Back from seeing Superman... so what did I think?!

After my most recent post about Superman a lot of people, especially friends, said that I needed to see the 2025 Superman movie for myself, instead of being so quick to judge by what, well... shall we say more judgmental voices have spoken about it.  It was enough to compel me this evening to use a movie gift card that has been burning up my wallet for awhile now.  So I've returned from seeing David Corenswet in his first outing as the Man of Steel.

What did I think about it?

In general, I liked it and I'm probably going to like it even more tomorrow after it's had some time to percolate in my gray matter.  One thing I will say that came as a bit of a surprise: it is not political at all.  Or at least I never picked up on any agenda infusing the story.  It's as straight-up and pure a comic book movie as I've seen in awhile.  It's not "woke" (I hate everything that word has come to mean in the parlance of American politics, nothing screams arrogance in an iron fist like "wokery").  It's actually making an effort to not be "conservative" or "liberal" at all, as one sound bite late in the movie touches upon.

The one thing I really didn't care about Superman 2025 was the language.  It could be a bit much.  No, there is not a single F-bomb that is dropped in this film.  But it was perhaps more than should have been included in a film about perhaps the most beloved superhero of all time.  Maybe in another comic book film (perhaps one devoted to Guy Garner, played in this movie by Nathan Fillion in a stroke of perfect casting) that would be appropriate.  But not for a strictly Superman movie.  It's not very, well... Superman-ish.

If you can forgive that, then 2025's Superman is a very good time.  This movie has quite a bit of heart to it.  The film quickly establishes that Superman has been active for a few years already, so he's still figuring things out.  Like reconciling his raising by Ma and Pa Kent with his Kryptonian heritage and the powers that come with that.  And speaking of that, Corenswet does a masterful job portraying both Clark Kent and Superman as different characters, as they are supposed to be in the tradition of the comics going back almost ninety years.  Superman 2025 establishes fairly well that Clark Kent is Kal-El's earthly identity, that Superman is an alter-ego of.  It was something that Christopher Reeve was the platinum standard for measuring an on-screen Superman, and Corenswet does his due well in upholding that trick.

Well, I could say more.  Better to see it for yourself.  I had a good time and you probably will too, if you can forgive a few things.  My favorite film featuring the character, and maybe my favorite comic book film of all time, is likely forever going to be 1978's Superman: The Movie.  Now that movie did have heart!  If that film is 5 stars, Then I'll give 2025's Superman a 3 and 1/2 stars.  Worth seeing while it's out in theaters.

Categories: comic books, movie reviews, movies, reviews, superman