The first ‘Superman’ 2025 trailer is great except for 2 things

DC and Warner Bros. dropped the first trailer for Superman this morning and it’s great. James Gunn looks set to take the DC Universe in a solid new direction with the first film under the new DCU banner.

David Corenswet appears to be both the muscular Man of Steel and the dashing Clark Kent in his ill-fitting suit and thick glasses. As much of a Henry Cavill fan as I am, I think Corenswet fills Superman’s big red boots nicely, even if the suit is a bit more controversial.

Here is the trailer:

First, let’s talk about what works in this trailer:

• The casting is on point. Corenswet is perfect as a younger, less chiseled, less severe version of Superman. Again, Cavill was fantastic in the role, but he – like everyone else in the Snyderverse – was brought down by Zack Snyder’s bleak filmmaking. Rachel Brosnahan is a great choice for Lois Lane. I love Amy Adams, but she never quite fit the part. The always wonderful Nicholas Hoult who won me over The Great, should knock it out of the park as arch-villain Lex Luthor, boss of Lexcorp-er, Luthorcorp. Nathan Fillion’s Guy Gardner clip is also one of the books.
• I like the brief moments with Lois Lane and Superman/Clark Kent. It looks like she will find out that they are one and the same in this movie and we get some good romance, even some kissing on the run.
• The super dog Krypto is definitely the star of the show. “Take me home, Krypto” is the only line of dialogue here, and it’s perfect. Krypto will be the marketing darling for this film. I think even this trailer’s detractors would agree.
• I love watching Superman save people. There’s a lot of emphasis on hope and compassion and kindness in this trailer, even though it’s just a “teaser” trailer that doesn’t reveal much of the story. The little boy saying “Superman” almost like a prayer as the war rages around him is also a nice touch.
• All of this points to a more serious Superman movie. Less dark, more hopeful, more sincere, but not necessarily filled with your typical James Gunn silliness. This is a difficult tone to get right. Obviously we don’t have enough to go on here, but I’m optimistic. That being said, it is definitely a movie with lots of action, fighting, violence, etc. This is, if anything, darker than I expected.
• The soundtrack really evokes the old John Williams score. I dig the electric guitar / orchestral hybrid they have going on.

There are two things I’m not a big fan of in the trailer. One worries me, the other I simply don’t like.

I am worried about the sheer number of characters, and especially super characters, that we are introduced to in this teaser. I’m not sure we should have a large ensemble cast in the first DC reboot, which I hope focuses more nicely on Superman and Lex Luthor. But we have Guy Gardner here, some sort of Kaiju, Hawkgirl and more, and that’s without having seen Supergirl.

More worrying is the cinematography. There are moments where it looks great and others where it looks way, way too saturated and fake, which was a problem with the filming and special effects throughout the DCEU movie. I know we live in an era of CGI, but I was hoping for a movie that felt a little more old fashioned. I’m glad the film looks bright – the dark days are behind us – but the color grading and special effects just feel too much. And while I’m not against slow motion (the moment where he saves the girl seems like a great use of the technique), I’d be lying if I denied having some PTSD from the Snyder movies. Snyder’s use of slow motion borders on pornographic.

The film opens on July 11th, and we’re sure to see more trailers before then that will give us a better sense of what this film is about and what it will look like. I’m really looking forward to this. Outside Batman and Joker I haven’t really been excited about a DC movie in a very, very long time. Fans need a win. Warner Bros. and DC needs it even more.

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