Writer/Director James Gunn brings back fun to the summer event movie with Superman.
It’s now a fact undeniable. James Gunn can do whatever he wants. The writer/director has gone five for five in his big budget event films. The short review is Superman (2025) is a big, silly, fun, funny, thrilling and beautifully made event film that gives us all the hope and good will, one could want. Different from Richard Donner’s 1978 classic in all the right ways and so good a film it will make you forget there was a 2015 film (wait there was a 2015 film?).
From the outset Gunn’s dare to be great gambit of taking the big blue boy scout out of the doldrums of tedium where he languished (in live action at least) was a risky one to say the least. Superman had faltered (both in realized and unrealized projects) because no one understood the core ideals character. Gunn not only understands Superman and his ideals he knew how to thrust this iconic character into the modern era. The writer/director posed the perfect question; how would Superman ideals of truth and justice collide in our current world where both are tenuous if not collapsing?
That is at the very core of Superman (2025). Gunn’s Superman/Clark Kent (David Corenswet) has risen the ire of not just Lex Luthor (Nicholas Hoult) but Governments of multiple nations and quickly the public that once adored him. Supes just wants to do good and stop things like a genocide and war. But it’s more complicated than that as Lois Lane (Rachel Brosnahan) illustrates during a date with Clark that turns into mock interview of Superman so perfectly. It’s in these moments that Gunn gives us a Superman that we haven’t seen in live action… one full of faults and humanity. This isn’t an infallible god… this is a guy trying to do the right thing in a world where even the best of motivations are scrutinized and picked apart until those deeds are looked upon with suspicion and malice.
This isn’t the only adroit move that Gunn makes. The entire movie is filled with the whip smart decisions that earmarks his filmography. Rather than tell us an origin story (Batman storytellers take note) Superman is established in Metropolis but not so much he has everything down. The room for error is what brings this movie to life. There’s a messiness, in the best way possible, that permeates through the film. This may not be an origins story, but its right after an origin story … three years to be exact. It is about unsteady beginnings.
Supes is ill-equipped to handle the onslaught from multiple fronts that Luthor has devised. Luthor is truly a worthy opponent not just some kooky lunatic land junky of the previous live action incarnations. Though, rest assured Luthor is every bit the egomaniacal sociopath he is in the best of the comics. The way his plan drives the film is one of the smartest moves of the film, giving Superman a worthy opponent not just one because the script says so. It gets so bad that even the Justice Gang (such in its infancy that it’s not the League or Society yet) populated by Green Lantern (Nathan Fillion), Hawkgirl (Isabela Merced), and Mr. Terrific (Edi Gathegi) can’t help him. It’s only Lois that can push beyond Luthor’s cunning to see that something strange is afoot, becoming the hero that finds the clues to eventually save the day.
Gunn’s film is filled with such moments of visual splendor, cracker jack action, twisty turn of events, and quick-witted asides that one is truly hard pressed to discuss the mechanics and details of it all. Even discussing the performances and performers could ruin the joys that one has instore for them. The film at 129 minutes with credits (yes, you’ll want to stay behind for two post-credit sequences) flies by, feeling half that. If one could compare what Gunn has done with Superman (2025) one would best compare it to the breathless speed, tone, and resolve of Spielberg’s Raiders of the Lost Ark. That film’s underdog hero seems to be Gunn’s model for Clark and Superman; a guy who’s making it up as he goes along. Who seems to be losing at every turn but at the right moments manages to win.
It’s a hell of a movie.
I haven’t even mentioned the goodest of all boys … Krypto. You’ll have to go see who’s everyone new favorite hero.
Writer/Director James Gunn brings back fun to the summer event movie with Superman.
It’s now a fact undeniable. James Gunn can do whatever he wants. The writer/director has gone five for five in his big budget event films. The short review is Superman (2025) is a big, silly, fun, funny, thrilling and beautifully made event film that gives us all the hope and good will, one could want. Different from Richard Donner’s 1978 classic in all the right ways and so good a film it will make you forget there was a 2015 film (wait there was a 2015 film?).
From the outset Gunn’s dare to be great gambit of taking the big blue boy scout out of the doldrums of tedium where he languished (in live action at least) was a risky one to say the least. Superman had faltered (both in realized and unrealized projects) because no one understood the core ideals character. Gunn not only understands Superman and his ideals he knew how to thrust this iconic character into the modern era. The writer/director posed the perfect question; how would Superman ideals of truth and justice collide in our current world where both are tenuous if not collapsing?
That is at the very core of Superman (2025). Gunn’s Superman/Clark Kent (David Corenswet) has risen the ire of not just Lex Luthor (Nicholas Hoult) but Governments of multiple nations and quickly the public that once adored him. Supes just wants to do good and stop things like a genocide and war. But it’s more complicated than that as Lois Lane (Rachel Brosnahan) illustrates during a date with Clark that turns into mock interview of Superman so perfectly. It’s in these moments that Gunn gives us a Superman that we haven’t seen in live action… one full of faults and humanity. This isn’t an infallible god… this is a guy trying to do the right thing in a world where even the best of motivations are scrutinized and picked apart until those deeds are looked upon with suspicion and malice.
This isn’t the only adroit move that Gunn makes. The entire movie is filled with the whip smart decisions that earmarks his filmography. Rather than tell us an origin story (Batman storytellers take note) Superman is established in Metropolis but not so much he has everything down. The room for error is what brings this movie to life. There’s a messiness, in the best way possible, that permeates through the film. This may not be an origins story, but its right after an origin story … three years to be exact. It is about unsteady beginnings.
Supes is ill-equipped to handle the onslaught from multiple fronts that Luthor has devised. Luthor is truly a worthy opponent not just some kooky lunatic land junky of the previous live action incarnations. Though, rest assured Luthor is every bit the egomaniacal sociopath he is in the best of the comics. The way his plan drives the film is one of the smartest moves of the film, giving Superman a worthy opponent not just one because the script says so. It gets so bad that even the Justice Gang (such in its infancy that it’s not the League or Society yet) populated by Green Lantern (Nathan Fillion), Hawkgirl (Isabela Merced), and Mr. Terrific (Edi Gathegi) can’t help him. It’s only Lois that can push beyond Luthor’s cunning to see that something strange is afoot, becoming the hero that finds the clues to eventually save the day.
Gunn’s film is filled with such moments of visual splendor, cracker jack action, twisty turn of events, and quick-witted asides that one is truly hard pressed to discuss the mechanics and details of it all. Even discussing the performances and performers could ruin the joys that one has instore for them. The film at 129 minutes with credits (yes, you’ll want to stay behind for two post-credit sequences) flies by, feeling half that. If one could compare what Gunn has done with Superman (2025) one would best compare it to the breathless speed, tone, and resolve of Spielberg’s Raiders of the Lost Ark. That film’s underdog hero seems to be Gunn’s model for Clark and Superman; a guy who’s making it up as he goes along. Who seems to be losing at every turn but at the right moments manages to win.
It’s a hell of a movie.
I haven’t even mentioned the goodest of all boys … Krypto. You’ll have to go see who’s everyone new favorite hero.
Superman is in theaters exclusively July 11th
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