Fantasy Book Critic: Superman Movie Review (by Mihir Wanchoo)

OVERVIEW/ANALYSIS: Superman 2025, I don’t think any DC CBM has been released with such a cloud of anxiety over it. You have the DC fans along with the James Gunn fans who genuinely want this movie to succeed wildly and herald the start of a new (and hopefully joyful & colourful) DCU. In another corner you have the DCEU or mainly Snyder diehards who might have a vested interest in this reboot, seeing that it came at the expense of the further expansion of their beloved Snyderverse storyline that Zack Snyder has more than hinted at and gloriously shown in his EPIC 4 hour vision. Then there’s the middle of the road CBM fans like me who would like a new movie that doesn’t fall to the usual pitfalls and entertain us while giving us a good story. We want to watch Supes fly, kick ass and be his good natured self.

James Gunn had a massive problem on his hands going about this adaptation but say one thing about James Gunn. The man knows his comics and he’s a true geek through and through (just look at who the antagonist was for the Suicide Squad movie). He had revealed that he used All-Star Superman (by Grant Morrison) as his template and created a new story with a younger superman for the true beginning of the DCU.

The movie begins with an intro crawl demarcating how the new DCU isn’t our world but a facsimile wherein superheroes and gods and monsters have been present since the past 3 centuries. And then it runs down all the way to 3 minutes and we get our first view at what is happening with Superman. Beaten down by the Hammer of Boravia due to his intervention in Boravia’ invasion of Jahranpur, Supes calls upon Krypto who rushes him off to the Fortress of Solitude wherein a focused dose of sunlight heals him. He’s also nursed by a battery of Superman Robots who are indifferent to Krypto and his rascally destruction within the Fortress. We are then also introduced to Supes’ alter ego Clark Kent and the coterie of individuals within the Daily Planet office. We also get introduced to Lex Luthor and his team consisting of Ultraman, the Engineer and a bunch of folks who are helping him run with his obsession to defeat Superman. There’s also the “Justice Gang” consisting of Mr. Terrific, Hawkgirl & Guy Gardner Green Lantern.

The movie set ups the situation wonderfully and also does a quick introduction to the vast array of characters. The plot is basically focused on Lex’s efforts to bring down Superman by convincing the Government that the Kryptonian has nefarious schemes afoot. This is helped by Lex & his team uncovering Clark’s parents message and unleashing it to the world.

Say one thing about James Gunn, the man truly know how to write characters and dialogue. From David Corenswet’s Superman to Rachel Brosnahan’s Lois Lane to Edi Gathegi’s Mr. Terrific to Nicholas Hoult’s Lex Luthor to Nathan Fillion’s Guy Gardner to the CGI-Krypto. These were the main highlights for me but there’s so many more like Wendell Pierce’ s Perry White to Skyler Gisondo’s Jimmy Olsen to Taylor Pruitt Vince’s Pa Kent whom I would have liked to see more of. I honestly think I would have loved to watch a 5-6 hour version of this movie wherein I had gotten to see more of the character cast and their interactions. Such is the richness of these characters, that one can feel bad that there’s not enough time for everyone.

Another interesting aspect of the movie is that it drops the audience into a world that’s formed and doesn’t explain anything about it. A lot of it will feel familiar or be known to DC comics fans but for the general audiences, it might be a bit confusing. The plot is also very pacey and the story moves along quite fast. In fact in certain scenes, I wish it had slowed down for the viewers to really feel the intensity of the moments.

This film has the typical James Gunn humour however the crass jokes thankfully were tamped down. I don’t know if that was something that the Studio enforced upon Gunn or James himself course corrected. Lastly there were three cameos which I was pleasantly surprised with. Two characters were from upcoming projects and man were they hilarious. The third character was from Gunn’s TSS and it was cool to see where they were considering what happened to them in TSS.

Going on the shortcomings of the movie and it’s in this regards, I’ll have talk through some mild spoilers. So if you wish to stop here then I won’t mind it. For those who wish to read ahead in spite of some spoilers, kudos to you brave sports.
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One of the movie’s main twists is that the Kal-El often likes to listen to a message from his parents Jor-El & Lara Lor-Van. He only gets to listen to the first part as the latter half is corrupted. The film reveals thanks to Luthor’s machinations that the remaining part of the message is them instructing him to conquer and rule over Earth. Also to repopulate Earth with many children of Kryptonian heritage. However the movie doesn’t again make it clear if that truly is the case or something that Luthor & Engineer tweaked the original. If this is truly the case, then it’s a mighty twist on the whole Kryptonian parents side. Contrasting this with Russell Crowe’s Jor-El, this is definitely going to be jarring to a whole lot of Superman fans.

Because of the movie's pace and several cuts, this movie definitely felt as if there were quite a few connective tissue scenes missing and I really wish that Gunn is able to release the extended version on HBO Max wherein we can get to see more. Because I would have loved to see the dynamic between the Daily Planet crew. Maybe even more of Lex and his henchfolks.

Another aspect which didn’t work for me, was that the Superman introduced in this movie acted a bit dumb. In the opening sequence, after the Hammer Of Boravia leaves, Superman isn’t concerned to trace him. He also doesn’t try to find out how Lex and his minions gained access to his Fortress given how the condition its left in. Maybe because he's still a younger Superman, given that its only his third year. However it was a tad surprising given how well-written Supes was otherwise.

One character whose character left me bemused was Eve Tessmacher. Given how strong Rachel Brosnahan’s Lois is. It was a bit perplexing to see why Eve’s character was such a ditzy one. Speaking of characters, another confounding thing was Jimmy Olsen’s being fawned upon by all the gals. It just didn’t make any sense. Now if it was the “Jimmy Olsen” from BVS, it would kinda make sense. Skyler Gisondo is easy on the eyes but not to the levels that seem to be implied here. Lastly Ma Kent's character was caricaturish beyond belief and it just detracted from my enjoyment. Plus Hawk Girl was wasted in this movie and she barely did anything besides say that she hates Justice Gang title.

I think James Gunn is more than a little lucky that he has such a huge fan base. Because for some of the drawbacks of the movie (Evil Kryptonian parents, floozy female characters), other directors would have been excoriated beyond belief. He somehow is shielded from these criticisms. Which is good for him but a weird thing to notice.

Is it better than Iron Man or Man Of Steel? That's very hard to say. I think Iron Man was a very compact and straighforward film. Man Of Steel was way more epic, Superman is more Comic Booky than either of them. I enjoyed all three of them for different reasons and I'm really hoping that there will be an extended cut for SUPERMAN which addresses some of my concerns in which case, it will be an interesting comparison to make then.

CONCLUSION: Overall I liked this movie and it was a good start to the DCU. I’m very much excited for Supergirl & Clayface on the movie side. Even more enthused for Peacemaker S2 & Lanterns on the TV side. I really hope that we get more DCU movies, characters & TV shows as I think there's a genuine newness to this universe but I would like to see other creators also get to work their magic within.