The drama surrounding DC’s first attempt at a cinematic superhero universe is well-documented and going over the ins and outs of its rise and fall would take forever. In a nutshell, DC was put in the hands of Zack Snyder who attempted to do something to distinguish DC from its well-established competition at Marvel. The results were pretty great, that is until Snyder had the keys taken away in an effort to mirror Marvel’s success rather than offer a contrast to it. From there things fell apart pretty quickly.
Now DC is trying again by bringing in Marvel and DC alum James Gunn to head an entire reboot of their properties. For many of us, Gunn wasn’t the most encouraging choice considering his previous swings at franchise superhero movies (“Guardians of the Galaxy”, “The Suicide Squad”) were team-based stories laced with heavy amounts of humor. How that would translate to running a full-scale cinematic universe would be anyone’s guess.
Gunn kicks off his tenure by writing and directing DC’s signature character, Superman. Once again, Gunn isn’t the first person I would expect to be handed the keys to the iconic Man of Steel. But as a fan of the character and DC overall, I went in hopeful for a movie that would do him justice and get the DC Universe off on the right foot. Unfortunately, “Superman” quickly turns into a frustrating and often baffling mix of missteps and shortcuts.
“Superman” is riddled with nagging issues that include an overstuffed story, underdeveloped characters, head-scratching plot contrivances, and some needless liberties with the lore that fail to have the impact intended. Even worse, at times the movie feels as if it’s made for fans of James Gunn rather than fans of Superman. From the overly jokey tone to cameos featuring several of his buddies, you can often see Gunn more focused on putting his stamp on the property than telling a great Superman story.
Gunn starts by bypassing the origin stuff which most of us know by heart. His story is set three years after Superman (David Corenswet) first revealed himself to Earth. Apparently his most amazing feats happened in that three-year window prior to the events of the movie. I say that because we don’t get to see any of them. Instead we spend most of the time watching Superman getting beaten to a pulp. In fact, the very first scene has him crashing down after being destroyed by a metahuman working for billionaire Lex Luthor (Nicholas Hoult).
Speaking of Lex, here Superman’s powerful archenemy is turned into an underwritten brat whose motives are murky at best and incoherent at worse. Lex is already in a position of enormous power and influence, although how he got there is all but avoided. What we do learn is that he’s an arms dealer, he may be involved in a budding war between two neighboring nations, and he has a petty (masked as maniacal) hatred for Superman. Lex somehow has massive pull within the United States government and he can somehow sway public opinion just by appearing on a corny talk show.
Of course a big part of Superman’s story involves his life as Clark Kent. He’s once again a reporter at the Daily Planet alongside Lois Lane (Rachel Brosnahan). The movie begins with the two already romantically involved and with Lois aware of Clark’s superhero identity. Sadly their relationship doesn’t go anywhere beyond what we’ve seen before. Meanwhile the Daily Planet crew features such familiar names as editor-in-chief Perry White (Wendell Pierce), the busty Cat Grant (Mikaela Hoover), and Jimmy Olsen (Skyler Gisondo) who’s shackled to one of the film’s weirdest and most underdeveloped angles.
Adding to the assembly line of characters are three super-powered metahumans, Guy Gardner AKA Green Lantern (Nathan Fillion), Mr. Terrific (Edi Gathegi), and Hawkgirl (Isabela Merced). Guy calls them the “Justice Gang” which becomes a running joke that quickly runs out of gas. Nothing about them as a team seems thought out past the comic bits Gunn squeezes out of them. Only Mr. Terrific gets any meaningful time to semi-develop.
There are several other problems that are at least worth mentioning. There are some wonky digital effects. Nearly all the stakes come across as manufactured rather than organic. There is a surprising lack of emotion throughout the movie. Ma and Pa Kent are thrown in for sentimental effect but are glaringly inconsequential. Most of humanity are inadvertently depicted as insanely dumb and gullible. Even Krypto the dog is fumbled. He should be a cheap and easy way to get reactions from the audience. But Gunn doesn’t know when to let off the gas, and the CGI dog’s cutesy comic relief gets a bit old.
It pains me to say, but James Gunn’s “Superman” misses nearly every mark it aims for. And there are A LOT of marks as Gunn spends most of his time throwing ideas onto the screen rather than having them make sense within a cohesive story. He even takes an ax to some long-established lore only to get nothing out of it. Meanwhile the performances are simply fine, with no one being either terrific or terrible. To be fair, it’s no fault of the cast. It’s the writing and direction that lets them down.
Going back to my comic book days, I’ve long been a bigger fan of DC than Marvel. So much so that even with my concerns, I was willing to receive a new Man of Steel with open arms. But “Superman” is a disappointing reinvention of an iconic character so many love. In fact, calling this iteration “SUPERman” seems incredibly generous. Gunn’s attempts at capturing the essence of the character while shaping a new Superman in his image will probably payoff at the box office. But it’s hardly the fitting reintroduction this DC Comics pillar deserves. “Superman” is in theaters now.
VERDICT – 2 STARS
Keith & the Movies 
I was afraid of this….
I left the theater frustrated and deflated.
I’m seeing this tomorrow. So, I guess we’ll see where we meet with this film.
Im such a Superman and DC fan. This movie failed them both. At least for those hoping for more than flashy action, a slew of jokes, and a shallow story.
I saw it yesterday and…. WRONG! That was the best Superman film since Richard Donner’s 1978 masterpiece and goddamn. I had fun watching it.
I’ve disliked it the more I’ve thought about it. So many ludicrous choices, crutches, and shortcuts. It’s a James Gunn movie much more than a Superman story. And man does that guy get some passes. LOL
That’s because James Gunn is awesome. I like Zack Snyder too but Gunn is a better filmmaker.
Oh we definitely disagree on that one. LOL
Keith, when I read, ” you can often see Gunn more focused on putting his stamp on the property than telling a great Superman story.” I groaned. It’s like a musical group where one of the players insists on hot-dogging it instead of focusing on the group performance. How many times are they going to trot out these tired old ponies? Where has the imagination for new creations gone?
It was so frustrating, especially for a fan of the character. I had such high hopes.
I could not find enough interest to see this version. The CGI dog was already concerning. Then the speedy CGI action exacerbated it. And now your review. Superman is not supposed to be cute and animated. Those qualities belong to a movie for Mighty Mouse.
There are so many issues with this movie and most revolve around Gunn’s writing. But many are heralding this as the next great superhero movie. I feel like they watched something totally different than me.
i don’t know how this movie will work for me either. The bar was set quite high by Richard Donner. But will probably check this new one on pay per view
That’s the way to go. Certainly not worth a theater trip. And that’s really sad to say.
I anticipated this. I wanted to give Gunn the benefit of the doubt, but having seen the trailers in the past and looking at your review, there’s no way I’m wasting cash to the movies. I’ll wait for it to hit streaming…
I was so hopeful. Unfortunately Gunn’s Superman movie doesn’t do the character justice at all. Making things worse is the messy script, shallow character work, etc. etc.
I liked it
I just read another review by someone who isn’t a Marvel/DC fan and they thought it the best superman yet, maybe that’s the thing, superfans aren’t going to like it, but people who don’t care about the franchise will.
I would argue that it doesn’t work for anyone. I would think superfans would be annoyed at how Gunn brutally nerfs the character. And I’d think the non-fans wouldn’t care for the overstuffed and sometimes incoherent plot, the lame shortcuts and silly plot contrivances, the shallow characters, etc. 🤷🏻♂️
Ah well, back to the drawing board!
🤣
I just got back from the movie. I thought it was pretty good, but there were definitely things that brought it down for me. David Corenswet was great as Superman. Nicholas Hoult as Luthor? It’s not Hoult’s fault, but Luthor strikes me as more of a petulant child than a criminal mastermind. I felt more threatened by Jesse Eisenberg’s Luthor. I liked Krypto, though. But there was not enough room in this movie to really flesh out the characters. Two hours, while they definitely fly by, also doesn’t leave the audience much room to breathe between set-pieces. Also: The music. If you’re going to use John Williams’s theme, USE it, even if it’s during the end credits. This is definitely the worst movie James Gunn has ever directed. I think many people would agree with that. But as far as Superman movies go, I would rank it number 3 behind the original 1978 film and 2013’s Man of Steel. One final note, and this could be considered a spoiler: I really don’t like the character assassination of Jor-El and Lara. I’m okay with changing up the lore a bit here and there, but turning them into world-conquering psychopaths? That really doesn’t fly with me.
I agree with so much of what you said. I think Corenswet is well cast. It’s Gunn’s nerfed vision for the character that hurts him. I agree on Hoult’s Lex, and I VERY MUCH agree on Gunn’s ludicrous butchering of Kal’s heritage. Completely uncalled for IMO.
This movie’s going to be a success, which is a good thing, I suppose. We’ve got Supergirl coming next, and honestly, I’ve actually been looking forward to THAT one more than this.
I was looking forward to it until I saw her introduction in Superman. Yikes!
So Luthor’s translation of the Kryptonian speech was accurate? I thought he mislead everyone and mistranslated it?
Yep. 100% accurate. I kept thinking “surely not”, but it was. Sigh…
I’ve had a day to think about the movie, and while I enjoyed it, there’s NOTHING In there that screams iconic or anything that’s going to be remembered in a week or two. The 1978 movie had the music, it had Superman’s rescue of Lois Lane, and the classic fly-away ending that put stamp on how amazing that movie was. 2013’s Man of Steel had Superman’s first flight which was epic. There was also Superman’s takedown of the World Engine, and there was a moment in there where Henry Cavill looked like Christopher Reeve, albeit for a brief moment. What does James Gunn’s movie have? I can’t think of anything that really sticks out. Even the Justice League movie had moments and sequences that stood out.
You’re so right. Gunn gives us none of those moments. He’s too interested in other stuff rather than creating something memorable.
Here’s my ranking of the Superman movies:
Superman: The Movie(1978)
Man of Steel(2013)
Superman II
Superman Returns
Superman(2025)
Superman III
Superman IV
I was going to put Gunn’s movie higher, but the more I think about the movie, the more disappointed I get. It’s a heck of a lot better than Superman III and IV, but that’s not exactly a high bar to reach. I found more to like in Superman Returns.
Honestly I think mine may be exactly the same.
There’s a difference between being bright and being shallow. Superman stories can be hopeful, optimistic, and warm — but they also need to feel grounded in truth, legacy, and emotional strength. It sounds like this film had the colors, had the optimism — but lacked the emotional discipline to back it all up.
It’s unfortunate that this felt like a missed opportunity — especially for a movie meant to launch DC’s new era. Hopefully Supergirl: Woman of Tomorrow can strike the emotional and character-driven tone you’re clearly craving. That story leans harder into heart and identity, not just spectacle.
This movie certainly lacks a good balance. But it’s also hampered by just bad storytelling. Gunn takes so many shortcuts and clogs his story up with thinly sketched characters and plot contrivances. It soon became too frustrating to overlook.
It’s unfortunate that this felt like a missed opportunity — especially for a movie meant to launch DC’s new era. Hopefully Supergirl: Woman of Tomorrow can strike the emotional and character-driven tone you’re clearly craving. That story leans harder into heart and identity, not just spectacle.
My thing is Superman stories can be hopeful, optimistic, and warm — but they also need to feel grounded in truth, legacy, and emotional strength. It sounds like this film had the colors, had the optimism — but lacked the emotional discipline to back it all up.
It’s unfortunate that this felt like a missed opportunity — especially for a movie meant to launch DC’s new era. Hopefully Supergirl: Woman of Tomorrow can strike the emotional and character-driven tone you’re clearly craving. That story leans harder into heart and identity, not just spectacle.
yeah that was mid
Good review. I felt that this movie was good, but nothing great. It definitely has potential and I can see why so many liked it, but its too crammed and overstuffed at times. Still, I am interested to see where this new cinematic universe will go from here. It’s like my feelings towards the Barbie movie. I can see many will love it, but maybe the film critic in me sees something different.
i agree alot with you, When I first saw the film trailer, I was immediately disappointed, but I was surprised because it turned out that many people liked the movie.maybe just enjoy and forget it, because there is no impression left
It definitely didn’t leave a good impression with me. I’ve actually grown more frustrated with it over time.
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