Looking at Henry Caville Superman, and this James Gunn Superman 2025. Hmmmm...
Great - no 'long dull origin story' that everyone knows.
Started with Superman's first loss. Liked it.
Krypto was cute (missed Crypto joke opportunity) and Supergirl cameo.
Lex Luthor's calling the attacks like a videogame.
Lex Luthor's pencil dropping pettiness.
Supporting characters - Green Lantern, Mister Terrific. Lois Lane casting. Yes!!! (While Hawk Girl also awesome, she missed opportunities.)
Superclone reveal.
Superman's parents were sweet.
Weak -
Superbots were a missed opportunity. Their comic relief was a fail.
Luthor's plan made no sense.
Luthor's bragging lacked sense.
Luthor's girlfriend/ Jimmy relationship. Nope.
Luthor's main score from Superman's lair was the message?!?! No tech???
Reversible rift sucked. Zero drama/tension.
Pocket dimension sucked.
Hawk Girl didn't get enough screen-time / exposition.
Superman in cuffs and not snapping them.
Superman's lack of super senses needed exposition.
The painful absence at the Hall of Justice of all core heroes.
Element Man (?) was interesting but had no opportunity to show who he was.
Superclone into Black Hole -- made no sense, redeemable if that is Bizzaro's origin.
Ice Breath to escape Black Hole???
Costume & cape looked nonsensical and stupid.
Superman lost too much & too often. Just a pun hing bag, not the MIGHTIEST HERO.
Music choices didn't work.
Fortress of Solitude had no solitude. Meh!
Krypto vs Lex -- too jokey. Krypto was a punchline not a true sidekick, but he was cute.
So like others have said, the movie missed a lot of opportunities. It meandered. The humor didn't work in general.
The pocket dimension Luthor scheme could've been improved to be more genius and less weird. It was lacking planning. Luthor's lack of an escape plan seemed like lazy writing. Luthor's monologuing was painful, and capturing Superman in a glass cage was nonsensical and again lazy writing.
Extra post credit scenes - no payoff for audience. Blooper reel could've worked better.
Questions
Superman's Kryptonian parents being evil -- weak -- felt so awkward. Hated the nanite villain pulling the message, fixing the message AND decoding the message all at once??? Why?
Lex getting to Fortress of Solitude and not gleaning all of the tech??? That makes zero sense. Caville's Lex in the fortress and getting an upgrade makes far more sense.
Mr Terrific and Lois stole the show a few times. I didn't think Superman starred in his own movie, he was mostly a dumb punching bag.
Luthor's memorization of Superman 's fighting -- a cool idea, may have worked on a pitch or storyboard, but superspeed seems missing. Superman's powers were nerfed for storytelling.
So I'm glad we saw it, but unfortunately I see this as a downgrade from Caville's Superman due to the lacking character gravitas, the low excitement action, and the unbelievable 2-dimensionality of this Superman.
