Wednesday, July 23, 2025

SUPERMAN (2025) Reaction

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

 James Gunn Releases New “Superman” Movie Ensemble Poster for China -  Superman Homepage

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.