Where & When: AMC The Americana at Brand 18, Glendale, CA. July 13, 2025 1:30 PM
Since his creation by Jerry Siegel and Joe Shuster eighty-seven years ago, Superman has endured as an iconic, super-powered, crime-fighting character that helped popularize the comic-book genre. Since 1940, he has appeared in numerous radio serials, novels, films, television shows, theater, and video games.
Now the latest film reboot, simply titled "Superman", has James Gunn behind it, the writer and director who boldly shook-up the formula of the genre (somewhat) with the "Guardians of the Galaxy" trilogy by taking us on a weird, wild ride with off-the-wall heroes and some unexpected dark humor. With this film, Gunn does mess around with our expectations of these very familiar characters. Some of these changes feels inspired while other transitions comes across as painfully awkward. But what this "Superman" has done successfully is brought a fresh excitement to this legendary hero's story and taking us on a thrilling, offbeat adventure we hadn't anticipated at all.
Assuming we are all well familiar with his backstory, the film begins with Superman (now played by David Corenswet), badly hurt and unable to make it on his own to his secret ice fortress in Antarctica, whistling. This calls for his super-powered dog, Krypto to race through the snow to help his master. We learn that Superman had lost his battle against a metahuman called the "Hammer of Boravia", who is under control by Lex Luthor (Nicholas Hoult), a wealthy tech wizard whose prime focus is to destroy the Man of Steel. After recovering with the help of his team of robotic helpers, Superman returns to Metropolis under his secret guise as Clark Kent, an unassuming reporter for the news organization, The Daily Planet. Clark might spar with his fellow reporter, Lois Lane (Rachel Brosnahan) at work but after hours, they are privately having a romantic affair with her fully aware of his true identity. Lois cares for her Superman but unsure if this relationship is really such a great idea.
Luthor is still determined to finish off Superman. After having another metahuman collaborator, The Engineer (María Gabriela de Faría) break into Superman's fortress, she discovers a message from our hero's parents (Bradley Cooper and Angela Sarafyan) that was with him when he was sent to Earth as an infant from his doomed home planet, Krypton. The end of the communication had been damaged during the journey and Luthor uses his technology to repair the message, discovering that the parents had requested a malevolent plan for their son. Luthor broadcasts this disturbing recording to the world with the public quickly turning against Superman and the government demanding that he be locked up for questioning.
After being unceremoniously dropped from Marvel/Disney over some controversial jokes he had made in the past, Gunn was hired to breathe fresh new life into the DC Universe. The recent films over the last five years ("The Suicide Squad", "Black Adam", "The Flash", "Blue Beetle", "Shazam! Fury of the Gods") have all struggled at the box-office. "Superman" is the first big step and Gunn has certainly succeeded in launching an intriguing new direction for the comic-book series. The film is a visual wonder with a spectacular-looking Metropolis and riveting battles against odd looking creatures and mutated super-beings. I was very surprised to learn that the dog, Krypto was completely a CGI creation, leaving me impressed (and a little disturbed) over the endless possibilities of this technology.
In the previous movies, there was clear distinction between good and evil with Superman being a powerfully stoic, near-perfect figure that fought against sinister forces while representing solid American values. With "Superman", the spirit here is more shades of nonpartisan gray. The heroes of the Justice Gang, Green Lantern (Nathan Fillion), Mister Terrific (Edi Gathegi) and Hawkgirl (Isabela Merced), who help Superman in his battle against Luthor, have no issues with killing anybody in their way when they feel necessary. But the noticeable difference about this Superman is that he's motivated by the unshakable belief of decency and that all life is valuable. Even that dirty squirrel deserves to be saved from a certain death.
As our latest "Superman", Corenswet, who had made supporting appearances in several films and television programs before Gunn had noticed him in Ryan Murphy's overripe Netflix series, "Hollywood", perfectly captures the classic image of our hero but his take features him as more vulnerable than he's appeared in the past. Superman is still a brave and amiable protector with midwestern values yet somewhat very naive to the self-involved mindset of this modern world. He's made to constantly question his beliefs by friend and foe, which in turn weakens him psychologically and causes him to lose in battle more than once. Luthor, Superman's longtime arch-nemesis, has been given a slight makeover that makes him an attractive, compelling presence than previously seen. Curiously modeled after Elon Musk, Hoult brings an oily charm to the vile billionaire inventor who seethes with irrational rage over the universal praise Superman receives from the public. Brosnahan's Lois Lane fares less well here. Many of the recent screen versions of Lane has made her a shrewd, fearlessly independent reporter. Brosnahan has a few opportunities to display some of this resourcefulness but she's basically on the sidelines here, given perfunctory chores to do during the attempts to save her man. And there's not much of a persuasive spark happening between this couple on screen either.
Considering the politically volatile times we're currently living in, "Superman" has managed to stir up accusations of being "woke". There is no doubt that Superman might be perceived as left-leaning yet there is no political agenda in this film beyond simply presenting this alien hero from Krypton in our present day and how he most likely would be received in it. The world has grown far less trusting of people who are considered to be "different" and the idea of a super-powered being from another planet making decisions for this entire planet would have the minds of conspiracy theorists going into manic overdrive.
But "Superman" has a warm, vibrant energy generating throughout this stylish, entertaining adventure. This is helped by Gunn effectively sticking to the core of what has made this classic comic-book star still appealing; a noble, kind-hearted hero with a strong sense of morality and justice. This is the kind of super-hero that we really need right now and anyone from any political affiliation should be able to get behind.
