#83: Superman Movie Review!

Jack (0:00)

Hello, everyone. And welcome back to another episode of The Final Cut with Jack. I, of course, am your host, Jack. And today I want to talk about Superman, which, you know, I've mentioned before is my most anticipated movie of 2025 I've been super excited, really, for Superman, and now it's finally here. And today I want to talk about it. So let's start off, and there's probably going to be spoilers ahead. So if you haven't watched the movie yet, then come back after you watch the movie is what I'd say. So let's start with The Rotten Tomatoes. I was really not expecting. So I went to the Rotten Tomatoes website, clicked on Superman, right? The audience score is really good, over 10,000 reviews. It's at 93 percent. So very, very good. I wasn't really expecting that audience score to be that high because, you know, there were a lot of people before this movie talking about how they were going to review bomb it, whatever. A lot of Snyder fans. And this is not, this is definitely not all the Snyder fans, but there's a very, there's a small minority. And especially with these superhero movies, it does feel like the minority can kind of go crazy at times and, you know, really ruin the reputation of a movie. But that's not the case with this. It's very high. So that's a good thing. And then the critic score, that's at 83%, with over 350 reviews in as of July 14th. So pretty good scores across the board. I was expecting the audience score to be a little bit lower. I was expecting it to be like maybe around 85, 86, but I'm happy with that. I'm glad that it is at 93 And then the 83%, I expected, you know, I expected Superman to be at 83 or even a little bit lower. And that's kind of because it's just a very like you have to be. I feel like in the right mindset almost to enjoy this movie because it is really like when people have been saying that it's a comic book movie, it's really just such like a comic to screen adaptation of Superman. Like it's just such a crazy, colorful, energetic movie. It's such the polar opposite of what Zack Snyder was trying to do. And I thought that was going to divide the critics more. Like you look at Deadpool and Wolverine, I think that was like 78% or something. So, I mean, it's not too far apart, but the critics' score is good. I wasn't really sure what to expect with that. Just because some people understandably might just not like what this movie is going for tonally. I did enjoy what it was trying to do, at least. And so, yeah, I think that it's good that it didn't divide people too much, because that wasn't James Gunn's goal. His goal was just to really make a fun movie, I think, at the end of the day. And that's what he did. So it's a very problematic movie, for sure, but it's a very flawed movie. But it really is fun. And so I want to read... Actually, I'll start with this other guy's review on Letterboxd. This is from Silent Dawn, his review of Superman. And then I'll get to my review too. And I'll just talk about, you know, what I liked, what I didn't like, my score for it, and, you know, what I think this kind of means for the future of DC. So let's start with this guy's review. I just I wanted to read this because I thought it was just very good at kind of just putting my feelings about this movie to into words. I think this guy did an excellent job of doing that and really just clearly illustrating how I felt about this movie because, you know, especially when you first come out of a theater, it is kind of hard to, you need to take a little time to formulate your thoughts because you're in that kind of, you know, I've heard it movie theaters described. This is pretty accurate as a sensory deprivation chamber because you're only focused, your senses are only focusing on the movie and you're kind of getting overwhelmed by that for a while. So it's good to read other people's reviews, I think, and this was just to get an idea of how you feel to and putting it to words. And this guy did a really good job, I think, of putting a little bit how I felt about Superman towards and he gave it a four out of five. And then this guy, this is from Silent Dawn. He says, Just like Crypto the Superdog, this movie is a bit unruly, but that's exactly what makes it so adorable. Operates as a vintage splash page of gods and monsters with the usual James Gunn flavors, wacky creatures, naïve heroes, and relentlessly cruel villains. Not to mention the dose of parental trauma, working in tandem with DC's new MO. I like that this is barely over two hours long, as its tone shifts rapidly from workplace screwball romance to spirited adventure to Saturday morning cartoon mayhem. It does feel a bit scrambled from time to time, but the lack of labored setup goes a long way in terms of making the Superman feel less like a notch in a five-year calendar slate and more of an artist's oddball vision. Shocked at how much of a real movie this is, DC really let James Gunn run wild. It feels like a 2000s comic book blockbuster in the best way. Goofy, witty, with a dash of brutality in its action spectacle. And the cast, perfect. So I really like this guy's review because I think that, again, it just captures the idea of what this movie is, and I'll get to that too a little bit in my review, that again, it just feels like a comic book in its purest form. Like, there's a lot of issues with it, but with a lot of comic books, you'd find those same issues, if that makes sense. And so that's why I resonate with this guy's take, because the structure of the film is... I'll get to some of the weaknesses a little bit later, but that was definitely an issue where the film felt a bit flimsy in its structure, and it felt like James Gunn was having to go out of his comfort zone a little bit too much at times. And then that too also made the tone feel a bit off. Like the tone would just be shifting around throughout the entire film, and it didn't really just find a clear tone to settle on. That was an issue. And especially in some of the specific scenes, there were a lot of different scenes in this film that just felt off beat. They kind of felt a little bit cringe-worthy. They just felt like a little too on the nose. Like they were like straight from a comic book. But like, it's not even what the scenes were trying to do, but it was more so the dialogue and how they were delivered. And the actors, I think the cast was perfect, but it was just like the dialogue that took you out of the movie at times. And there were some other things, like I know one of the big complaints with this movie, like beforehand, in the trailers, at least, was the cinematography. And I didn't think it was terrible, but there were a lot of things with the cinematography. And not so much in terms of like the lighting and stuff like that, but like with the special effects and CGI, like when Superman was fighting the Cajou, that just felt way, way too out there almost. It felt like James Gunn. And that worked at like certain points in the movie. It just like went so far into that, like craziness side of things that at times took you out of the movie. But like this guy is saying, there were also some really, really big strengths, I think, to this movie and leaning in to this comic book heavy style, that just really worked. Like I like when this guy says, it feels like a 2000s comic book blockbuster in the best way, goofy, witty, with a dash of brutality in its action spectacle. And he also said shocked at how much of a real movie this is. And that's how I felt too. I really felt like this movie leaning in to that comic book side and that weird, like fun, just the funness of it, I think, is is really, really evident throughout the entirety of the film. Like Crypto the dog was just like a great addition to the film. I didn't totally know how that would work. You know, I thought that was smart on like James Gunn's behalf, just from like a marketing perspective, to bring this dog in. But Crypto really worked well for the movie. And Superman, like David Coren's Sweat 2, just like his portrayal of Superman was absolutely brilliant. I thought that he did such a good job as the character of really portraying this man who is a good man rather than like this perfect, just far out there kind of god. Because I think we've already seen that so many times in different adaptations of the character. So that was nice to get a new take on it. And he really, again, just reinforced one of the main ideas of this movie, which was that fun element to it, that kind of happy and joyful element of the film that was really, really important to making it entertaining. And I just liked how it didn't feel like this corporate movie. It didn't feel like some MCU movie, like Captain America Brave New World is a movie that I've talked about. I think that it's just... It's not terrible, but it's just so, like... It's so, like, just bleh, you know? It's like... It's just... There's not really too many exciting things about it. In Superman, for all its flaws, all the flaws that it had, it was a very exciting movie, and it really did feel like a passionate movie, like a movie that was made by someone who was genuinely passionate about the source material, and even though they didn't make the perfect film, per se, that was very evident. And it was a nice break, too, from just all of the, like, content that just feels churned out there at times and just feels stale, really, especially the MCU stuff. And especially, like, before the movie, like, there was all those commercials for, like, 40 minutes before the movie. And it was really, it sounds weird to say, but it was really refreshing to, like, jump into this exciting comic book world after getting all these, like, corporate messages for, like, 40 minutes. And even that, I know it's a weird analogy, but even that felt like such a stark contrast to what this movie was. And that's why I liked it, is because it had that element of just authenticity to it, which so many movies, it's just obvious that they don't have. So, yeah, that's my thoughts. I really liked that, that guy's review. I want to read my own review. I wrote this really quickly, so I'll just read it, though. I gave it also, I gave it four out of five stars, and this is what I said about it. I said, James Gunn Superman is the most James Gunn possible take on the character. It greatly diverges from the typical mythos of the character. It's not afraid to make Superman human. Instead of making Superman this prototypical mythic-like figure, it humanizes him. It makes him vulnerable both physically and emotionally, and that take on the character was refreshing. However, Gunn leans into that emotional aspect of not just Superman, but other characters a bit too much at times. It almost acts as a double-edged sword. Some scenes in the film feel a bit off and land flatly because of the stylistic change. There's also the over-reliance on nostalgia, but hey, it's a comic book movie, so I'll let that slide. If I were to best sum up this film, it would be simple. It's a true comic book movie. Colorful, vibrant, emotional, chaotic, yet full of things that also feel rushed. Offbeat and over-the-top. But despite all of that, I liked this movie. It reminded me of why I love comic book movies and science fiction in the first place. Not because they are realistic, but because the stories they tell contain deeply realistic messages. So cheers to James Gunn. I hope this is the first of many more DCU movies. So yeah, that's my... That was my review on Letterboxd for Superman. I'll go over some of my points here of... I want to start with the stuff I liked. Like I said before, this movie was just... It felt very authentic on so many different levels. One of those was the take that James Gunn did with Superman. And like I said before, too, David Coren's sweat, I think he was a terrific Superman. And I like how they made him this powerful, strong character. Like they built up his character. It's not like one of the movies, Marvel movies I didn't really like, was Thor, Love, and Thunder, because it almost felt like they were starting to make fun of the character. I think if you look at a movie like Ragnarok, though, it's poking fun at the character a little bit. It has comedic bits, but it still takes the character seriously when it needs to. And that's how I felt with James Gunn's Superman. Like there were definitely some moments in the film, I guess you could say, that there were some more serious parts that got undercut by the humor. But it was really to like, I think the reason Gunn did that was to make Superman human.