SUPERMAN (2025) Reaction

 Here are some thoughts that I sent in to Ray at The Flitecast podcast:

 

Overall, I enjoyed SUPERMAN and I'd say that it did lots of things really well, but I don't think it did anything superbly well. More on that in a moment, but I also want to start off by saying that I am truly happy about its success and the positive reception it's getting in society. It's good to garner more Superman fans, to keep the superhero movies going, and to give WB executives the confidence to let DC Studios continue without creative interruption. Plus, my wife and kids really liked it, which has been fun for me since I already have lots of Superman content that I enjoy, and now they are joining in. (And to be fair, my kids also like My Adventures with Superman (HBO Max).)

And I did enjoy this new SUPERMAN movie, too. I would probably give it a 7.5 out of 10 at this point. Solid, but not quite up to the heights of BvS, MAN OF STEEL, WONDER WOMAN, or THE DARK KNIGHT. 

Some positives were the general likeability of David Corenswet, the Lois and Clark dynamics and the brave choice to give them some relationship tensions, everything about Mister Terrific, the fact that the side characters were interesting but did not detract from Superman's central story, and some nice moments of heart.

The tone and pacing were also well drawn, so that did make it an enjoyable experience just as a typical movie viewer. I think these are some of the reasons that it is getting a generally positive reception.

But there are some things in my subjective view that were good but not great.

I felt like the action was big but it wasn't epic. I also thought the physics and the fight choreography were fine but not top caliber, and some moments were kind of disappointing like Superman in the anti-proton river, just flailing about for several minutes and then blowing wind way late in the game (though luckily this scene was saved by Metamorpho). Or another example is the fight with Ultraman at the end, where Superman dislocates his shoulder, which is kind of a cool idea and fits with the humanizing theme, but he doesn't use the dislocation to escape, he actually uses the now-dislocated arm to throw Ultraman over to the other side into the bus that sends him down toward the black hole. I have no idea how a dislocated arm was able to make that throw when his healthy arm couldn't. So again, it was a key fight scene with Superman that ended in a very disappointing manner, in my view. The flying straight up with the nannites was also a weird choice because how could Superman have known that it would work out perfectly to his advantage that the Engineer would catch up to him and encase him safely?

Some other broader things that I think were fine but not great were the music, the cinematography, and Lex Luthor's portrayal. To me, Lex's motivations were pretty straightforward, and he always seemed like an actor playing the part, I didn't buy into him as a real character like I did most of the others.

My other big thing is that the movie had a few decent attempts at broader themes, like what it means to be human -- that it's about culture and choices, not DNA -- but that human culture does have the danger of being influenced by shocking new information or by manipulations of the powerful. But these themes were not deeply embedded in the movie, in my subjective opinion. I got the sense that this movie was mostly constructed around characters, tone, and plot, not around philosophical ideas.

But that's okay. I know most people like films to be about character and plot, not about philosophical themes. And even for myself, I only need certain movies, from time to time, to take on that heavier stuff. I also like entertaining movies, and SUPERMAN is one of those.

I also thought the rural stuff with the Kents was good, not great. I'm from the rural Midwest, and I grew up on a farm. I think this movie went more for the rural, not very much about the farming. But that's okay. At first I thought it was conflating rural with stupid, but I was won over by the end. 

So overall, I like it, and I am glad that the mid-credit and post-credit scene were connected to this movie, not re-directing attention toward the next movie. I like it that people can settle in and talk about and enjoy this movie for quite awhile longer before the next thing.

There were also a few very minor things that I noticed, like the Engineer flying way too far, too fast to arrive at Lex's headquarters near the beginning, or Superman going way too far under the sidewalk before he pops out, Lex not flinching at all when blades are flying right past his face in the Fortress (I know he's cocky, but does he have no reflexes at all?), the Engineer reforming her self upside down in the Fortress for no reason other than to show that she has that ability, which never matters again, or Mister Terrific, a man with human strength, punching out multiple guys with helmets at the beachside base.  But all of those were very quick and easy to brush aside -- they didn't negatively effect the overall movie.

But that sort of thing does put SUPERMAN a notch below MAN OF STEEL in my own subjective ranking, because I think MAN OF STEEL only has like two very small moments that I'd want to change (Clark looking down too severely with his baseball cap in the cemetery, which looks to obviously like blocking so that he can look up at Lois, and then the line after the kiss where he says that it's downhill after the first kiss if you're kissing a human, because he is kissing a human even if Lois is not).

Well, this has already gone on longer than I thought. Although it might seem like I have a lot of critiques, I do want to reiterate that I liked the film. And I have not shared any of my complaints online, because as you've discussed before, there's no need to spread the negativity, and I do want the word-of-mouth to continue so that it can have some legs at the box office. James Gunn said $500 Million would be a success, and I think it's going to end up over $600 Million... $700 Million is a possibility and that would be super!