I wasn't sure what to expect from the recent Superman film. I'm not really a fan of James Gunn and his style. And in general I haven't been all that caught up with most superhero stuff. I've tried to give some films a chance and have found them to be decent attempts, while others just missed their mark with me a bit more. I saw that the film, despite coming out not that many weeks back, ended up being sent almost straight to digital, and usually that's quite a bad sign when it means the box office hype has already sizzled down. Though box office results aren't always anything meaningful, sometimes audiences just aren't present for no particular reason. My reason for not really paying much attention to the Superman film's production was really just that I didn't feel interested at the time, though that changed as I saw a lot of conflicting opinions on the film which did admittedly start to pique my interest. And I have to say I am quite glad that I let that interest linger and grow until I decided to check the film out. This was quite a refreshing adaptation of the character, and one I think we've been needing for a while.
While Henry Cavill was an excellent choice for the character previously, I think some of those portrayals took things a bit too seriously sometimes. And that's fine, these are complex characters and ultimately can be told in any shape or form. Though rarely are they, so even the more darker considerations can be welcomed. I think this lingered on a bit too much in some ways. And the original portrayals of the character were a bit more relaxed in comparison, where the Clark Kent character was far more comedic and the adventures of Superman were more about saving regular people. Though here in 2025's Superman, Clark Kent handles a bit of the drama and the comedy. The struggle of being the Superman character in a world of fragile and confused humans is very much present, and I found myself really appreciating that side of things. It still takes the darker side of the character and the question of Superman being a God and almighty ruler over humanity if he pleases.
Though in this instance he has no interest in doing so. He has pure intent. Trying to save everyone and everything, down to squirrels that get caught up in the crossfire. And the large monsters that appear in the city are initially attempted to be dealt with in a respectful manner that doesn't harm them in a permanent manner. I liked both the Superman and the Clark Kent portrayals, and it's easy to see the more human side of the character, which is a stark contrast to how some of the actual humans function around him. This comes with the greed of politicians and corporations, which aim to promote their attempts at riches and power. There's like a series of little stories within the film which handle different themes, and it's a film that's in constant motion but handles each of them well: Clark's love life with Lois. The want to help people. The conflict of being an alien on Earth. The many different superheroes which are found within this world.
It's like the film picks up in the middle of it all. Where there's no backstory for once, no retelling of the character. We jump right into the main part. As if we have known the characters for a long time already. And this really sold the world to me more, it really made me interested in it and the characters, wanting a bit more of it. It left me thinking that this would've been the pilot to a television series, starting off with a big bit of drama and then following off into more bite-sized episodes. Even with the elements of the world that unfold in the background of the film: again more superheroes and monsters. I appreciated that the film didn't overdo this side of things, where it didn't overdo things and step too far in any direction. Despite all of this, the story progresses on.
In terms of the directing and cinematography, I think the film was quite a colourful one. And sometimes the camera movements really get creative to further immerse us into the environments. They're easy to miss sometimes given how suddenly they appear and go. Despite my lack of interest in Gunn's works, I was surprised at how good of a job he did with this one. For the genre and the character, it felt fresh. Though there's still some of that superhero silliness that spreads into the film through quirkiness. Fortunately it isn't too much, and the Guardians of the Galaxy style wasn't too present. A decent film overall.