Superman: Chaos reigns

Superman: 2025

Writer and Director James Gunn
Starring David Corenswet, Rachel Brosnahan, Nicholas Hoult, Edi Gathegi, Anthony Carrigan, Nathan Fillion, Isabela Merced, Skyler Gosondo, Pruitt Taylor Vince, Neva Howell, Alan Tudyk, Sara Sampaio, Wendell Pierce

The best thing about James Gunn’s Superman is he jumps right into the action. We get a prelude of text that discusses what happened before the moments we’re just about to see. And then, boom. Superman falls in the snow right before us and the fortress of solitude. There we are introduced to a dog, named Krypto. We also meet a series of robots, led by number 4 (Tudyk). These robots do general maintenance and help Superman get to his rejuvenation chair when he needs it. Now he needs it.

He just got his rear kicked by a collection of forces lead by Lex Luthor (Hoult). What Luthor has planned involves having a superior force invade its seemingly weaker neighbor (think Israel and Hamas, but don’t think too hard). There are also portals involved, and a few meta humans on his side.

On the side of good, seemingly, we have the Justice Gang. It includes Green Lantern, Mister Terrific, and Hawkgirl (Filliion, Gathegi, and Merced, respectively). They sometimes work with Superman when it suits their version of justice.

Back at the Daily Planet, we have Brosnahan as Lois Lane, Gisondo as Jimmy Olsen and Pierce as Perry White. They are around, but not the center of the story until they are needed in the third act.

We are 3 years into the era of Superman. This timeline allows us to skip past the beats witnessed in previous years. We no longer need to be introduced to each character in origin form. Now we get to see them all for the first time while the action rages within and without them.

This story form is similar to Gunn’s popular Guardians of the Galaxy films. Everyone has their already established character, even if they are not all buddies at the start of the film.

This style works for the most part. We don’t need another Superman origin film. It’s nice to have a ready made universe, for the most part. Mr. Terrific is a new to the DCEU character who fits in nicely to the story. Fillion has fun with his Green Lantern character and Hawkgirl fills a niche without hammering us with girl power clichés.

Overall, this is an enjoyable if chaotic Superman film. Everything has its own echo in the story. If we see Krypto chasing “toys” in the first part of the film, more toys will appear for him to chase later.

The performances are solid, throughout. Hoult can play just about any type of character. He nails the sinister nature of Luthor, making him equal parts comic booky and severe. Corenswet is a breath of fresh air as Clark Kent / Superman. He is sweet and innocent enough to fall for some of Luthor’s plans, but not all of them. As Lane, Brosnahan is plucky as Margot Kidder without the goofiness that compromised the character in later Reeve films.

Overall, Superman has its moments of brilliance, and a bunch more moments of chaos. It depends on if one can enjoy the chaos of a Gunn film, filled with more references than even the staunchest Superman fan can follow to whether or not one will like this film.

This viewer found it a fun beginning to a whole new universe.

(**** out of *****)