if she called Clark Smallville sometimes like in TAS. Lois also isn't just a damsel in distress in this one which I'm grateful for and she uses her journalism skills throughout the movie.

Nicholas Hoult as Lex Luthor

Superman 2025 has a lot of good characters and Nicholas Hoult's Lex Luthor is now my favorite live-action Lex Luthor. Now, I haven't seen all of them. I never gave Smallville a proper shot or seen the Superman & Lois so take that for what you will, but I never liked the Luthor in the original 1978 Superman film, or Kevin Spacey's, and I absolutely hated Jesse Eisenberg as Lex. I don't know why that was ever a consideration for casting, but Nicholas Hoult I definitely enjoyed. I wasn't sure about the casting at first, but it works. He gives off the hater energy that Lex has and there was one moment that showed how smug and unphased Lex can be sometimes. This Lex is pretty petty too which was fun to see. He wasn't perfect though. My bar for Lex is the DCAU one that was played by Clancy Brown and that depiction of Lex Luthor inhibited so much charisma in his performance that haven't seen in live-action yet. I have seen it in another animated performance by Mark Rolston in Young Justice. Nicholas Hoult's Lex Luthor doesn't seem like someone that people would gravitate towards despite how shady he is. This Lex doesn't seem like the type to commit a crime and convince the public that he had no involvement. Still, very fun overall.

Also I was surprised about how much I liked ole' "Jee Golly," ole' Superman wristwatch having Jimmy Olsen. I've heard Jimmy Olsen has some of the craziest comic books in history and you get a smidge of it in here. I won't say particularly what, but if you're used to him in any of his animated appearances or in Supergirl he is completely different here and his involvement in the plot is funny.

Edi Gathegi's Mr. Terrific steals the show

Probably the show stealer here is Mr. Terrific played by Edi Gathegi. Audiences love him and I do too.  Mr. Terrific here is so confident and badass. He gets a lot of screentime and his fight scene in the movie is the best fight scene in the entire film. Speaking of fight scenes I think the action in Superman (2025) is serviceable. There are only about two I think are great which one of those is Mr. Terrifics, but the rest are just okay. Anyways, I am eager to see more of Mr. Terrific in this universe. Hopefully, we'll be getting a solo movie or a Terrifics film.

What I also liked about Superman (2025) is how comic booky it is and by that I mean how silly and weird it can be. There are giant monsters, Krypto, Superman as I mentioned is corny and rescues everyone, and the film is colorful. There are other aspects that lean into comic book-esque things that I'll delve into in my spoiler portion but if you're someone waiting for a comic book comic book movie you shouldn't be disappointed.

This movie isn't without flaws though. One of the big things for me is how weird some of the shots are when Superman is flying. There's one scene where Supes is flying and it's in a reverse POV angle so you just have David Corenswet's face enlarged and his body looks small. It just looks kind of goofy and another one that I remember is when Superman is talking to a monster and he takes off. When he takes off is fine, but the angle when he's speaking almost makes it look like his entire body is cg. I give credit to Man of Steel for the flying scenes because I never thought they looked weird there.

I also think that the film can be a bit too jokey. That was one of my concerns when I heard that James Gunn was going to write the script himself. His Guardians and Suicide Squad movies are very jokey and while not as much in this film I still feel like they do detract a bit from some of the serious scenes in the movie. I think the use of Krypto is the biggest part of that. I was excited to see that Krypto was going to be in this movie, but I feel like there's an overabundance of him and every scene with him is meant to be funny and there's one scene that undercuts a serious moment for me. It's not too egregious, but it was a bit annoying. I also felt like there have been slightly too many characters and subplots that could've been cut to make a tighter story or the film could've been slightly longer to give those elements more depth.

****SPOILERS SPOILERS SPOILERS SPOILERS****

So the story of Superman (2025) follows three weeks after Superman has stopped an invasion from Boravian forces into Jarhanpur and he has lost his first fight ever in his career. After that text scroll revealing that and seeing Superman beat up from there and after losing again to the Hammer of Boravia who was actually Ultraman I thought the film was going to make that a big deal but all it was was just a line in the opener and that was disappointing because it should be a big deal to the people of Metropolis. He lost his first battle because this appears to be the first time that he fought his equal. Ultraman turned out to be a clone of Superman made by Lex Luthor who was controlling him like a puppet with voice commands. The reveal at the end I felt should've hit harder, but because there was a lot of other stuff going on in the movie Ultraman didn't get enough time to feel like anything more than just a Lex goon. It was neat though and him getting sucked into black hole I feel will lead him into becoming Bizzaro which is a character I always thought was fun.

Superman interfering with the conflict of Boravian is the central plot of this film and it's quite obvious this is a parallel and direct influence from the Israel and Palestine genocide going on right now. Superman (2025) is definitely on the side with the Palestinians and gives off major anti-military vibes. Personally, it feels good to see a film take a stand and express a positive message.

In the non-spoiler section I mentioned that there was one particular scene between Clark and Lois that exemplified the complexities of both characters. This scene happens pretty early in the movie where Clark is in Lois's apartment and we discover that the two are already a couple in this universe and she's well aware that he's Superman. Lois offers to interview Clark as Superman in her home and it gets intense as she questions him about why he intervened with the conflict in Boravia and Jarhanpur. Clark tries to maintain the cool and cheery composure that Superman is known for but loses his temper when she interrogates him for interfering with a US ally and imposing his power. "PEOPLE WERE GOING TO DIE!' His anger and frustration doesn't come from sole rage, but from compassion. Superman is a very caring person. He treasures all life and the possibility of him looking like a villain for stopping a massacre is what causes him to explode. He was not necessarily mad at Lois, but of the world that would put him in that situation and it was better that Lois asked him first instead of another reporter on live television. Lois in this scene also shows her journalistic integrity and also her doubts with their relationship. She mentions that she's not good with relationships and I think it's her past and her doubts that leads to their disconnect at the end of this scene. This was definitely one of the most memorable moments of the film.

A couple of characters I forgot to mention in my non-spoiler section were Metamorpho and The Engineer. There wasn't that much to say about The Engineer since she's basically just a Lex henchmen in this but I do like her powers especially how she uses the nanites to cover people's faces. It's actually terrifying. The scene where Superman's lungs was being filled with him and he took off into the air was intense and I mentally gagged when Superman threw them up. Metamorpho I don't think I knew was going to be in this since I avoided all of the trailers, but his portrayal by Anthony Carrigan was great. Carrigan brings so much emotion to his performances and I think he's an extremely underrated actor. I will say that in his scene with him, Lex, and Superman that I am tired of Hollywood movies using Brown or Black actors for disposable deaths. It's a small issue in the grand scheme of things, but it's a trope that I'm tired of. I am intrigued to learn more about Metamorpho and why his baby is green. The baby was also very noticeably cg. I understand why they did it especially for the action scenes but for the parts where the baby is sitting still like in the prison I feel that they could've used an animatronic baby so that it could look more real. Also Lex Luthor locking up all his exes in the pocket dimension was hilarious and insane.

One of the biggest plot points in Superman is the revelation that Kal-El's (Superman) parents sent him here in hopes of ruling Earth and repopulating the people of Krypton. I understood what James Gunn was going for because of the ending with him realizing the your birth parents don't make you, but the people you love do, but I don't particularly like it because the concept is something I've seen a lot of recently. The new Superman cartoon My Adventures with Superman did something similar as it was told through Lois Lane's father and Supergirl that the Kryptonians were conquerors and Superman inspired stories like The Boys and Invincible already made these kinds of characters evil and not to mention the numerous evil or morally grey Superman stories. Also, in the scene where the message was revealed I do think the public's turn was too quick. It happened at the moment when he was standing there right after he rescued them. I think it would've been more believable if we got a montage of the media constantly spinning this and the next time Superman went out and rescued someone that's when a few people would have started throwing things at him. For most of the movie I was convinced that the footage was fake because it was coming from Lex Luthor of all people but once the credits rolled I knew they were actually sticking to it. If this was my first time seeing this kind of twist on Krypton I would be more open to it, but since I've seen so much of it recently so I'm not a fan of it and it also comes with making Superman distant with his Kryptonian heritage when he's usually proud of it. I am interested in how it's brought up again in Supergirl or the next film that he and Supergirl are in together because she had to have known this.

On the subject of Supergirl it was neat to have this cameo in the film and not have it spoiled. I suspected she might though because I was aware since the announcement of the new DCU that a Supergirl movie was in production. I liked it. Kara (Supergirl) in this brief scene has a party girl personality to her and we also find out in this brief interaction why Krypto is such a misbehaved dog. She encourages the behavior and rough houses with him which was hilarious. After reading Woman of Tomorrow I am excited for the film next year.

Overall, despite all of my problems with Superman it is still a great time and I think it should be experienced in the cinema.