The Pissed Take - Superman (2025)

SUPERMAN (2025) -or- STUPORMAN: THE KITCHEN SINK

*AKA* Not great, not good... but still SUPER.

Release Date 10July2025

*Superman* (2025) is a feature film based on the comic book character created by Jerry Siegel and Joe Shuster in June 1938.

This is the 11th major film about the character, the second reboot of the film series, and the first film in the DCU from DC Studios, co-led by this film's director/writer, James Gunn. Actor David Corenswet is the 12th to portray the character in live-action media.

Superman, an alien named Kal-El who was shot into space by his parents to escape the destruction of his home world, finds himself on Earth—found by a kindly, childless Kansas couple. With their proper upbringing and the discovery of powers granted by Earth’s yellow sun, he chooses to fight injustice.

The character is considered the archetypal "superhero." While there were other powered heroes before him, Superman established the popularity of the genre and its conventions.

For nearly 50 years after his creation, Superman was the best-selling American superhero in comics.

Now for the movie. NO SPOILERS.

This movie wisely (to an extent) dispenses with the origin story and drops us right into the action—Superman's first beat down. It's a bold move from writer/director Gunn, subverting expectations by showing a far more vulnerable Kal-El than Zack Snyder did. This is more Golden Age Superman (after he begins to fly) than the amped-up demigod of later generations. This was wise.

See, Lex Luthor (played with crack-powered manic energy by Nicholas Hoult), famed arch-nemesis of Superman, is mad at him—because—and wants him humiliated, then dead. He has two super powered baddies with him who you won’t care about unless you read the comics, and will forget almost instantly.

Oh yeah—Hawkgirl, Guy Gardner, and Mr. Terrific are in this movie (if you don’t know them, don’t worry). Played by Isabela Merced, Nathan Fillion, and Edi Gathegi, they entertainingly take up runtime that could have exposed this spastic, energetic, but ultimately thin story.

I wanted to like this more than I ultimately did. Several things didn’t sit right for me—not just as a comic book movie, but as a movie in general. I think James Gunn may be the right person for DC Studios, but he wasn’t the right person for *Superman*. There are plenty of characters he now has access to that would fit his style and allow him to stretch and experiment. However, I think letting someone else take the helm from here would be best. The clumsy addition of a plot point from his “evil Superman” movie *Brightburn* only confirms this.

The “This is WOKE, that is WOKE... what is WOKE again?” crowd has turned up again to piss and moan about this movie, and yep… they’re still sub-sentient toy turds, sharted out by brain-eating, amoeba-ridden lemurs—who continue to have f#ck all to actually say or justify their fetid existences. Gunn did get a good burn in on them, though…

That’s all that needs to be said about that.

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THE GOOD:

This movie is a breath of fresh air from the grim-dark of the Snyderverse. Really, that dude did not get it. James Gunn *gets* it and presents a movie that frequently looks like a comic book. The tone is lighter and playful, and the look is vibrant and colorful. David Corenswet is a great Superman/Clark Kent. I wish him well. Nicholas Hoult Elon Musks the hell out of Lex Luthor, and I’m here for it. Rachel Brosnahan is a pretty good Lois Lane (though she doesn’t get enough time). There really isn’t a bad performance here. The Snyderverse is dead.

THE BAD:

IT’S UNEVEN. While a somewhat brisk pace is often welcome, the movie has more jerks and jitters than a spastic colon.

IT’S OVERSTUFFED. Too many characters, and too much happening between them. The main thrust is compromised by too much plot.

FUNKY STYLISTIC CHOICES. The suit looks like an Avengers suit was stolen and reworked to look like Superman. The suit sucks. The wide-angle photography by cinematographer Henry Braham is often off-putting—apparently using the Leica Tri-Elmar—it was hard to look at, and even laughable at some points.

THE JOHN WILLIAMS THEME. A different sound for a different time. The head-scratching use of the iconic theme is further weakened by a score that has no stylistic or thematic connection.

TOO MUCH BAD CGI. You have to wonder how nearly a quarter billion dollars spent ends up looking so... cheap.

THE CUTE. Didn’t care for ANY of the cute shit. James Gunn is known for getting real cutesy and maudlin with his movies—and it still doesn’t work for me.

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SEE IT:

Sure. Go to a matinee. It’s at the very least entertaining—and perhaps more importantly—POSITIVE. Otherwise... STREAM HO!

DON’T SEE IT:

I don’t actually give a baked Alaska filled, deep-fried ass-crack what you do, MF.

Superman (2025) Movie Poster