Movie Review: Superman (2025)

Superman (2025) written and directed by James Gunn

I think Superman needs no introduction and so does this film. It starts with a few lines over a snowy landscape explaining in very broad strokes that the Earth has a bunch of metahumans (i.e. superheroes) that have been here for years and that Superman (David Corenswet) came thirty years ago, made himself known three years ago, and just lost his first fight three minutes ago. Then he crashes into the snow like everyone has seen in any of the trailers. Superman had interceded to prevent a war between two eastern European nations (aggressor Boravia tried to invade Jarhanpur). The Hammer of Boravia beat Superman in a battle over the skies of Metropolis. Krypto drags Superman to the Fortress of Solitude (though they never call it that in the movie) where his robots fix him up, exposing him to extra doses of yellow sun by way of elaborate magnifying lenses while he watches a recorded message from his Kryptonian parents that encourages him to be a hero for the people of Earth. Only half the message made it to Earth. Once he's better, he goes back to Metropolis to continue the fight. Viewers then discover that Lex Luthor (Nicholas Hoult) is managing the fight for the Hammer, giving him moves to best Superman. The Hammer is secretly Luthor's henchman Ultraman. Superman loses again and the Hammer leaves saying he will do even worse next time.

Clark Kent reports in to the Daily Planet where he is lauded for his front page article on Superman's actions. He interacts with editor Perry White (Wendell Pierce), cub reporter Jimmy Olson (Skyler Gisondo), and ace reporter Lois Lane (Rachel Brosnahan). Later, he's at Lois's apartment where he makes dinner for their three-month dating anniversary but it devolves into an argument over the ethics of what he did as Superman in Europe. Lois already knows his secret identity.

Luthor unleashes a kaiju on Metropolis, drawing the attention of Superman and the "Justice Gang," a new group of metahumans with Green Lantern Guy Gardner (Nathan Fillion), Mr. Terrific (Edi Gathegi), and Hawkgirl (Isabela Merced). They fight the kaiju while Lex goes to the Superman's arctic base, where he, Ultraman, and The Engineer (Maria Gabriela de Faria) break in and find the message from Krypton. The Engineer is able to reconstruct the second half of the message, which ends in a more sinister way than anyone expects. They use this to drive a wedge between Superman and the rest of humanity. Lex is authorized to use any force he can to capture and contain Superman, leading to a lot more conflict for all of the characters.

The plot is fairly elaborate for a superhero movie. It moves along at a good pace and establishes most of the characters very well, even minor ones like Jimmy or Lex's current girlfriend Miss Teschmacher (Sara Sampaio). And yes, that's the same girlfriend as in Superman: The Movie from 1977. The plot borrows a lot of elements from the other Superman movies beyond the iconic movie score and the "flying through space" credits, like a bit in a baseball field from Superman Returns and other things that are spoilers. These borrowing come off more like homages than a lack of originality because Gunn integrates them smoothly into the larger story. Even though I guessed a lot of surprises while I was sitting in the theater, they seem perfectly natural and work very well. Some bits are not so good, like the lack of any character development for Hawkgirl, but they are far outweighed by the good parts.

Corenswet nails it as both Superman and Clark, though he is stronger in the Superman role. He has the integrity and honesty needed for the Man of Steel, along with the sense of justice that sometimes leads him into angry outbursts and difficult situations. Hoult is good as Luthor, portraying him as a scheming fellow whose main motivation is jealousy and fear of Superman. Brosnahan is very good as Lois, who thankfully already knows Superman's secret identity and is an intelligent and motivated woman on her own. The rest of the cast is good, especially Fillion as the jerky Guy Gardner and Gathegi as the cool and collected Mr. Terrific. 

The movie has a lot of heart, intelligence, humor, and drama that make it a fun adventure. This is easily the best DC superhero movie in a very long while.

Recommended, highly for superhero fans.

Movie Review: Guardians of the Galaxy Volume 3 (2023)

Guardians of the Galaxy Volume 3 (2023) written and directed by James Gunn

Rocket (voiced by Bradley Cooper) is grievously injured in a fight. As his friends try to fix him, they discover a bomb on his heart, part of the enhancements that changed him from a forest animal into an intelligent person. They need to remove the bomb to heal him which means finding the key code to disarm the bomb. The movie is intercut with Rocket's origin story as the rest of the Guardians embark on a mission to find his creator (The High Evolutionary played by Chukwudi Iwuji) and get what they need from him.

The very simple set up becomes very complicated by the addition of a lot of other characters. Gamora (Zoe Saldana) is back from the dead, or back from the past, or from the past in an alternate timeline. She seems to be there to create tension with her former love interest Peter Quill (Chris Pratt) more than anything else. Adam Warlock (Will Poulter) is a minion of The High Evolutionary who gets in trouble with the boss and needs to capture Rocket to return to his boss's good graces. "Good graces" is not the best way to put it since the guy's main ambition is to create a perfect world by creating perfect beings. Anything that doesn't work out is disposable. Rocket is an exceptional case because of his mechanical brilliance, i.e. he can put together amazing tech from almost nothing and has an unbelievable understanding of how things work. The High Evolutionary wants to dissect Rocket's brain so his newest creations will be just as smart and creative. A bunch of second-tier Guardians (primarily Cosmo the Russian space dog (voiced by Maria Bakalova) and Kraglin (Sean Gunn)) take up a lot of narrative time. Even with its strong pacing, the movie feels a little long.

Many of these characters can be justified by the themes that people deserve second chances and that no one should be treated as disposable. The High Evolutionary clearly does not care about other people, just about crafting a perfect world (as villain, he's naturally anti-thematic). The world of the Guardians of the Galaxy is full of broken, difficult people who are trying their best, at which they don't always succeed. Often they bicker and can't agree on what to do in a given situation. They are very human characters, even the animals and the trees.

While not without a lot of humor, the tone of the movie is much more serious than the previous Guardians films. Rocket's backstory is especially tragic. The filmmakers occasionally get heavy-handed with operatic music at tragic moments. The action sequences have their pop soundtracks to lighten the mood. The special effects are amazing which is pretty standard for a Marvel movie.

Mildly recommended--this is a nice ending for a fun group of misfits, but viewers need to have seen the other films to understand what's going on with the characters.

Movie Review: The Suicide Squad (2021)

The Suicide Squad (2021) written and directed by James Gunn

While on an involuntary sabbatical from The Guardians of the Galaxy, James Gunn took on a DC Comics property that involves a group of ne'er-do-wells who more or less inadvertently save the world. The DC group is much darker than the Guardians, as can be seen by their name--The Suicide Squad. The squad is recruited out of a prison for supervillains and goes on secret government assignments to get their sentences reduced. An explosive chip is put in their heads to keep them from just going off and causing their own sort of mayhem (rather than the government sanctioned mayhem). Amanda Waller (Viola Davis), director of the Squad, puts together a group to attack the South American island Corto Maltese. Their beach assault is a horrible disaster with most of the team getting killed in the opening sequence of the movie. This first team is actually a cover for a second team that is after the same objective. Since all the Cortese military is at the other beach, the second team has a relatively easy time making it to the interior of the country. Through a combination of smarts, violence, and mayhem, they might just accomplish their mission. Maybe with some help from one or two survivors of the botched invasion!

The movie leans into the ridiculous premise with its over the top characterizations (a natural place for Harley Quinn (Margot Robbie)). One of the villains is King Shark (voice by Sylvester Stallone), an eight-foot humanoid shark that's maybe a genetic experiment, maybe an ancient shark deity. His main interest is eating and he's not particular about whether his snack is friend or foe. Most of the characters are unfamiliar, giving the filmmakers a lot of freedom to develop them and to surprise the audience in delightful ways. The R rating is very strong--again, the makers have a ridiculous amount of gore and violence throughout the movie. Also the body count is very high, and not just the no-name characters in the background. Death is a frequent visitor to the Suicide Squad.

This movie is at least a million times better than the 2016 disaster.

Recommended, if you have the stomach for the gore and the moral ambiguity.

Movie Review: Slither (2006)

Slither (2006) written and directed by James Gunn

A meteor comes crashing down on the small southern town of Wheelsy. The meteor is unnoticed by the locals, they're too busy celebrating the imminent opening of deer season. A few days before, local rich guy Grant Grant (Michael Rooker) wanders off into the woods with Brenda, the little sister of an ex-girlfriend, where they run across the meteorite. The alien creature inside infects Grant who slowly turns into a horrible monster over several days. The alien/Grant monster has a loving wife who is a local school teacher. He needs to spawn a mass of fast moving slugs to take over the townspeople and turn them into zombie-like minions so he can take over the world. Rather than infect his lovely wife, he goes after Brenda while everyone is celebrating the countdown to midnight. It's up to the local sheriff (played by Nathan Fillion) and whoever is left to stop the monster before the whole world falls under his control.

The movie is a blend of horror and comedy, a formula I usually find appealing. The humor here is so-so. Too many of the jokes rely on a character swearing as the punch line. I don't mind two or three such jokes but after several it just seems like the writer doesn't know how to write a punchline and relies on the actors to deliver the line well enough to get a laugh. Fillion is good at varying his delivery for comic effect but other cast members weren't. Plenty of other jokes work well but not enough to make this more than a mediocre comedy.

The horror aspect is full-on gory with lots of dead, eviscerated animals and at one point, a guy is split open and all his insides fall out. The alien/Grant monster becomes more repulsive throughout the movie with his final incarnation being a lumpy, room-filling monster. The high-speed slugs that he spawns are quite effective at being creepy and scary. They move fast and there's hundreds of them, giving them the sort of menace that was completely lacking in a movie like Don't Be Afraid of the Dark, where the small monsters just weren't scary. The slugs climb into people's mouths to take them over, quite unpleasant in a proper horror film way.

I have mixed feelings about the film. The monster, with his back story and his blending into the Grant character, is interesting and original, even if his plan is typical. Nathan Fillion is a charming actor but the script doesn't give him enough to shine. The gore level is pretty high but there's no off-setting level of humor (like in Evil Dead II) or thematic weight (like in Day of the Dead) to make it worth enduring. Gore for its own sake is not good. And, I am afraid, neither is this film.

Movie Review: Guardians of the Galaxy (2014)

Guardians of the Galaxy (2014) co-written and directed by James Gunn

On the day eight-year old Peter Quill's mom dies, he's abducted by aliens. Double bummer! Jump forward about twenty years and the boy has grown into a scavenging outlaw. At least he'd like to think he's a badass. His latest retrieval is from an abandoned temple on an abandoned planet. It's a small orb that a lot of other people in the galaxy are interested in. As he goes into the temple, he turns on his Sony Walkman (an old one that plays cassette tapes) and grooves his way through the ruins, kicking and squashing small rat creatures that try to attack him. He even grabs one and uses it as a pretend microphone. Just as he recovers the orb, one of the interested parties shows up and tries to take it from him. He leads a merry chase away and eventually escapes. When he gets to the pawn broker, he discovers he's gotten into a lot more than he bargained for.

The movie follows a standard plot line--an all-powerful McGuffin (the orb) must be kept out of the hands of evildoers who will use it for nefarious purposes. A misfit group of low- to mid-level criminals band together to keep the orb out of reach. They all have different motivations and are mistrustful of each other at first. They grow closer and more trustful and even become friends by the end of the show. It seems like the movie should be just another run-of-the-mill comic book action movie.

The movie really shines in two ways. First, the sense of humor is great. It isn't dark or brooding or cynical. It's based (1) on the silliness of people taking themselves too seriously and (2) on not communicating in the clearest way, leading to funny consequences and (3) on the sort of cultural references that most of the characters in the movie just don't get because they are not from Earth. The movie has lots of laughs in it.

Second, the main heroes are very likeable characters. Peter Quill has a fairly dramatic childhood trauma, but unlike other comic book characters (I'm looking at you, most recent Batman and Superman films), it hasn't made him an angry, brooding, self-doubting hero. Instead, he's embraced his new life with a wry sense of humor and honesty, even if he does have an over-inflated view of himself. He's more adept at talking his way out of a situation than shooting his way out, though he can do the later if he needs to. He's a well-written character well played by Chris Pratt. The other main characters are just as well written and realized (including the CGI raccoon and sentient tree).

Guardians of the Galaxy is a big, fun summer action comedy.