Review: "Superman"

For me, Superman was one of the most anticipated summer movies of 2025. 

The initial trailer had me.  I’m speaking of the widely viewed sequence showing Superman plummeting from the sky and smashing into a frozen landscape.  He is bleeding and wheezing, gasping for breath after having the wind knocked out of him.  He whistles, and in the distance we see what appears to be a locomotive blasting through the snow toward him.  It turns out to be Krypto, Superman’s caped-crusader-canine, super-puppy, to the rescue, friskily dragging his master off to safety.

I was blown away.  This looked to be a Superman movie like no other.  Superman’s bloody injuries reflected vulnerability unlike anything we have seen before.  Something or someone had clearly kicked the stuffing out of the indestructible Man of Steel.  Though he has taken a beating in other Superman movies over the years, we haven’t seen our hero as downright defeated as this.

Early interviews with actor David Corenswet were encouraging.  He looked like a great choice for the part.  He was humble about donning the cape and red trunks and had nothing but respect for the actors who preceded him, most notably the late Christopher Reeve who brought Superman to the big screen back in 1978 with the direction of Richard Donner.  He would prove to be a hard act to follow.

Reeve starred in three sequels, none as good as the original.  Brandon Routh reprised the role in Superman Returns (2006) directed by Bryan Singer.  It was acceptable, but fans wanted someone to substantially raise the bar.

Enter writer/director James Gunn who had made his mark with mega-successful movies like the Guardians of the Galaxy trilogy and The Suicide Squad (2021).  He seemed like the man of the hour for a radical reinterpretation of the man from another planet.

Expectations were sky high.  DC Comics seemed to be on a trajectory to rival the Marvel Studios and their string of superhero successes.  The fan base was salivating.  The movie seemed poised to soar into the stratosphere of classic fantasy films.

The finished film smartly begins with the Krypto rescue sequence. 

We are introduced to the new Fortress of Solitude and holograms of Superman’s parents that we’ve seen in earlier Superman movies.  Besides Krypto, what’s new here is the introduction of robots who attend to the wounded superhero.  It’s an interesting new twist.  The scene underscores Superman’s uncharacteristic vulnerability.  He’s taken a hammering in previous films, but nothing quite like this, resulting in serious internal injuries.

This isn’t the same old Superman we’ve known and loved.  The whole approach to the character and material is also changed dramatically.  Essentially, Superman gets the James Gunn Guardians of the Galaxy treatment.  The often silly antics of the rag-tag team of misfits in Guardians of the Galaxy works.  It’s comedic and fun and entertaining.  It doesn’t work so well when applied to a character so well defined and respected over the years since his famous comic book debut way back in 1938. 

Messing with that formula is a gutsy move.  The two franchises are proverbial apples and oranges in terms of tone.  Adding in an updated Lex Luthor character (a bald Nicholas Hoult) and some CGI Godzilla-llke monsters doesn’t make up for the energy and strength robbed from our hero. 

Like so many sci-fi movies these days, the story involves a parallel (“Pocket”) Universe and the appearance of an evil clone.  A spin off group of superheroes (known as the “Justice Gang”) reluctantly steps in to handle things like stopping a war when Superman is handling other dilemmas, such as the earth ripping apart and the destruction of Metropolis.

Gunn’s script spares us the origin story about Superman’s home planet and his early childhood on Earth in Smallville.  Lois Lane, early on, knows that her colleague Clark Kent is Superman.  We don’t need to see this for the umpteenth time.

Freed of that baggage, you would think the story would be free to leap tall buildings, but it doesn’t.  There is one thrilling scene in which Superman blows away a small army of airborne villains by spinning in the air and blasting them out of the sky with his lethal laser vision.  It’s a stand-alone, stand up and cheer moment.

Sadly, most of the movie sinks to pretty standard Superman fare.  This Superman lacks the heart and soul that Christopher Reeve brought to the role almost a half century ago.  While the old-school, wire-stunt flying may look dated, there is a spark of humanity that Reeve brought to the role that made it so special and memorable.

It’s what’s missing in Superman 2025.

Superman is rated PG-13.