Superman ★★★1/2
- 2filmcritics
- Jul 17
- 5 min read
Availability: Showing widely in theaters nationally and internationally. Expected to stream on HBOMax mid- to late-October. For future streaming and purchase options, see JustWatch here.
The Dog Steals the Show
For all 2 Film Critics’ railing at superhero movies and the mind-numbing sequels and spinoffs of almost any brand, we are constrained to describe the current “Superman” as just plain fun, and maybe more than fun. Those brought up on DC Comics and the original silver-screen Superman will appreciate Christopher Reeve look-alike David Corenswet, down to the curl of hair dropping onto his forehead. Unlike Reeve’s Superman, the 2025 version is not clueless with the ladies. In an early scene, he’s in Lois Lane’s apartment, making her “breakfast for dinner,” the pair arguing like an old married couple about whose favorite meal it is. Her knowledge that Clark Kent is Superman is a given, as is their love affair, in a successful plot modification from James Gunn, director and writer.
Metropolis may be in the throes of destruction, but Lois Lane (Rachel Brosnahan) and Superman (David Corenswet) still have time for each other.
Unlike Reeve’s Superman, the 2025 version is not clueless with the ladies.
Gunn, an action-hero genre veteran (“Guardians of the Galaxy”), adds DC Comics’ Justice League to the mix, a bald-faced attempt to launch spinoffs of the brand. Reduced to just 3 of them and now simply the “Justice Gang,” they are—brand pimps or not—highly entertaining. Edi Gathegi is, well, terrific as low-affect Mr. Terrific, the science-brain; 5’1” Isabela Merced is a saucy Hawkgirl; and Nathan Fillion is laugh-out-loud funny as an arrogant, at times thick-witted Green Lantern, sporting his iconic “bowl” haircut from the comic books.
DC Comics Justice Gang, comprised of Green Lantern (Nathan Fillion, front), Hawkgirl
(Isabela Merced), and Mr. Terrific (Ed Gathegi, right), adds humor to the plot.
“The Daily Planet” staff brings humor to the party too. Skyler Gisondo is just right as the eager, off-the-farm cub reporter Jimmy Olsen, in this case fending off histrionic advances by the trophy-girlfriend of Lex Luthor, Superman’s nemesis. Sara Sampaio plays the girlfriend as fashion-plate Melania Trump, complete with a set of brains behind the ditzy presentation.
Wait, Mrs. Maisel as Lois Lane?
The best casting decision is Rachel Brosnahan. Wait, Mrs. Maisel as Lois Lane? Brosnahan imbues the intrepid “girl reporter” with an intelligence and assertiveness that stands up well next to Superman. She shows flashes of Mrs. Maisel’s humor and magnetism, while keeping her attitude in check enough not to steal the show from Corenswet.
Superman (Corenswet) has pieces of his home planet Krypton left in the Fortress of Solitude in Antarctica, where he takes on the show-stealer meta-dog, Krypto, complete with red cape.
The show is stolen—not by a human or metahuman or robot—but by a dog, Krypto. Left in Superman’s foster care, the canine, red cape streaming, rescues the meta-man at least twice: at the beginning of the film (before the titles, when one Film Critic leaned over to the other and said, “they have me”) and in the final battle (“Get the toy, Krypto”). Krypto is a bit of a robot, since he is CGI-created and has some super-powers; call him a “meta-animal.”
The Man of Steel gets injured easily.
As a superhero, Superman is lacking. He’s naïve, expecting the best of people. He’s not as smart as some (not as deep as Mr. Terrific nor as quick as Lois Lane). And the Man of Steel gets injured easily. He spends as much time recovering from his wounds and broken bones as he does in battle. If Gunn purposefully directs Corenswet to embody a Superman who is less than charismatic, he has succeeded (while avoiding the brooding superhero cliché that has haunted the Marvel stable of characters). A flawed hero, on the other hand, evokes more empathy and is ultimately more interesting than a perfect one.
Labeled a threat to Planet Earth, Superman (Corenswet)
is arrested and told, as an alien, he has no rights.
Ah, yes, the plot. Like many action films (last year’s “Dune II”), it’s pretty much incomprehensible, unless you’re a 13-year-old who plays video games all day, a Superman fanatic who has read up on the nuances of the franchise, or a regular reader of the front page of the New York Times. Try this: an invasion by an ally of the US, Boravia, of the neighboring country of Jarhanpur (Russia and Ukraine?); the Fortress of Solitude in Antarctica, chock full of emotionally sensitive robots (“Can you name me something besides a number?” “4 is a name.” “How about ‘Gary’?”); virtual messages from Superman’s long dead “real” parents (one of whom is Bradley Cooper); an artificial pocket dimension containing a prison (offshoring prisoners? El Salvador?); nemesis Lex Luthor (Nicholas Hoult), now in LexCorp Tower (a metropolis tower named after its egotistic builder), directing the attack on Superman through minions at computers; black holes tearing open the planet. Add some classic combat orgies where it’s difficult to tell who is fighting whom. If you can’t follow it all, and most won’t, our advice is to put your Regal seat in recliner mode and enjoy the action. The CGI effects are spectacular.
If you can’t follow it all, and most won’t, our advice is to put your Regal seat in recliner mode and enjoy the action.
The “more than fun” aspect of this year’s “Superman” is its difficult-to-ignore political valence. Our first reaction on hearing that the MAGA-[ad]verse was condemning Superman for being “woke” was to dismiss it. The Right trashed last year’s “Barbie” for reasons that made no sense; the result was that they were deprived of the joy of that path-breaking film. In this case, they may have a point. Superman is handed over by the US Government to Luthor, who tells him as an alien he has no rights, cannot talk to a lawyer, and will be shipped off from his now home-planet Earth (a fate worse than South Sudan). In fake-news social media transmissions, Superman is accused of “breeding” with humans, that is, polluting the race. Hmmm. The President of Boravia (Zlatko Buric)—though he resembles Einstein—acts a lot like Netanyahu, and the invasion by Boravia, armed with advanced technological weapons, of Jarhanpur, armed with rocks hurled by women and children defending their land, begins to look more like Israel’s attacks on Gaza than Russia’s on Ukraine.
This Superman is compassionate—to a fault. He values all species.
If not “woke,” this Superman is compassionate—to a fault. He values all species. He wants the Godzilla-like creature tromping on Metropolis’s buildings and people to be saved for study, or at least euthanized humanely. He flies in from up in the sky to save a woman, a child—and a squirrel! He unites the grotesque metahuman Metamorpho (Anthony Carrigan) with his equally grotesque baby Joey, who has been held hostage by Luthor, saving the infant at the risk of his own life. This Superman is an equal opportunity saver.
Metahuman Metamorpho (Anthony Carrigan), seated left, is in the prison box with Superman (Corenswet), prone, right. Metamorpho is forced to use his ability to produce any substance, in this case, the dreaded Kryptonite, to strip Superman of his powers. The two are in an off-planet, pocket universe prison.
Where Gunn succeeds and others have failed, is in tucking a rom-com into a comic-book, “toyetic,” brand-driven movie; yes, we’re talking Superman and Lane. This year’s action-figure film is no “Barbie”; there’s not an ironic comment or link to popular culture at every turn. But it’s darn good.
She says: Stay to the very end of the credits for one more scene of a self-deprecating Superman.
He says: I’m eager for the sequel, with Clark and Lois doing their Tracy and Hepburn.
Date: 2025
Director: James Gunn
Starring: David Corenswet, Rachel Brosnahan, Nicholas Hoult, Nathan Fillion, Edi Gathegi, Isabela Merced, Skyler Gisondo, Sara Sampaio, Zlatko Buric, Anthony Carrigan
Country: United States
Language: English
Runtime: 129 minutes
Other Awards: 2 nominations to date (for trailer and “most anticipated”)
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