The way they used the Williams Superman theme reminded me of David Arnold's approach to using the James Bond theme in that series. It is mostly a cue imbedded in otherwise new material and reserved for particularly heroic moments.
Spoilers Superman (2025) Grade and Discussion
- Thread starter Nerys Myk
- Start date
It's definitely real. Remeber the film Brightburn:
Brightburn - Wikipedia
Was produced by James Gunn - he very much lifted that aspect from it to make a point in his first WB Superman film. Kal El made his own choice because at heart he is (and was raised by his Earth parents) to be a good and VERY human person.
DID they though?
He consistently gets his arse kicked by Ultraman/The Hammer, but then that's HIM with Lex giving the playbook and no concerns about holding back from killing.
He's suffering from Kryptonite aftereffects for some fights.
Other than that, the Kaiju and the Engineer only briefly threaten him because he's not fighting to kill. Her move with the nanites into his lungs is potentially fatal to him, but he takes her down HARD and then removes them.
They didn't "nerf" anything.* Clark's power levels have been knocked down on a number of reboots over the years, most notably John Byrne's pivotal revamping of the character in the mid-1980s.
Then he undergoes "power creep" over time and they have to knock him back again to keep him interesting.
Sometimes it's explained in-continuity as his cells having been temporarily badly drained of solar energy through some cataclysmic event.
He's at about the right level to be an interesting character in the movies. now. It will prevent them from having him do something stupid like trying to make the world spin backward, again.
*That's a really dumb slang term that I wish would die.
Then he undergoes "power creep" over time and they have to knock him back again to keep him interesting.
Sometimes it's explained in-continuity as his cells having been temporarily badly drained of solar energy through some cataclysmic event.
He's at about the right level to be an interesting character in the movies. now. It will prevent them from having him do something stupid like trying to make the world spin backward, again.
*That's a really dumb slang term that I wish would die.
That's right. I'd forgotten that detail. This is still material that Gunn could mine in a future movie. Superman's power levels, his reaction to sunlight, the Justice League, the Planet staff, and his relationship with his Kent parents all seem be inspired by that late 80s Byrne era.
The brief scene we get with Supergirl at the end seems to be very much the Tom King Supergirl, but it can also take inspiration of the angry, warrior Supergirl from the early days of the New 52. That New 52 Supergirl might definitely come from the Krypton we see in this movie. IIRC she was very angry and violent when she arrived, but eventually started to calm down and start a life on Earth. I can easily see the upcoming Supergirl movie taking inspiration from both those comic book versions.
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That was the point I became a regular Superman reader.
I saw this last night. It wasn't the "perfect" film I had been hoping for, but I find that my reaction to movies is generally informed by my expectations going in. For example, I loved Micky 17 because I had no idea what the hell I was walking into and was blown away. So, I think this film will grow on me over time because there was a lot to appreciate and I walked away really satisfied with the product we got. Overall, I would give it an A-.
Things I really liked:
The cast was fantastic. I'd love to see more of them in the future.
The John Byrne style of Superman and the Post-Crisis era feel was spot on.
The Clark/Superman dynamic was great and I loved the take on the character.
The overall comic book look and feel of the story. The pacing, the time we had Clark on screen as opposed to Superman, the colors and the effects all looked like a live action comic book. The MCU could really learn from this.
The plethora of Cameos.
Mr. Terrific, Kendra, and Guy were all stand out characters. Mr. Terrific had the potential of being relegated to the brains of the operation, but his action scene was a stand out in the movie for me. Fillion was spot on as Guy Gardner. It really was a great interpretation of the character.
Corenswet, Holt, and Brosnahan were all great in their performances.
I loved the interactions between Lois and Clark. The scene where they are talking while the Justice Gang fights the imp in the background was a bit of a stand out for me.
Many other things I really loved.
My nitpicks:
Krypto: I loved the character and everything about Krypto's role in the movie. My nitpick is that Krypto was entirely done with CGI. This presented a dog that just did not behave like a dog in certain scenes. It was also, obviously, a CGI model in several scenes. The scene with the cows, for example, would have been much better if Krypto had been an actual dog, yipping and sniffing at the cows. I know it would have been more work, but Krypto would have been much better if an actual dog had been used for the "non-action" scenes or close up interactions with the characters.
Lex Luthor: This Luthor was a great character, but there really was no backstory or motivation for his actions. There was no real history behind the character. He gave a few information dump speeches to explain why he felt the way he did, but ultimately we are just supposed to accept that he's the bad guy because he's Luthor.
The Pacing: This movie was paced like a comic book and that was really great for the most part. At times though, I really wanted it to slow down a little bit and leave time for the characters to interact. It would have been nice for Clark and Lois to have a little more time on the farm, or to leave some more space to see the Planet staff interacting and going about their jobs.
Hawkgirl's Scream: I just found it kind of annoying.
Rex: It was great to see Metamorpho in all his comic book glory on screen. I thought they did a really great job incorporating the character into the story. The way the movie went, however, we only get a brief glimpse of the characters real personality during his brief interaction with Guy.
Cat Grant and Steve Lombard: If you don't know these characters already then you don't really even know why they're there. My kids who watched the CW shows asked me why that Steve guy was even there.
Things I really liked:
The cast was fantastic. I'd love to see more of them in the future.
The John Byrne style of Superman and the Post-Crisis era feel was spot on.
The Clark/Superman dynamic was great and I loved the take on the character.
The overall comic book look and feel of the story. The pacing, the time we had Clark on screen as opposed to Superman, the colors and the effects all looked like a live action comic book. The MCU could really learn from this.
The plethora of Cameos.
Mr. Terrific, Kendra, and Guy were all stand out characters. Mr. Terrific had the potential of being relegated to the brains of the operation, but his action scene was a stand out in the movie for me. Fillion was spot on as Guy Gardner. It really was a great interpretation of the character.
Corenswet, Holt, and Brosnahan were all great in their performances.
I loved the interactions between Lois and Clark. The scene where they are talking while the Justice Gang fights the imp in the background was a bit of a stand out for me.
Many other things I really loved.
My nitpicks:
Krypto: I loved the character and everything about Krypto's role in the movie. My nitpick is that Krypto was entirely done with CGI. This presented a dog that just did not behave like a dog in certain scenes. It was also, obviously, a CGI model in several scenes. The scene with the cows, for example, would have been much better if Krypto had been an actual dog, yipping and sniffing at the cows. I know it would have been more work, but Krypto would have been much better if an actual dog had been used for the "non-action" scenes or close up interactions with the characters.
Lex Luthor: This Luthor was a great character, but there really was no backstory or motivation for his actions. There was no real history behind the character. He gave a few information dump speeches to explain why he felt the way he did, but ultimately we are just supposed to accept that he's the bad guy because he's Luthor.
The Pacing: This movie was paced like a comic book and that was really great for the most part. At times though, I really wanted it to slow down a little bit and leave time for the characters to interact. It would have been nice for Clark and Lois to have a little more time on the farm, or to leave some more space to see the Planet staff interacting and going about their jobs.
Hawkgirl's Scream: I just found it kind of annoying.
Rex: It was great to see Metamorpho in all his comic book glory on screen. I thought they did a really great job incorporating the character into the story. The way the movie went, however, we only get a brief glimpse of the characters real personality during his brief interaction with Guy.
Cat Grant and Steve Lombard: If you don't know these characters already then you don't really even know why they're there. My kids who watched the CW shows asked me why that Steve guy was even there.
The did use a live action dog for certain scenes.
I wondered about that, but wasn't sure how they could have matched it with the CG. Do you know which scenes?
I mean, the ideal way to approach that would have been to cast a dog who looked right and was well-trained, maybe a couple, and then designed the animated dog to match them. But I'm pretty sure they didn't do that.
They used a dog named Jolene is all I know from BTS stuff. She's not Krypto's color, so I assume some CGI trickery was involved.
The dog was a stand in for the actors to interact with. I don't even think it looked like the dog we saw on screen. Everything Krypto was CGI.
A terrier's nose is going to be sniffing things all the time, and it moves noticeably when it does this. I didn't see any of that in the film.
I think he was supposed to be a more effusive Mark Zuckerberg.
Not heard about "Jolene". Every interview clip I've seen is Gunn saying they used videos of his own dog Ozu (recoloured to white):
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