Superman is back! This time with James Gunn at the helm.
Given a brief to restart and re-imagine the entire franchise, Gunn was handed the reigns to the DC Superhero universe, alongside his friend Peter Safran, in 2022 after his very public firing and rehiring by Marvel. Now having completed his Guardians of the Galaxy trilogy, the filmmaker begins his reboot with everyone’s favourite son of Krypton.
Rather than rehash Superman’s well-worn origin, Gunn wisely drops us straight into the action, as our titular hero crashes to earth, seriously wounded after a rare defeat. It’s then revealed that Superman’s actions had caused an international incident when he stepped in to prevent the country of Boravia from invading its neighbour Jarhanpur. In retaliation Supervillain ‘The Hammer of Boravia’ has given Supes a severe beating.
Siding with the oppressed and doing what’s right has always been a hallmark of the best Superman stories & there are clear parallels here with current real-life conflicts, however Gunn doesn’t delve too deeply into those murky waters, perhaps for fear of alienating half his audience.
The film that follows has a convoluted conspiracy plot involving alternate pocket universes, rips in space time and an unfortunately miscast Nicholas Hoult as chief villain Lex Luthor.
Conversely, David Corenswet is well cast as the new Superman, managing to channel the essence of Christopher Reeve into his performance both in and out of the costume. His screen time as alter ego Clark Kent however, is limited, which is a shame because he shares great chemistry with Rachel Brosnahan’s Lois Lane, his Daily Planet workmate and new girlfriend. The scenes between the pair are among the film’s brightest moments. In fact, the whole Daily Planet team are likeable with Skyler Gisondo’s Jimmy Olsen another highlight.
Where the film suffers is with the addition of yet more heroes in the form of the Justice Gang (Nathan Fillion’s Green Lantern, Isabella Merced’s Hawk Girl and Edi Gathegi’s Mr Terrific). While they’re an admittedly entertaining bunch, they distract the films focus and take the limelight away from Corenswet’s lead when he should be front and centre.
Superman’s pet dog Krypto, is also jammed into the mix. The excellently rendered CGI mutt is endearing to begin with but grates the more he features.
Overall, the film is the complete antithesis of the ultra dark Zack Snyder movies which preceded it. Some colour and light relief was called for, but it seems the course correction has been overdone.
Replacing Snyder’s trademark Slo Mo with a breakneck pace that never lets up, Gunn’s Superman is optimistic, bright and breezy, and zany to the point of silliness.
While it’s undeniably overstuffed and ridiculous in places, the film is as close to a faithful representation of an actual comic book as you’re ever likely to see. And that in a nutshell, is both its biggest strength and ultimate flaw.
There’s definitely promise for the future here, but this is far from the Superman film many expected or were hoping for
⭐️⭐️⭐️
Paul Steward
21/07/25
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