In this article we cover Superman (2025), the latest iteration of the Detective Comics character which was directed by James Gunn and starring David Corenswet in the lead role. Greg and Dave discuss the movie in an excerpt from the More Movies podcast, see the video below. Deniz Arslan also shares his thoughts in a written review…
After following the film obsessively and loving it at first, a second watch reveals a visually fun but crowded reboot where James Gunn leans too hard into his own style, leaving Superman lost in a messy, inconsistent, and surprisingly exhausting start to a new universe.
I had been waiting for Superman (2025) ever since it was first announced — even back when it was originally announced as Man of Steel 2 — and I followed every update about it. I don’t think I’ve ever followed a movie this closely before. Because, first and foremost, I am a Superman fan. Therefore, it was inevitable that I would love this movie; I knew that. I even wrote my very first review of the film right after I walked out of the theater. So naturally, I gave the reaction that any Superman fan seeing him on that giant screen for the first time would give — and I overhyped the film.
Today, the film was released on digital platforms, and I had the chance to watch it in a calmer state. I was surprised at how much my thoughts had changed in just a month. Because, while this movie is certainly fun, with good visual effects and some great moments for a Superman film, I…
First of all, the film, much like I once said about the Fantastic Four movie, leaves non-comic-book readers out of the equation. I have no doubt that James Gunn read hundreds of Superman comics while writing this film. At times, you really feel like you’re looking at a comic book panel. But does that actually make it watchable as a film? I’m not so sure.
The movie acts as if everyone already knows characters like Metamorpho, Green Lantern, Hawkgirl, Mister Terrific, and so on. Yet, this film was supposed to be the beginning of a cinematic universe. It should have been a clean, simple start, like Iron Man. Instead, it clutters everything. It makes way too many references to shows like Peacemaker and Creature Commandos. In fact, characters from those shows literally appear in this film.
Although I had a lot of fun watching it the first time, I now have serious doubts about whether a Superman film should really be like this. It feels as if James Gunn is issuing a challenge — as if he’s trying to prove something to someone. At one point, I half expected him to just appear on screen and shout, “This is my universe, got it? Mine!” followed by an evil laugh.
And that made me ask myself: is it really a good idea to give a director this much creative freedom? Especially since, as you know, one of the biggest problems in modern cinema is that producers usually override the creative vision of directors and screenwriters. But here, the problem is the opposite: the film tries so hard to be a “James Gunn movie” that it forgets to be a Superman movie.
At times, I felt like I was reading James Gunn’s private diary. Honestly, sometimes I even felt like I was watching Guardians of the Galaxy. The thing is, James Gunn, unlike other famous directors, doesn’t really have a distinctive filmmaking style. When you watch a Denis Villeneuve film, or a Christopher Nolan film, you feel that it belongs to them. But Gunn doesn’t have such a signature style. His biggest success has been making superhero films where he brings together a bunch of misfit characters and somehow turns them into a great team. That formula brought him the most success so far. But here, that formula doesn’t seem to work.
It’s also painfully obvious that James Gunn is deeply influenced by social media. He even makes references to it in the movie. Lex Luthor’s hundreds of genetically engineered monkeys exist for the sole purpose of posting negative tweets about Superman. Gunn himself is also extremely active on social media — he answers tons of fan questions, and even replies to negative comments. Because of this constant interaction, he’s had plenty of chances to study what people expect from Superman, and he’s tried to give them exactly that.
The world has been getting darker and more depressing, and audiences are tired of bleak superhero films. People don’t want a scary or brooding Superman; they want the Superman who saves cats from trees — and rightly so. It’s obvious that Gunn was heavily influenced by this desire when creating his own interpretation of Superman. That’s why he highlights Superman’s unique traits — his naivety, his charm, his good-hearted nature — at every opportunity, sometimes to the point of exaggeration, just to win over the audience.
This Superman will go out of his way to rescue a squirrel even in the middle of mass destruction where people are running for their lives. Yet in another scene, when alien jellyfish are attacking Metropolis, he doesn’t even bother to get up — he just says, “The Justice Gang will take care of it.” Then during his interview with Lois Lane, that sweet, kind personality suddenly vanishes. When confronted with the simplest question — “Why did you interfere with another country’s internal affairs?” — he loses his temper and explodes in anger, unable to handle being questioned or criticised.
And so, because James Gunn tries to balance social media comments, audience expectations, and his own creative vision, we end up with a Superman that’s inconsistent and unclear in his characterisation. Sometimes when you look at David Corenswet, you see Christopher Reeve. Other times, you see Henry Cavill.
Whenever I criticize comic book films that assume everyone in the audience is a comic book reader, I always feel the urge to repeat this line: “I really wonder what someone who has never seen a single superhero movie in their life would think while watching this.”
Even someone who has never seen a superhero film — someone living in a remote village in the third world, for example — still has some idea of who Superman is. Superman flies and saves people. That’s all people expect, and honestly, that makes the filmmakers’ job pretty easy. Yet instead of keeping it simple, this movie bombards us with dozens of secondary DC characters — without bothering to properly introduce any of them — and expects us to instantly accept and love them. Why is there a superhero who screams like a hawk? How did that guy just create a giant green middle finger with his ring?
By devoting so much time to these distractions, the film wastes its runtime. You barely get to spend any real time with Superman before the whole movie ends in a single breath. Instead of giving the new DCU a clean start, Superman falls victim to James Gunn’s obsession with proving himself.
Don’t get me wrong — James Gunn is still one of my favorite comic book movie creators. But ever since he became the head of DC Studios, there’s been something off about him. For instance, in the promotional campaign for this movie, I witnessed something I had never seen before: a director being marketed as equally important as the actors themselves. Didn’t we already see his name enough times on the posters and trailers? Did he really need to be pushed that far into the spotlight?
Finally, one last thing that really bothered me — something I hadn’t noticed in the theater, or maybe deliberately ignored — was James Gunn’s increasingly strange camera techniques, which have been especially noticeable since Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 3. The whole movie feels like it was shot with a cheap, DJI Osmo Stabiliser.
During dialogue scenes or fight sequences, the camera swings back and forth between characters in such a dizzying way that you feel like you’re surfing on waves. It’s neither cinematic nor pleasant to watch. I honestly can’t understand why Gunn loves this style so much. In fact, when it was first announced that he would direct Superman, I even remember praying, “God, please don’t let him use those techniques here.” But apparently God didn’t hear me — or maybe God doesn’t exist at all. So, I wanted to end this review with a line similar to the kind you might find in a James Gunn movie.
Written by Deniz Arslan. Check out his orignal post on Medium here.
That concludes our review of Superman
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