₦airaland Forum

BlackManta:
I watched Superman again, and as much as I liked the movie, I can’t shake the feeling that James Gunn tried to do too much.

The plot isn’t strong enough, and the pacing is off. This movie lacks proper build-up.

Emotional scenes fall flat because they’re just thrown at you with no setup. And without build-up, there can be no payoff.

Take one of my favorite scenes, for example, Clark talking with his dad. That moment could have been powerful, but the Kents barely got any screen time. They appear at the start of the movie, then disappear until the end of Act 2. So why should I care?

The twist with Jor-El’s message didn’t work for me either, because the movie never showed us that Superman is who he is thanks to his human parents. Clark Kent’s background is completely ignored. In fact, Clark doesn’t even exist in this movie, it’s all Superman. And in a film stuffed with characters, Clark gets the least amount of screen time.

James Gunn clearly thinks introducing the DCU is more important than telling a standalone Superman story.

I couldn’t care less about the Boravia–Jarhampur conflict because this movie commits one of cinema’s greatest sins: telling instead of showing.

The film is weighed down by exposition, especially in the first hour.

Take the interview scene, for example. That’s where we learn Superman interfered in global politics by stopping the invasion of Jarhampur and threatening the Boravian president. This ends up being a major part of the plot, yet the movie never shows us what Superman did in Boravia.

Instead, everything is crammed into five minutes of exposition. Why?

I thought the Justice Gang was okay, but let’s be real, the only reasons they’re in this movie are:

1. Gunn wants to establish that the DCU is a shared world with other heroes.


2. Gunn loves throwing teams of D-list characters into his movies and could not resist doing it again.

The worst part for me was when Superman gets captured and poisoned with Kryptonite. The movie then shifts focus to the Justice Gang so they can get some spotlight in a Superman movie where they had no business being in the first place.

Mr. Terrific was great, Guy Gardner was fine, and Hawkgirl had her moment when she killed Netanyahu. But this was the wrong movie for them.

They got way too much screen time, time that should have gone to Clark and the Kents.


When the movie first came out, people said Superman was weak and lost too often. I defended him.
But after a second viewing, I can admit those complaints are not completely wrong.

The movie tells us Superman has been around for three years and is the most powerful being in the world. But if that’s true, the world is cooked. Who’s protecting Metropolis when Darkseid invades? The same guy who got beaten by Hammer of Boravia? Definitely not.

Lex Luthor countering Superman in a fight should not even be possible. Superman has superhuman speed. In the comics, he’s fast enough to race the Flash. But here, it feels like this Superman has not even unlocked his full speed, which makes no sense after three years.

Clearly, Gunn intentionally nerfed him. Otherwise, how would the Engineer have time to fill his body with nanites?

And don’t get me started on how easily Superman got captured. He sees Kryptonite and immediately collapses. His heat vision just stops working. A stronger Superman would have at least tried to break the glass with heat vision. This one didn’t even try. If Metamorpho hadn’t switched sides, he’d still be trapped.

Speaking of heat vision, I almost forgot he had it until the third act. He spends most of the movie just flying around and throwing punches instead of using his full power. No wonder a mindless clone pinned him down until Krypto bailed him out.

James Gunn needs to fix this and make Superman stronger. I want to see him unlock his full potential. Because right now, Omni-Man would rip him apart in seconds. It wouldn’t even be close.

At this point, Superman is my least favorite James Gunn project. All three Guardians of the Galaxy films, The Suicide Squad, and Peacemaker are better. Gunn is clearly at his best when working with D-list characters, which makes it surprising he insists on writing and directing a Superman sequel.

That said, I still like the movie. Gunn did capture Superman’s kindness, boy scout naivety, hope, and optimism.

But after my second viewing, I give it a decent 7/10.

BlackManta:
I watched Superman again, and as much as I liked the movie, I can’t shake the feeling that James Gunn tried to do too much.

The plot isn’t strong enough, and the pacing is off. This movie lacks proper build-up.

Emotional scenes fall flat because they’re just thrown at you with no setup. And without build-up, there can be no payoff.

Take one of my favorite scenes, for example, Clark talking with his dad. That moment could have been powerful, but the Kents barely got any screen time. They appear at the start of the movie, then disappear until the end of Act 2. So why should I care?

The twist with Jor-El’s message didn’t work for me either, because the movie never showed us that Superman is who he is thanks to his human parents. Clark Kent’s background is completely ignored. In fact, Clark doesn’t even exist in this movie, it’s all Superman. And in a film stuffed with characters, Clark gets the least amount of screen time.

James Gunn clearly thinks introducing the DCU is more important than telling a standalone Superman story.

I couldn’t care less about the Boravia–Jarhampur conflict because this movie commits one of cinema’s greatest sins: telling instead of showing.

The film is weighed down by exposition, especially in the first hour.

Take the interview scene, for example. That’s where we learn Superman interfered in global politics by stopping the invasion of Jarhampur and threatening the Boravian president. This ends up being a major part of the plot, yet the movie never shows us what Superman did in Boravia.

Instead, everything is crammed into five minutes of exposition. Why?

I thought the Justice Gang was okay, but let’s be real, the only reasons they’re in this movie are:

1. Gunn wants to establish that the DCU is a shared world with other heroes.


2. Gunn loves throwing teams of D-list characters into his movies and could not resist doing it again.

The worst part for me was when Superman gets captured and poisoned with Kryptonite. The movie then shifts focus to the Justice Gang so they can get some spotlight in a Superman movie where they had no business being in the first place.

Mr. Terrific was great, Guy Gardner was fine, and Hawkgirl had her moment when she killed Netanyahu. But this was the wrong movie for them.

They got way too much screen time, time that should have gone to Clark and the Kents.


When the movie first came out, people said Superman was weak and lost too often. I defended him.
But after a second viewing, I can admit those complaints are not completely wrong.

The movie tells us Superman has been around for three years and is the most powerful being in the world. But if that’s true, the world is cooked. Who’s protecting Metropolis when Darkseid invades? The same guy who got beaten by Hammer of Boravia? Definitely not.

Lex Luthor countering Superman in a fight should not even be possible. Superman has superhuman speed. In the comics, he’s fast enough to race the Flash. But here, it feels like this Superman has not even unlocked his full speed, which makes no sense after three years.

Clearly, Gunn intentionally nerfed him. Otherwise, how would the Engineer have time to fill his body with nanites?

And don’t get me started on how easily Superman got captured. He sees Kryptonite and immediately collapses. His heat vision just stops working. A stronger Superman would have at least tried to break the glass with heat vision. This one didn’t even try. If Metamorpho hadn’t switched sides, he’d still be trapped.

Speaking of heat vision, I almost forgot he had it until the third act. He spends most of the movie just flying around and throwing punches instead of using his full power. No wonder a mindless clone pinned him down until Krypto bailed him out.

James Gunn needs to fix this and make Superman stronger. I want to see him unlock his full potential. Because right now, Omni-Man would rip him apart in seconds. It wouldn’t even be close.

At this point, Superman is my least favorite James Gunn project. All three Guardians of the Galaxy films, The Suicide Squad, and Peacemaker are better. Gunn is clearly at his best when working with D-list characters, which makes it surprising he insists on writing and directing a Superman sequel.

That said, I still like the movie. Gunn did capture Superman’s kindness, boy scout naivety, hope, and optimism.

But after my second viewing, I give it a decent 7/10.

oyaskii:
Going by your handle and your past antecedents here viz à viz your fierce defence of the DC lore, this is a brave review, it takes gut and I applaud you for it. it totally encapsulates my feelings the movie in as much as i wanted it to be all round good.

This is hoping everyone on both divides take a cue. No lore is perfect, no filmmaker is perfect, especially whilst adapting an all timer comic character like the Supes with a rich history of cannon to choose from, things could easily go wrong or right. No need to stand in defiance and just overlook obvious flaws, just to prove that you love the lore so much and anything they drop is flawless... Hey, we might still have the darkie Snyderverse today, if audience just lapped it up, so criticism this "Superman" is getting, is for James Gunn to do better next time, if he really wants a successful universe...


I still think 7/10 is a tad too much 😬, but hey, at least you can now see the light

DieRich5:
First of all, Superman is not Human so I don’t know why you guys are trying to make him one

I’m an ex comic-book fan, justice league fan and Superman fan and I tell you, Snyder and Gunn Superman was never accurate


This is not about Snyder and Gunn fans before this 2, there is Millions of Superman fans and there are movies and even series like smallville didn’t make Superman weak at a younger age and still the series is one of the best.

Superman we all knew that is strong but this movie not only make him weak but overpowered the ability of those lowest villain character

1) Superman who can’t bleed without Kryptonite, Red sun or highest non-human villain characters or maybe someone with magic abilities

2) Superman who can lift and move objects of extremely large amount of weight like mountains and end planets

3) Superman who can Wind and freeze breath and also he’s Super Intelligence

4) Superman who can also fly at high speeds and has super speed even hearing

5) Superman who can time travel


This Superman 2025 movie didn’t do anything above and the other superhero characters are disappointment too there is a way to involve other super character that will made it nice

Hawk-girl introduction in this movie is completely not giving

Beorn:
Daniel Day-Lewis is back from 8 years retirement. I'm so seated!! 😭🥹



https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HVqoyMi98OI?feature=shared

phr0nesis:
The duration probably kept people away. I personally enjoyed the movie...a lot, but I had to pause several times.

SOZINN:
I haven't even watched Superman till the end. I was watching it, I think I got to about 20 minutes and then I abandoned it to go watch how to train your dragon since everyone around was saying that's the better movie but even that one too is not that good. What I've watched and the few clips I've seen is not even enough for me to counter his review or even write my own. When Thunderbolts came out on digital, almost everyone on the thread was calling it mid or bad, until I dropped my review where I gave it 80% (although I do think it was a decent movie, the score might have been too high but whatever).

Superman gets released on digital and people are ripping it apart, I go to the next page and it's abduleez's review. It's equally long and the score is 8/10 🙃. How is this not funny? I haven't even said anything, I just laughed and what? You want to call me out for laughing at what your near-useless pet dog wrote? Are you being serious? Don't even start, unless you're up for it.

pu7pl3:
Guess who just quoted me with another long cope, just guess.

SOZINN:
Yes, when you're called out on your hypocrisy the light of your common sense goes dim, you become blind and you can't comprehend simple words. I completely understand, it doesn't mean what has to be said won't be said.

phr0nesis:
Directed by his son, written by he and his son. Why would he not return

Palehair:
This is the new schtick for legacy stars.......... family art and business and I'm loving it

Elizabeth hurley's son directed her in a movie he wrote that had an explicit sex scene and no body double was used (boy may just want to watch his mum get banged)

Ethan and Maya Hawke wrote and starred in their own drama

Sean Penn wrote and directed him and his daughter in flag day

Kate Winslet's son wrote Kate's upcoming directorial debut and Kate recently starred with her daughter in a TV series

Rumor has it Meryl Streep is currently working on her biopic starring her daughter and her son in law Mark Ronson will work on the music

Kaycee7:
So, I take it most of you didn't like the Superman movie. Been reading different opinions from the past pages from very scathing to downright ludicrous.

Just going to keep observing events unfold.

Palehair:
This is the new schtick for legacy stars.......... family art and business and I'm loving it

Elizabeth hurley's son directed her in a movie he wrote that had an explicit sex scene and no body double was used (boy may just want to watch his mum get banged)

Ethan and Maya Hawke wrote and starred in their own drama

Sean Penn wrote and directed him and his daughter in flag day

Kate Winslet's son wrote Kate's upcoming directorial debut and Kate recently starred with her daughter in a TV series

Rumor has it Meryl Streep is currently working on her biopic starring her daughter and her son in law Mark Ronson will work on the music

oyaskii:
Nepotism has always been a thing in Hollywood for a very long time, No? Heck, Francis Copolla inserted his daughter in The Godfather lore way back in the 70s, basically catapulting her career. M. Night Shyamalan includes his Daughters in his project even when it's clear other people could do a better job, even one of the daughters had to admit, she got the chance to adapt one of Ireland's biggest books, simply because of her last name.

My point is, nepotism exists everywhere, and i am not even mad about it. No parent who can certainly soft lunch thier kid's career, will fold their hands and not do it, because that kid being successful in any field, tells on great on their own parenting too.

DDL has always insisted on the gimmick that he his retired after bagging an unprecedented 3 Oscars, it was always gonna take, some sweet savoring nepotism to bring him back...so fairs i guess

DieRich5:
First of all, Superman is not Human so I don’t know why you guys are trying to make him one

I’m an ex comic-book fan, justice league fan and Superman fan and I tell you, Snyder and Gunn Superman was never accurate


This is not about Snyder and Gunn fans before this 2, there is Millions of Superman fans and there are movies and even series like smallville didn’t make Superman weak at a younger age and still the series is one of the best.

Superman we all knew that is strong but this movie not only make him weak but overpowered the ability of those lowest villain character

1) Superman who can’t bleed without Kryptonite, Red sun or highest non-human villain characters or maybe someone with magic abilities

2) Superman who can lift and move objects of extremely large amount of weight like mountains and end planets

3) Superman who can Wind and freeze breath and also he’s Super Intelligence

4) Superman who can also fly at high speeds and has super speed even hearing

5) Superman who can time travel


This Superman 2025 movie didn’t do anything above and the other superhero characters are disappointment too there is a way to involve other super character that will made it nice

Hawk-girl introduction in this movie is completely not giving