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psocopteraSuperman, 2025 film. I liked this a lot!
Spoilers:
My feelings about this movie were probably always going to come down to the music choices and they made smart music choices. Brought in the Williams theme right at the beginning and every time after when they needed us to feel nostalgic about Superman - like a big button they could press for "remember, you care about Superman". One of the great movie themes. But didn't lean on it *too* hard, like I felt it had its own voice too?
I also really liked the whole reinterpretation of the message from his parents. My parents didn't - my mom in particular was really bothered by it, repeating "that's not the mythology", and I got to see my parents come up with a fan theory in real time in which there was a middle of the message that Luthor left out that explained that the conquering parts were really about someone else that they were warning their son about, and that's what the next movie will be about. Sure, I'm no stranger to a comforting if dubious interpretation. I thought it was great - I think these movies are much more interesting when they find something to actually tell a story about, and Clark grappling with this difficult revelation about his heritage and then making his choice to be Superman in the face of that, that's a good story!
And the whole thing was just nicely done. The pacing and choice of start points (I loved getting an established-but-newish Lois/Clark relationship), the supporting cast like Mister Terrific and Eve and Metamorpho (I got emotional when he made the little sun) and Guy Gardner, Krypto, the way we don't get a floating kiss until the end. The way the Luthercorp people all seem like nice cheerful normal people in their Trader Joe employee aloha shirts and their Noah and the Whale. Leaning into the cape-comics goofiness of the plot (a dimensional rift that will pull back together by entering a code? sure, why not. a super-clone? everyone loves a super-clone!). The conversation with Lois while the glowy thing fight keeps going in the background, that's a great gag. The one thing that didn't land for me was the moment when the Daily Planet breaks the news theory and one of the TV anchors was like "Superman, who we love and was a hero all along" and I was like, okay, that was over the top, that was actually too everyone-clapped wish-fulfillment fantasy to feel satisfying, could they have toned that down a smidge. But other than that it's nice to have a new version of Superman to feel fond of, with Dean Cain working hard to stomp that nostalgia into the mud.
Spoilers:
My feelings about this movie were probably always going to come down to the music choices and they made smart music choices. Brought in the Williams theme right at the beginning and every time after when they needed us to feel nostalgic about Superman - like a big button they could press for "remember, you care about Superman". One of the great movie themes. But didn't lean on it *too* hard, like I felt it had its own voice too?
I also really liked the whole reinterpretation of the message from his parents. My parents didn't - my mom in particular was really bothered by it, repeating "that's not the mythology", and I got to see my parents come up with a fan theory in real time in which there was a middle of the message that Luthor left out that explained that the conquering parts were really about someone else that they were warning their son about, and that's what the next movie will be about. Sure, I'm no stranger to a comforting if dubious interpretation. I thought it was great - I think these movies are much more interesting when they find something to actually tell a story about, and Clark grappling with this difficult revelation about his heritage and then making his choice to be Superman in the face of that, that's a good story!
And the whole thing was just nicely done. The pacing and choice of start points (I loved getting an established-but-newish Lois/Clark relationship), the supporting cast like Mister Terrific and Eve and Metamorpho (I got emotional when he made the little sun) and Guy Gardner, Krypto, the way we don't get a floating kiss until the end. The way the Luthercorp people all seem like nice cheerful normal people in their Trader Joe employee aloha shirts and their Noah and the Whale. Leaning into the cape-comics goofiness of the plot (a dimensional rift that will pull back together by entering a code? sure, why not. a super-clone? everyone loves a super-clone!). The conversation with Lois while the glowy thing fight keeps going in the background, that's a great gag. The one thing that didn't land for me was the moment when the Daily Planet breaks the news theory and one of the TV anchors was like "Superman, who we love and was a hero all along" and I was like, okay, that was over the top, that was actually too everyone-clapped wish-fulfillment fantasy to feel satisfying, could they have toned that down a smidge. But other than that it's nice to have a new version of Superman to feel fond of, with Dean Cain working hard to stomp that nostalgia into the mud.
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Date: 2025-08-21 06:13 am (UTC)It's still my favorite Superman film to date though!! I loved everything else. It made me feel happy and hopeful afterwards~