Review: Superman (James Gunn, 2025)
Telling a superhero story the DC way
© Warner Brothers
This year’s Superman opens with the Man of Steel lying spent and wheezing on the Arctic tundra. It’s a perfect metaphor for the state of the world’s founding superhero after the battering he took under DC’s chaotic Extended Universe project. An uppercut from the ponderous Man of Steel (Zack Snyder, 2013), a one-two from the joyless Batman v Superman: Dawn of Justice (Snyder, 2016), a body-slam from whatever the hell Justice League was supposed to be (Snyder and Joss Whedon, 2017), then a four-hour beating with a folding chair by Zack Snyder’s Justice League (2021).
Thankfully, Kal-El is rescued by a couple of playful white-haired goofballs: Superman’s dog Krypto and writer/director James Gunn, Disney divorcee turned DC Studios CEO.
Supes gets his solar batteries recharged to the tune of John Williams’ still-goosebump-inducing score before the story brings us up to speed faster than a speeding bullet.
It turns out Superman has just had his butt handed to him by a foreign metahuman, payback for Superman taking it upon himself to prevent a landgrab by the hostile Slavic nation of Boravia.
The adults in the room are Lois Lane (an astute Rachel Brosnahan) and Lex Luther (a twitchy, combustible Nicholas Hoult). One tries to convince Clark Kent that maybe inserting himself into the affairs of an aggressive but allied nation maybe wasn’t such a good idea; the other takes the opportunity to turn the tide of public opinion against Superman and get him cancelled from reality.
Gunn’s cinematic rescue mission is a spectacular success, one that restores Superman’s status as a cultural – not just a fanboy – icon. Those expecting another corporate superhero clusterf*** will be surprised by an IMAX-worthy event movie made with heart and no small amount of craft…
