By Michael Purtell
#TheGunnIsLoaded.
After a successful $615 million box office stint, “Superman (2025)” has hit streaming services.
“Superman (2025)” is a joyous romp through the D.C. universe. Director James Gunn delivers yet again on a high budget superhero movie that prioritizes fun, character writing and touching thematics that are easy to connect with as an audience member.
The story of the film follows a young Superman, relatively new to the role of superhero, as he navigates the backlash created by his preventing a war in the fictional middle-eastern country of Jarhanpur. That backlash includes a thrashing from a previously unheard of Ultraman, who is a pawn of Superman’s archnemesis Lex Luthor.
As Superman faces his first physical loss of his superhero career, he faces a big emotional loss soon after as Luthor outs the reason the kryptonian was sent to Earth, facing Kent with an identity crisis as he tries to define his humanity as an alien.
It was no surprise that I left this movie feeling invigorated. Gunn’s work with Marvel on the “Guardians of the Galaxy” trilogy is some of my favorites of the genre. While I don’t hold “Superman” quite as highly as the first two of his Marvel ventures, It certainly sits in the same echelon of quality.
There is much to like, but the true highest point of the film is the way in which the characters navigate the plot. Not a second of screen time is wasted. Every scene is full of characters with big personalities putting themselves on display.
And the quality of writing is consistent across the cast — superpowered or not — which invokes a strong pace that lends itself nicely to the expected witty, quippy and lighthearted tone you’d expect from such a brightly colored comic book movie.
The script wastes no time on the boring origin story, which is especially important when the film is already over two hours long.
The script also doesn’t leave out any information that is essential to understanding the characters within the context of the movie, presenting audiences with a clear show-don’t-tell formula that feels intuitive.
David Corenswet is the headliner here as the titular man-of-steel, and while I wouldn’t define his performance as the best of the year, it is very strong. He carries himself in a way which emanates joy, humanity and hope. This perfectly encapsulates the themes Gunn has pushed to the forefront.
Superman is purposely far from perfect in this depiction, and Corenswet delivers flawlessly on that front. He stammers, he gags, he smirks and he operates in a believably human way, which sounds like a backhanded-compliment, but it’s meant in total earnest.
Rachel Brosnahan’s Lois Lane is also great. Her reporter’s countenance is abrasive and overzealous and operates as a great deuteragonist to push Clark Kent through the main emotional plot of the movie.
Edi Gathegi as Mr. Terrific totally stole the show as a tertiary character. His presence in the film is all-encompassing. Every second he spends on screen I could not take my eyes off of him. His fights are choreographed with so much aura, his lines are written so concisely and coolly and his role in the central plot is to be the guy who saves Superman. He’s totally terrific.
The superhero movie genre is tired, and it is not groundbreaking to say so, but in recent years the pendulum of public opinion is starting to swing back towards positive with strong flicks like D.C’s “The Batman” and now “Superman.”
Some of the trends that permeate the worst of the genre are still, unfortunately, present in Gunn’s most recent release. For one, I think the Superman costume is ugly. There’s too many pointless seams and lines that really upset a clean and smooth outfit, especially compared to the careful color grading of the movie’s sets and lighting.
Some of the film’s CGI is also quite ugly. I understand the use of CGI and hold no ill will towards it, but certain close up scenes of Kent soaring through the wind have him edited into an uncanny homunculus.
The script also has some slight shortcomings, despite the strength of most of the film’s dialogue. It lacks subtlety, which is mostly ignorable, but in some scenes the tactlessness is emphasized.
“Superman (2025)” is a great movie, and is absolutely worth watching on HBO Max now that it has been released on streaming services, especially if you missed it in theaters. Three-and-a-half out of five stars.
