Year of Release: 2025
Director: James Gunn
Starring: David Corenswet, Nicholas Hoult, Rachel Brosnahan, Skyler Gisondo, Nathan Fillion, Edi Gathegi, Isabela Merced, Pruitt Taylor Vince, Sara Sampaio, Bradley Cooper, Angela Sarafyan, Alan Tudyk, Michael Ian Black, Wendell Pierce, Neva Howell, Zlatko Buric, Frank Grillo, James Hiroyuki Liao, Anthony Carrigan, Sean Gunn, Milly Alcock, John Cena
Score out of ten (whole numbers only): 7
View the Trailer
Synopsis and Review
Following the successful wrap up of his trilogy for Marvel Studios of the "Guardians of the Galaxy" films, writer/producer/director James Gunn has turned his attention to the DC universe, and has started his creative overhaul for the properties/characters with what has turned out to be one of the best renditions of the Superman character. The narrative focuses on the adventures of Clark Kent/Superman, whom we initially witness being pummeled, and suffering a defeat at the hands of what seems to be an unstoppable villain (one named "Hammer of Boravia"). As Superman recovers in his fortress of solitude, we realize the mastermind behind his painful defeat is none other than the intense and focused Lex Luthor. Superman also finds himself in trouble after preventing a nation by the name of Boravia from invading a neighboring country by the name of Jarhanpur (he acted on his own, without consulting with any other nations). Luthor manages to infiltrate the Fortress, robbing personal items belonging to Superman, including his birth parents damaged final message, Krypto the dog, and destroying all the robots maintaining the facility. While Luthor is doing that, he has unleashed a kaiju on Metropolis, something that Superman with the help of Green Lantern, Mister Terrific, and Hawkgirl, has to tackle. As Luthor manages to manipulate public perception of Superman, eventually convincing the government that he is an alien threat, he's brought into for questioning. Luthor however captures Superman, dropping him on a parallel universe, with a super-powered being who can emulate Kryptonite. However, and as Superman looks at all the people Luthor has imprisoned, he realizes everything Lex has done has even more nefarious intents than just killing him.
One of the most amazing aspects about this film is how incredibly intelligent and relatable to our current times it actually is. It's an entertaining film that, much like the best art, is political, opinionated, while still being escapist, and impeccably well crafted. James Gunn has always been able to craft films that have a stylistic point of view, while balancing a well positioned sense of humor, while also never taking himself or the source material dramatically seriously. He understands that a film can be a fickle piece of entertainment, but he nonetheless makes a spectacle of his features, and does so by giving his characters an arc and actual complex situations to overcome. At his worst, James Gunn's films can be a bit self indulgent, which was the case of the weakest of his recent features, the second episode of "Guardians of the Galaxy". However when he manages to marry his B-movie appetites, with the larger canvas of a comic book universe, he manages to produce output as memorable as what he did with "Suicide Squad" (still one of the best recent adaptations of a comic book). With "Superman" he summarizes in the best way possible everything that has descended upon modern society, including villainous individuals who manipulate information to pursue their agendas, brutally silencing critical voices, bullying and invading other countries, viciously attacking and destroying others with no morals, no ethical considerations, literally everything we can witness just by watching every day news. And while one would be tempted to think the film is "preachy" and overtly political, Mr. Gunn smartly takes the film in directions of delight and humor, by always making us realize that Clark/Superman, is both human, but also a better version of that species, effectively saving the world from the problems it creates for itself. The film does have some character development issues, but for the most part, it successfully creates an engaging universe, and populates it with believable characters. The cast is solid, particularly David Corenswet, Nicholas Hoult, Nathan Fillion, Skyler Gisondo, Sara Sampaio, and Pruitt Taylor Vince, all of which manage to leave a solid mark and have great chemistry with each other. The production team also excels, particularly Henry Braham's cinematography, John Murphy and David Fleming's score, and Beth Mickle's production design. It's a very entertaining and well crafted film worth watching and rewatching.
