The Media Man Reviews: Superman 2025 (ft. TCH2)

The DCEU is over now. Dead. Finished. Buried Forever. Now we're entering the new era with new DC movies heralded by Guardians of the Galaxy veteran himself, James Gunn, who promises to deliver what the previous cinematic universe failed to deliver: a good cinematic DC Universe. And so we're here today with the beginning of this new era with, appropriately, a brand new Superman movie.

Much like how the DCEU began with a Superman movie, this universe is beginning with a Superman movie. I still find it so ironic that here we are with a new DC cinematic universe movie, and it's being directed by a guy who worked on the Marvel Cinematic Universe. At least James Gunn can say he got out when he could considering the MCU has been in decline and hasn't stopped declining ever since Avengers: Endgame ended and the MCU decided to keep going when Endgame should've been the end. Anyhow, here he is with a new superhero movie and this time he's dabbling in the DC Universe.

When it comes to Superman movies, I haven't seen any of the Christopher Reeve movies, but I have seen Man of Steel. And this'll shock you all...but I actually like it. No really. XD I consider Man of Steel one of the most underrated movies ever, as well as one of the movies with the most ridiculous amount of hate I've seen since nearly every criticism that film gets feels like nothing but bad takes and people not understanding how story-telling works. With that in mind, I was curious to see how James Gunn would write and direct a Superman movie and as a DC fan, I want to see how this new universe goes.

So was this a super movie? Or should it be banished to the Phantom Zone? Put on your capes and take flight everybody for we're going into this movie! But I'm going to need another superhero to join me for this mission, so let's welcome Thomas Holmes once again to themediamanblog for this post!

(Thomas Holmes steps in, a Superman shield emblazoned across his chest.)

Thomas: Greetings and salutations, everyone! So, Superman hits the big screen once again. I too am a big fan of Man of Steel, and my heart goes out to both Zack Snyder and Henry Cavill for being so unappreciated by so many people.

But enough of that depressing subject. It's time to go up, up and away with the DCU!

Section 1: The Story

Media Man: The story centres on Superman, who goes by the alias Clark Kent when in disguise as a human. He's been Superman for about three years and has established himself as a beloved figure amongst the public, but a controversial figure amongst political parties. This comes a head when Lex Luthor engineers a deadly scheme that sees Superman in a battle where he may not be able to save the day by simply punching the enemy in the face. All the while, he has to wrestle with what truly makes him Superman...

The story is as basic superhero flick as you can get, only we don't get the typical origin story this time around as James Gunn doesn't want to do that. Instead, we're thrust into this status quo that's already set up and we're given clear indication that this is a Superman that's been on Earth for a while now. Does it work for this movie? Eh...I'd debate on that since the way the story is told and the pacing of the movie make it feel like a sequel to another movie, but there isn't one. This is Superman's first movie in this new cinematic universe.

Thomas: Personally, I'm okay with all that. I mean, everyone and their grandmother knows the origin of Superman at this point, so there's no real need to explore it again.

Anyways, in contrast to the more serious and gritty Superman we got from Zack Snyder over a decade ago, James Gunn brings Superman back to his more hopeful roots, with a more optimistic tone and presence of the more campy aspects of the comics. So, for anyone complaining about how the DCEU 'made Superman too dark' (which is unfair IMO), this should satisfy you. The film notably draws on the acclaimed All-Star Superman with certain characters are portrayed and how Superman longs to connect with humanity, but isn't really able to.

That said, the film still takes itself seriously when it needs to, what with Superman having to deal with both public and political scrutiny, having an unpleasant truth about his heritage being revealed, also constantly getting his butt handed to him pretty heavily.

Media Man: That last part is something I have an issue with, but we'll get to that when we cover the bad parts later.

The story is very true to the tone of Superman and what made him such a pop culture icon in the first place, and thus it really makes the experience feel more enjoyable since we have a Superman movie that feels like Superman. While I like Man of Steel, it's no contest. This movie tonally is more true to the Superman style.

I also like how the movie tackles very relevant issues, namely how kindness and human decency are seen as "outdated" values and that sticking to our humanity is our best way to combat against these ridiculous mindsets. Seriously, how far has society fallen when people genuinely think something so morbid and stupid like that? Superman 2025 ultimately has us wonder what it means to be human, and in true Superman fashion, the answer is the kindness we show others, the mistakes we make and grow from and the desire to be a better person. Considering...the current era which we live in, this movie feels like it came out at just the right time. This is the kind of story that needs to be told and the message that we NEED to hear in this day and age. It'll also make this movie very timeless and relevant for years to come.

Also, as this is a superhero movie, naturally there's a lot of action scenes, and James Gunn's direction really brings them to life here by giving us some big superhero action that makes the whole thing seem larger than life. I just wish that Superman wasn't constantly getting his ass kicked throughout most of the film as that made the action a little tedious to watch. Seriously, Liko from Pokémon Horizons wasn't this much of a punching bag, and we all know how much the show loves having her get her ass kicked!

But back to the good points, this script, while imperfect, clearly had some careful and intelligent thought put into it. Case in point, two twist reveals that we get here. At one point, Lex Luthor somehow enters the Fortress of Solitude and it isn't explained why for quite a while, but then when it's revealed who Ultraman is, we suddenly realize that it makes sense after all and the scene was clever foreshadowing for the twist. Also we see another character constantly taking selfies throughout the movie and then surprise, it turns out to be plot relevant! This goes to show that James Gunn clearly didn't wing it as he wrote the script for the movie. While he didn't get it right in some places, we can tell he was still putting a lot of thought into the story, and as a writer myself I applaud that.

Thomas: As do I.

I also think it's worth noting that James Gunn was able to incorporate a lot of different characters in this story - Superman, Lois Lane, Lex Luthor, Eva Tessmacher, the Justice Gang, Krypto, the Fortress' robot guardians and others - and yet, the film rarely feels overcrowded. All the characters in this movie play a substantial role, and aren't there just for fan-service. That's pretty impressive on James' part. A lot of other superhero movies could learn a thing or two from this.

But James didn't always get it right, particularly regarding some of the humour. I know this is a more light-hearted movie, and I have no problem with humour, but at times, it feels like James was trying a little too hard to get a laugh, especially with Krypto's antics.

Also, as mentioned, Superman constantly gets his butt whooped in this movie. I understand wanting to show that even Superman isn't completely untouchable and can get hurt as it give genuine stakes, but I also recognise that James might have gone overboard a little.

Media Man: Oh he went overboard alright. It's like he didn't learn anything from his Guardians of the Galaxy films and still thinks we want quippy one-liners every five seconds. We don't James, it got annoying when the MCU kept doing it over and over, don't bring it over to the DCU too! The most annoying moment of the movie for me was that stupid running gag about the name of the Justice Gang. James can't have thought it was THAT funny, surely? It wasn't, it was annoying and it just got more annoying the further the movie went on.

Also, contrary to what Thomas said earlier, I actually think the film does suffer from being overcrowded. Why James felt the need to include Green Lantern, Hawkgirl, Mr. Terrific and Metamorpho in the movie all at once when this is meant to be a Superman movie, I'll never understand. The Justice Gang just take away the focus from Superman's cast at times and Metamorpho is so blatantly shoe-horned into the movie that he doesn't even get a proper introduction. He's just...there and we have to go with it. The focus should've stayed solely on the Superman cast and the other characters should've been saved for other media. This IS the start of a new cinematic universe after all, so let viewers in gently instead of piling all these characters on them at once is what I'm saying. And this goes into the criticism some viewers have about this movie feeling like a sequel to a movie that doesn't exist. It feels like we should've been introduced to these characters and seen everything leading up to this by now, but we haven't. This is the beginning of a new cinematic universe, so it should FEEL like a beginning, not like we're starting in the middle of one!

This in turn brings up another problem with the movie: the pacing. The movie just expects us to know who all the characters are and their relationships to one another, so it more or less just goes from one scene to another with not a lot of time to slow down and take everything in. Again, this is the first movie in a new cinematic universe, so why the need to rush the pacing here? I'm not saying it's completely rushed, we do occasionally get breather scenes to give us a break from the action. The scene with Clark talking with his adopted father is one such example and is my favourite scene in the movie because of it. Despite this starting some time later in Superman's life, the scene does make you feel as if Superman and Jonathan Kent have known each other for years by this point and that he still has some words of wisdom to give his surrogate son. As is, if the movie trimmed the fat a little and wasn't so focused on not being an origin story, we could've had an easier time getting introduced to this new universe.

Also, like many people, I didn't like how Jor-El and Lara Lor-Van are given the Adaptational Villainy treatment. Like...was that really necessary? I get that Superman's biological parents are often given this treatment, but that's in alternate universes. This is meant to be the main DC Universe, so why are they reimagined as basically space colonists who want Superman to take over Earth? That's just not Jor-El and Lara Lor-Van at all and it just feels like a convenient excuse to give Superman an existential crisis, which is an overdone story with him. Superman already feels like an outsider because he's an alien. Isn't that enough of an existential crisis for him? It also doesn't help how that whole plot point doesn't make a lick of sense when The Engineer is somehow able to get the rest of the message and translate it despite not being Kryptonian and Krypton being a dead planet so there should be no feasible way to be able to translate the message in the first place, so that's a massive plot hole right there! And all because James Gunn villainized Superman's parents...

Thomas: Yeah, I honestly agree on that front. I kinda hoped it would be revealed to be some kind of trick made up by Luthor to demoralise Superman, but it wasn't. Why change that about them, James? Nothing like that ever happened in any of the comics, so what was the reasoning behind all that?

So yeah, James Gunn made some not-so-super decisions regarding the story. But what he got right, he got really right, and it makes for an overall superb experience for me.

Media Man: I wouldn't say the movie was "super" for me, but the story does give the viewer a fun time even in spite of its flaws at least, and the purpose of film is to entertain, so if it entertains you, then it's doing its job right...

Section 2: The Characters

We're here again seeing new takes on iconic DC characters. Do these versions do the characters justice? Let's cover them.

First of all is the Man of Steel himself, Superman/Clark Kent (played by David Corenswet). While many hate how this Superman seems weaker and at times comes off as inexperienced and a poor fighter (seriously, there are NUMEROUS times he could've used his laser vision on the enemy and he barely ever uses it!), I have no complaints about how Superman is characterized here. He's his usual kind-hearted, uplifting self who inspires hope in others and never once sees himself as above humanity in spite of his great power. This Superman also gets very conflicted when he finds out his parents had less-than-noble intentions for his arrival to Earth and after a talk with his foster father, he learns that his decisions make him who he really is, not his parents. I wish they devoted more time to that part of his arc, but it's still otherwise a solid arc for Superman, if a little overdone at this point. For those who wanted a less dark and gritty Superman after Man of Steel, I think they'll be satisfied with this version of the character. Add in David Corenswet's fantastic performance and you have one of the best depictions of Superman in media to date...if you ignore the numerous times he gets his ass kicked that is.

Thomas: Next, as always with Superman, we have the feisty Daily Planet reporter, Lois Lane (played by Rachel Brosnashan). Lois serves as a contrast to Clark, in that though she loves him deeply, she's more cynical and doubting, befitting a journalist who strives for objective truth. She will not hold back when conducting an interview, and will leave no stone unturned to find the truth. She also has a sharp sense of humour, as she shows with Mr Terrific. Though she supports Superman in general, Lois does have her limits, and will question his actions if needed, which makes their relationship more interesting as a result. Their chemistry is still sweet, though, and you can see why these two fell in love. And Rachel captures the look and personality to a T.

And of course, we have our main villain, Lex Luthor (played by Nicholas Hoult). In contrast to the general tone of the movie, and his previous movie portrayals by Gene Hackman and Jesse Eisenberg, this Luthor is completely serious - utterly ruthless, fiendishly clever, and willing to do anything to discredit Superman - all because he's envious of Superman's fame. And yes, he admits it himself.

Media Man: He's also ridiculously petty too. I mean getting a bunch of monkeys to type mean comments about Superman on the internet and locking up his ex-girlfriend in a pocket dimension? That's just diabolical! It also makes him a perfect foil for Superman in how he's a normal human against a super-powered alien, yet Superman's humanity makes him more of a human while Lex's lack of humanity makes him more of a monster than he thinks Superman is. As is, this Lex Luthor is very true to form with Nicholas Hoult catching the look and personality down flawlessly and he proves to be a cunning and ruthless villain. I just wish his plan didn't come to fruition via that massive plot-hole I mentioned earlier but hey, Lex was great in this.

And then we have the real star of the show, Krypto the Superdog. He'd such an adorably playful puppy of destruction and I love him for it. He's a good boy and I wanna cuddle-wuddle him for days on end! In all seriousness, I liked Krypto's inclusion here as we get to see more of Superman's humanity on display as we see that he even has his own dog to care for and Krypto isn't just a one-note comic relief. He actually gets to be helpful at times, especially during the climax when he helps Superman defeat Ultraman. Not sure why they changed it so Krypto is Supergirl's dog instead of Superman's though, that change seemed a bit weird to me. Still, Krypto carries this movie for me.

Thomas: I personally felt his comic relief schtick was overplayed, but that's just me. And I agree he is cute.

Next, we have the 'Justice Gang' initially consisting of Green Lantern/Guy Gardner (played by Nathan Fillion), Kendra Saunders/Hawkgirl (played by Isabela Mecred), and Michael Holt/Mr Terrific (played by Edi Gathegi). Effectively serving as a prototypical Justice League, these guys occasionally help Superman deal with the various threats to Metropolis, though they do also butt heads with him over how they deal with said threats - especially Guy Gardner - which does make for some great interactions. But it's ultimately Mr Terrific who steals the show here: he's smart, confident, has a lot of awesome tech at his disposal, understands the risks of high tech, and clearly holds Superman in high regard, unlike his teammates. As for the other two, while Guy and Hawkgirl are fun to watch, especially the former, I honestly can see why they may feel superfluous.

There's also Rex Mason/Metamorpho (played by Anthony Carrigan), who is used by Luthor to keep Superman weakened via Kryponite radiation during the Man of Steel's imprisonment. I concede that his appearance is very abrupt, but at least James Gunn was able to give a reason as to why he was there. Metamorpho notably has a pretty heart-warming arc of his own, in that, upon seeing Luthor's utter ruthlessness first-hand, he sees what Superman stands for and agrees to help him escape, while also saving his son from being used as ransom.

Media Man: It just would've been a much stronger arc if any time was devoted to it instead of just shoving him into this already bloated cast and thinking it'll work somehow. This is why despite being the first movie in this new cinematic universe, it feels like we've started in the middle of one instead. Including these characters in Superman's movie despite the fact we're supposed to be getting introduced to this universe for the first time just took away attention that should've been given to Superman and makes me wonder why James brought them in at all. While Mr. Terrific has a big part to play and as Thomas said, he is a big show stealer, Guy Gardner and Hawkgirl were a complete waste of space and the movie would not change if they weren't in it at all. It's especially bad in Hawkgirl's case because she's one of DC's most fascinating characters, especially the one from the DC Animated Universe, and she's just...there with nothing to her.

I must comment on how funny it is that Nathan Fillion's here playing Guy Gardner considering when it comes to Green Lantern, he usually plays Hal Jordan. Next thing you know he'll be playing Kyle Rayner in a future project. XD

Anyhow, for the rest of the cast? Not too much to say about them other than they're in the movie. Jimmy Olsen is one of Superman's friends at the Daily Planet who helps in exposing Lex Luthor, Eve is the treacherous worker who turns on Lex after he mistreats her, Martha and Jonathan Kent are Superman's adopted parents who give him his humanity and Jonathan has a lovely scene with Superman where he gives him a very uplifting speech, The Engineer is Lex Luthor's lackey who's a massive hypocrite (she hates metahumans, yet became one herself?) and Supergirl shows up at the end for a quick cameo.

And then there's Ultraman, who is basically just a glorified grunt for Lex who has a pretty predictable, yet effective twist behind his identity. I wish this guy was given more character than just "mindless brute", especially considering the twist behind him as it could've made him a more interesting character. Some people speculate he might somehow return and become this universe's version of Bizarro, so we'll have to see if that happens. If so, that'll make him more interesting at least. :)

Thomas: Finally, we have Superman's biological parents, Jor-El and Lara Lor-Van (played respectively by Bradley Cooper and Angela Sarafyan), who only appear in recordings. As mentioned, they were oddly changed to effectively be villains in this flick, wanting Superman to conquer Earth and take many wives. Why James Gunn decided to make them more like General Zod, I'll never know. Maybe it'll lead somewhere meaningful down the road, but who knows?

Overall, the core Superman characters are done the justice they deserve overall, while the other DC characters… your mileage may vary on that.

Section 3: The Cinematography

Media Man: Now for the visuals. Superhero media nowadays usually tends to have pretty good visuals, although the quality of CGI can be debateable, especially concerning the MCU. How are the visuals for this movie though? Very good honestly.

James Gunn's superhero flicks have all had great cinematography be it his Guardians trilogy or his Suicide Squad sequel, and this movie in no exception. He directs the hell out of this movie and is clearly giving it his all here with a lot of dynamic angles, cool camera shots, heavy amount of practical and CGI effects and so much more.

Let's start with the costume designs. For the most part, they're fine with the Superman characters, Mr. Terrific and Metamorpho looking the best of the bunch. Mr. Terrific and Metamorpho especially look like they leapt straight out of the comics and into real life from Mr. Terrific's black and white leather jacket and T-shaped mask to Metamorpho's colourful and multi-textured body due to him being a mixture of the elements. Superman himself looks pretty cool too with his costume looking as true to form as ever, though I wish they didn't bring the trunks back as he always looked better without them in my eyes and I also don't like the design of the famous S emblem on his chest. It barely even looks like an S, it looks more like a stylized number 5 to me. Guy Gardner looks fine too, even though his iconic bowl cut hairstyle doesn't translate well to live action and I wish they gave him a real Green Lantern costume instead of just a white and green leather jacket. Hawkgirl's a mixed bag. Her headpiece looks spot on but the rest of the outfit just doesn't say "Hawkgirl" to me. She just looks like some other character wearing Hawkgirl's helmet instead of Hawkgirl if you get what I mean. Lex Luthor and Lois Lane are pretty spot on at least, looking instantly recognizable as the characters we know and love. #

Thomas: Yeah, when you see them on screen, you don't see actors - you see Lex Luthor and Lois Lane.

Regarding the general look of the film, in keeping with the lighter tone, the colour palette is just stellar. If there's one criticism of Zack Snyder's DC films I agree on, it's their lack of colour. Thankfully, James Gunn really delivers. The colours in this movie really pop, and add to the vision of truly bringing the comics to life. We have Superman's iconic primary-coloured suit and Green Lantern's green light constructs that shine like the beacons of hope they are. We also have the warm and welcoming town of Metropolis (created from Downtown Cleveland), which looks like a great place to visit; Lex Luthor's dark and eerie pocket dimension, mostly dark purple and black with touches of red and orange; and the Fortress of Solitude's signature icicle structure that shines and glistens like a diamond. Altogether, we have a movie that's as much a visual marvel as Superman himself.

As for the action sequences, another legit problem with Man of Steel was the ridiculous amount of shaky cam that often made it hard to take in what was happening. But James learned the lesson and gives us action that we can safely follow.

Media Man: Too right mate, there's no shaky camera in this movie. When the action scenes occur, you can very clearly see what's happening every time due to the camera being focused entirely on what's going on and giving us clear focused shots on the people fighting, so it's always easy to tell who's fighting who. The action is also mostly tame, with only a few exceptions of extreme brutality. We have the Kaiju battle in where Hawkgirl and Guy Gardner repeatedly attack its eyes, which is a little uncomfortable to watch but it's thankfully not messy or anything, we see Superman punch a guy's teeth out and said teeth fly towards the camera and The Engineer gets really creative with how she uses her nanites by trying to suffocate Superman alive by forcing them down into his lungs. That's both creative and freaky to see, but it does add extra tensity to the fight scenes as a result.

The only problem with the action scenes is that, as mentioned earlier, they make Superman look weak and inexperienced even though this Superman's been in action for years at this point. He's constantly, and I mean CONSTANTLY getting his ass kicked and beaten to a pulp in this movie and it just gets annoying and repetitive real quick. I can't recall a single fight scene in this movie where Superman isn't getting beaten up and tossed around like a ragdoll. Even the few times he does get to show how super he is, it's quickly followed up by another round of ass-kicking. It also doesn't help how there are numerous occasions where Superman's heat vision could've been used to fend off the bad guys, yet he doesn't use it! Why? I have no idea! It's why this movie should've been set earlier in Superman's career, not several years after he's been established on Earth, then him looking this weak and inexperienced in battle would've made sense. As is, I can't buy that this is an experienced Superman who's been at it for years, because the action scenes don't do a good job selling that.

Thomas: As I said earlier, I guess the idea was to show Superman isn't invulnerable and can be threatened, especially given one of his enemies is a clone of him. But given so much it happens, I get that it must feel frustrating after a while.

Overall, yeah. What more can we say? James Gunn once again delivered on superhero flicks with some fantastic cinematography and visuals. Did anyone really expect anything else?

Conclusion

Media Man: Superman 2025 is the ultimate example of a mixed bag. When it does something right, it does it really right. When it does something wrong, it's really wrong. The plot is overstuffed and doesn't feel like the beginning of a new cinematic universe, there's too many characters when we only needed the Superman cast to tell this story, the pacing is bad and the comedy is mostly weak or annoying. However, it still does a lot of stuff right such as the casting of Superman, Lois and Lex, Krypto being a true delight, the tone of the movie being more faithful and true to Superman himself, the visuals being pure eye-candy and the commentary being extremely relevant and timely. So yeah, this review seems a bit all over the place I admit. Is it good? Is it bad? I'd say it's in the middle, slightly leaning more towards good. But this is a hot take...I still think Man of Steel was a better movie.

Superman Fans: BOOOOOOOOOOOOO! YOU SUCK! SUPERMAN SHOULD SNAP YOUR NECK FOR THAT!

Figures I'd get that response. (rolls eyes) At least Man of Steel wasn't an overstuffed mess like this movie was and actually felt like the beginning of a cinematic universe! If we had the less crowded cast and better paced story-telling of Man of Steel with the light-hearted tone and visuals of this movie, that to me would've been the perfect Superman movie. As is, this movie was just OK overall. Not the best DC movie ever, but still (Justice) leagues above anything the MCU churns out at least.

Thomas: I personally really enjoyed this movie very much. However, I do understand the criticisms levelled against it, and even agree with some of them. So yeah, not the best way to kick-start a new universe, but hey, it's not the worst either. Hopefully, James Gunn and the others will retain what worked and improve what didn't as the new DC Universe rolls out, especially some of the comedy and relevance of certain characters. If we can get more of what shone in this movie, then I say bring it on!

And it's nice to know Zack Snyder has no hard feelings about it all too.

Media Man: That is nice to know.

Overall, I'd say check the movie out and make up your own mind about it. Maybe you'll think it's super, maybe you won't...

And that's all I got for this review. I hope you enjoyed it and I invited you all to share your comments down below. Did you like Superman 2025? Did you not like it? Do let me know.

I'd also like to thank Thomas Holmes again for joining me on this "super" collab. I couldn't resist. (laughs) But thanks for joining me buddy. :)

Thomas: My pleasure, Media Man! Until next time, everyone, I'm off, off and away!

(And he races off.)

See you around Tommy!

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