On July 10, an updated Superman returned to theaters, this time by James Gunn, an experienced comic book adaptation expert. It is this film that should answer the burning question — do we need a rebooted DC cinematic universe in this form? Well, let’s find out in this review.
Pluses:
David Corensworth made a good Superman; the visuals are striking; the commentary on the current world situation is relevant; the movie is generally a fascinating superhero movie; Crypto the dog is stupid but cute;
Minuses:
the first part of the film does not give much to cheer about; the excessive Hannah's humor is still evident and often seems out of place; the secondary characters mostly do not show themselves;
«Superman»
Genre superhero action
Director James Gunn
Starring David Korensworth, Rachel Brosnahan, Nicholas Hoult, Isabela Merced, Nathan Fillion, Frank Grillo, Sean Gunn
Premiere movie theaters
Year of release 2025
Website IMDb, official website
As with our competitors from Marvel and their Spider-Man, there is no point in retelling a story that is well known to many viewers. So we’ll just quickly remind you. Before the destruction of his home planet Krypton, the parents of little Kal-El sent their son to Earth. Here, the boy with the earthly name Clark is raised by good-natured Smallville residents Jonathan and Martha Kent. He grows up, becomes a journalist for the Metropolis newspaper The Daily Planet (does anyone else read them?), and one of the greatest heroes of the planet, Superman.
James Gunn appropriately ignores this backstory, limiting it to a few sentences in the opening credits. He announces that Superman came to the defense of the suffering three years ago. He recently prevented the invasion of neighboring Jarkhanpur by the country of Boravia, and is currently busy fighting the henchmen of ambitious technological genius Lex Luthor, who sleeps and sees an alien in a coffin. Or at least in prison.
If anyone was capable of rebooting this rusted-out machine called the «DC Cinematic Universe», it was James Gunn. His unique ability to entertain, prank, and at the same time squeeze sane drama (within the genre, of course) out of even frankly absurd material is perfectly suited to bringing comics to the cinema. He is the one who is able to evoke sympathy for a tree with the voice of Vin Diesel and a talking raccoon kleptomaniac. And probably no one in the world would have coped better with the extremely responsible and difficult task that was entrusted to the filmmaker.
He knows better than anyone else that this world is more than willing to blow things out of proportion, even when it comes to harmless tweets and nonsense on the Internet. As well as hate at the hands of cunning disinformers, whose fakes are much easier to fall for than using your head. At the same time, you won’t find such determination on a candlelit afternoon on issues that are much more pressing and important, when, for example, human lives are at stake.
It’s hard not to see the local invasion of one fictional country into another as an allusion to sad Ukrainian realities.
In contrast, Korensworth’s Superman is precisely the marker of goodness, a bright ray of hope in the hopeless darkness that our geopolitically divided, literally disunited, and intolerant world needs. While the pretentious Zack Snyder’s Superman was a kind of deity, a superman, the more down-to-earth James Gunn not only returned the character’s authentic red underpants but also endowed him with an essential humanity. This is no longer a Man of Steel. This is a Man with a heart. It is this trait that will now become the main superpower.
But first of all, «Superman» — is a good, moderately silly, entertaining and exciting summer blockbuster, and a good start for the superhero universe 2.0.
Although, in fact, at first the idea did not inspire confidence, if not to say that it looked downright boring. Gunn doesn’t shy away from long dialogues lasting 8 minutes just to contrast the characters of Superman and Lois Lane. The former symbolizes pure, unadulterated, and unencumbered by unnecessary (earthly) nuances of goodness, while the latter is focused on the same nuances (which in itself speaks volumes about people), such as bureaucracy, following protocols, and harmful narratives.
At first, the action is not particularly impressive, because it’s not like another battle with a kaiju monster in the midst of a frightened metropolis, which we’ve seen many times before. Just as Gunn’s humorous efforts are more annoying than amusing. Yes, it’s not the same shabby chic that «The Suicide Squad» (2021), but the director’s Troma roots are still evident here and there, and sometimes they suddenly appear in the frame.
But in the second half of the story, the narrative levels out and everything falls into place. And in such a way that it is absolutely impossible to tear yourself away from the screen.
The stakes are raised, the dynamics prevail over boredom, John Murphy’s pounding music adds scale to the already massive action. Nicholas Hoult becomes so crazy that at one point it seems as if his bald head is about to crack like a nut. Superman himself doesn’t look like an invincible machine by any means — he clearly hasn’t reached his full potential yet, and this imperfection also adds to the character’s charm.
Nathan Fillion’s Green Lantern brings a certain amount of Gunn’s trademark goofiness to the story. Unfortunately, the other members of the Justice Squad, Mr. Terrific and Hawkgirl, are not memorable at all, but they are no more than guests at this party.
Just like its titular hero, the newest «Superman» is far from perfect and, having gained momentum, sometimes stumbles and does not fulfill its purpose as confidently as it would like.
On the other hand, given the general fatigue with superheroes and, if I may be so bold as to be subjective, disbelief in this project, there is something to be happy about. We can only hope that things will go at least as well for James Gunn’s brainchild (meaning the entire cinematic universe) in the future. And that in real life, one crazy dictator will be put on a cactus.
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