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Ranking Christopher Nolan’s Films (w/The Odyssey)

AdamLeave a comment

This weekend saw the release of The Odyssey, the newest entry to come from the great mind of Christopher Nolan. Despite all the controversy and outrage over the internet, it looks as though it’s set to have a strong opening weekend in spite of it being three hours long and clearly NOT PG-13. As a result, time to rank every film in Christopher Nolan’s filmography thus far and see how it fares from worst to best.

It shouldn’t be unpopular to say that Christopher Nolan is one of the greatest filmmakers working today! He’s one of the few directors out there that everyone is aware of and his name attached to a film alone is enough to get people’s butts in theater seats. And coming in a post-covid and post-2023 strikers timeline and in the middle of summer filled with underperforming/underwhelming big movies, leave it to Nolan to be the one big name this weekend helping to turn the tide on the narrative that people don’t go to theaters anymore. I’m sure this isn’t what the Dark Knight himself had in mind when he made it his quest to save theaters back in 2020 with Tenet, but hey, I still think he consider it an absolute win regardless.

Keep in mind that for this list, there’s really only one of these movies that I’m not the biggest fan off. Just about every other one I either like or absolutely LOVE! Heck, over half of the movies on this list were some of my absolute favorite films in the year they came out with some of them being on my list of favorite films every year. That’s why this list was INCREDIBLY hard to make! Regardless, I’m up to the challenge and let’s rank the great work coming from the Nolan mind himself.

13.) Tenet

If there is one Christopher Nolan film that I would unfortunately have to declare to being a complete and total dud, it’s Tenet. While it’s well acted and looks amazing, this feels more like an intimation of a Christopher Nolan film than an actual Christopher Nolan film. The plot is a convoluted mess, the characters are completely one-note and half of the time nameless, the sound mixing is ungodly atrocious, and while it’s central time travel/espionage premise is a very interesting one, the execution of it could not have missed the mark as much as it did.. The fact you have a film where the main protagonist name is literally referred to as “The Protagonist” and you are expected to take it all seriously is literally all you need to know about the experience of watching Tenet. Little did we know that this would be the end of the road between the partnership of Nolan and Warner Bros, with the latter getting another chance of “saving” cinema but with a total different studio.

12.) Following

Here is the one that started it all. Christopher Nolan is able to make his first length directorial debut with Following, an INCREDIBLY low budget and small scale flick about a young writer who follows strangers for a living in the hopes of being able to write something interesting for his novels. For a film that basically involves it’s main character trying to find an identity, this is where Nolan enters the realm of cinema and secures an identity of it’s own. It’s beer money-level budget does hold it back from being a truly great film with the stellar production you would come to expect from Nolan and the 70 minute long running makes many elements feels rushed and sloppy. For a directorial film debut, you can certainly do much worse but can also do much better as well.

11.) Dunkirk

Nolan has always been a filmmaker that remained a loyalist on the experience of watching films in a theater. I don’t think there has been a film he has made to date that didn’t put as much emphasis on theater experience than with Dunkirk, a tense, tightly paced war epic about the battle that took place in the beaches of Dunkirk between Germany and France. While this definitely was an event worth seeing on the biggest screen in pure IMAX back in July 2017, it’s lack of compelling characters, questionable sound mixing, and a needlessly complicated narrative really hinders the rewatch value, making it fall short of being an all-time war movie classic. Plenty will argue that this is the intention on the part of Nolan but that still doesn’t make for a very engaging watch for me. If Tenet was an example of a Nolan film that had great ideas but bad execution, then Dunkirk is an example of a Nolan film with bad ideas but ultimately great execution. I guess if you have a massive 4K TV with a stellar sound system, you might get HALF of that theatrical experience that I got back in 2017. But take all of that away, all you get with Dunkirk is a basic war film that feels more like akin to your Ken Burns PBS documentary rather than it’s own film.

10.) Insomnia

The first film Nolan made that was disturbed by Warner Bros might just be his most overlooked feature to date, even if this is ranked in the lower half of Nolan’s filmography. We have a solid and engaging thriller about one man’s descent into madness and another man that is driven solely by madness. Al Pacino and Robin Williams turn in great performances and make for a perfect duology of the hero and villain of the picture. The film does a great job of showing the effect that constant daylight has on a character along with the passage of time that is scattered across the film. Tbh, the fact that this film is this low on the list says more about how good Nolan is at making films than the overall quality of Insomnia. It might be mid-tier on the Nolan scale but this is still a pretty good film all things considered.

9.) Interstellar

What might be Nolan’s most ambitious film and largest in scope to date, Interstellar makes for one of the most interesting and intriguing sci-fi films of the 21st century. The film goes into great lengths about mankind’s place in the universe and what we are willing to achieve for the survival of the human race. The effects are a feast for the eyes, it’s superbly acted, the emotional core between Cooper and his daughter is very well done, and the first two acts is able to execute it’s themes to near perfection, acting as an engaging race against time to preserve what’s left of humanity on Earth. Unfortunately, the third act then comes along where all logic gets thrown out of the window, a certain subplot that the film has been building to gets completely handwave, and everything is tied up into the cheapest little bow imaginable. There’s PLENTY to love about Interstellar and there are many moments where it becomes SO CLOSE to being up there with Nolan’s absolute best, but then the last 20 minutes happens that just doesn’t feel satisfying. Even if it’s not able to stick the landing as well as it could have, Interstellar makes for one engaging ride that is worth experiencing at least one time.

8.) Batman Begins

Batman Begins was an absolute revolutionary when it came out back in 2005. Not only did it revived the Batman franchise that seemed long dead for eight years, but it help set the foundation that properties surrounding superheroes and comic books can in fact be taken more seriously and still be really good. It gives us an incredibly engaging Bruce Wayne in Christian Bale’s iconic turn as this iconic character along with providing a satisfying origin story that stands as one of the best ever put to screen, being able to revolutionized superhero films for DC the way Richard Donner’s Superman and Michael Keaton’s Batman did back in the days. While it’s impact didn’t feel all the way felt until around the arrival of it’s sequel The Dark Knight three years later, this film’s importance to the Caped Crusader along with the sub-genre should not go unnoticed. Even before Marvel got their universe with Iron Man, it was this terrific first entry from Christopher Nolan that got the ball rolling with just how good a modern superhero movie can be. Only shaky camera action sequences and the second half not being quite as engaging as the first half prevents this from being even higher on the list!

7.) The Prestige

Fresh off a year after reviving the Batman franchise, here we have an absolute mind bender of a film with a strong emotional core, twists and turns that are not just surprising but makes complete sense, and a film that overall doesn’t have a clear protagonist or antagonist. The Prestige offers Nolan’s most packed film in terms of themes, craftsmanship and it’s twisty as hell narrative. With the way everything unfolds through the entire picture, the whole experience plays like a manifesto itself. Making you wonder if one day Christopher Nolan will acts as a professional magician himself once he retires from making films. Even if I feel like there’s one twist too many and the re-watches don’t quite match the experience of seeing everything unfold for the first time, The Prestige is still awesome and a film that should be talked about more when it comes to Nolan’s greatest achievements.

6.) The Dark Knight Rises

That’s right, I have The Dark Knight Rises THIS high on the list! Nolan’s final entry in his largely successful Dark Knight trilogy is his most daring movie of the lot. This is the one Batman film that actually dares to question the entire idea around the character of Batman: that perhaps Bruce Wayne becoming Batman was a mistake. Aided by a intimating villain in Tom Hardy’s Bane, a welcome supporting turn in Anne Hathaway’s Catwoman, fist bumping action sequences and a ending that brings the full themes of the trilogy together, The Dark Knight Rises made for an ending that is imperfect but yet FELT perfect at the exact same time. And especially in a age where superhero and movie franchises that constantly refuse to end, it’s certainly refreshing to have a series that was able to get a proper finale and stick to it, with NO sequel or follow-ups of any kind coming after it. While this is FAR from other flawless masterpieces that Nolan has created, I do think there is a strong argument that this is his most FLAWED masterpiece. In the sense, that despite all the glaring issues from a technical and script side of things along with some underwhelming death scenes, everything here just feels…..right. Even if this film does have it’s detractors, I’m still a believer in The Dark Knight Rises…even if you’re not.

5.) Memento

If you want to see a textbook example of how to make a film within a film, look no further than Memento. This is the kind of mind f**k that very few directors could pull off but Nolan is somehow able to do it and make it look complete easy. Guy Pearce is at his absolute best here as a man suffering from a rare memory loss and is trying to find the man who raped and killed his wife. The score is great, the mystery is able to build perfectly with each previous scene building perfectly to the next, and it’s just one of those rare films that will reward you every time you watch it regardless of what way you prefer to watch it. There’s not many films that constantly wants to keep me coming back for more after each viewing but Memento is one of those rare films. This is a film that might give you a headache when first watching it but it’s certainly the best headache you will ever have. Some might argue this is a bit too high on the list but this film just rules and deserves a spot in the top 5!

4.) Oppenheimer

With this being the first film that Nolan made with Universal Pictures after his departure from WB, Oppenheimer is yet another masterfully made and directed film by the great Christopher Nolan himself. It’s able to tell exactly the kind of sprawling epic story that it aspires to be by making sure to act as a character study first and a biopic second. Every single member of it’s highly recognizable cast is able to completely disappear into their roles and captured their performances perfectly, it does a good job of exploring the man of J. Robert Oppenheimer (played perfectly by Cillian Murphy) as not just “the destroyer of worlds” but as an impactful man himself, the three hour runtime is put to good use without feeling bloated in the slightest, and is able to deliver fully on the theater experience in ways that no other filmmaker could pull off. While may not quite be my very favorite from Nolan himself, this is certainly one of his most impressive works to date and one that I wouldn’t fault anyone who declares it as their new favorite.

3.) The Odyssey

The Odyssey is cinema at its absolute finest! The cast from top to bottom is absolutely outstanding, the unconventional storytelling of this adapted classic tale works without any hesitation whatsoever, the action and set pieces are extremely thrilling and make paying the extra few dollars for the “special” screenings all the more worth it, there’s not a single minute of it’s near three hour running time that feels wasted, and while I can’t say that I agree with every single creative choice that Nolan makes along the way, the way everything comes full circle by the very end makes any potential glaring issue up to that point feel like a complete dust in the wind. Regardless if this is the best Christopher Nolan film or not, I don’t there is a film in his filmography that showcases the grand mindset that this man has had as a filmmaker for the past 30+ years. By constantly trying to find ways to outdo himself and providing you with even grander adventures with grander scales than before, this is Nolan yet again achieving a new level of high quality and a new meaning of absolute cinema! I can’t possibly know how he plans to top himself next time out but man, I will be the first in line for whatever he’s got next!

2.) The Dark Knight

I know it’s become cliché to claim that The Dark Knight is one of the best superhero movies ever, but many people said that for a reason, it is just that damn good. It just works flawlessly at being an unique, distinct story about Batman being challenged mentally, emotionally, physically, thematically, and symbolically. Joker and Harvey Dent acts as perfect parallels to the hero that Bruce so desperately wants to be as Batman along with the villain that he fears that he will one day become. It’s a Batman movie that perfectly mirrors itself with out it tells this identical tale of crime, corruption, and vengeance in the most complex and fascinating way imaginable. There have definitely been PLENTY of superhero movies out that have come out since 2008 that people have liked/disliked more than others but I don’t think anyone can argue that there hasn’t been a superhero movie that has a much of an impact on the genre or cinema as a whole than The Dark Knight. From it’s mind blowing twists and turns to it’s rapid fire pace to gripping action sequences to it’s resonate themes to Heath Ledger’s amazing turn as Heath Ledger and to even Christian’s Bale Batman voice, The Dark Knight, even 18 years later, still stands strong! Even if it is quite an eye roller to keep glazing this film all these years later, it deserves ALL the glazing that it gets because it’s THAT f**king awesome!

1.) Inception

I always go back and forth on #1 and #2 depending on my mood but for right now, I’m gonna go with Inception. There is not one Christopher Nolan film that perfectly demonstrates the man had his finest in terms of craft, narrative, novelty, and ideas. This is easily one of the very best sci films every made and one of the rare films where it’s brilliant ideas is able to be brilliantly executed in every way. The creativity on display is astonishing, the premise involving Inception is put to perfect use and feels wholly original, the dream scenes and world building is some of the very best I’ve seen in any film, the action is top notch and thrilling, the effects are breathtaking, the characters are all compelling and engaging, every actor is perfect in their roles, the score is among the most mesmerizing I’ve ever in any film, and it has one of the most satisfying endings I’ve seen in any film that it NEVER fails to tear me up. This is one of the films where no matter how many times I watch it, I still get that same fresh, unique, and intriguing experience I got when I watched it in the cinema back in 2010. Inception is the best film by Christopher Nolan to date and is one I can recommend to anyone that is a lover of films and cinema.

Supergirl (2026) Spoilers- About That Ending

AdamLeave a comment

*Warning! This article contains MAJOR spoilers for Supergirl (2026)! If you haven’t seen the movie yet and don’t want anything spoilers, then you might want to click off the article right now! You have been warned!*

So, uh…..the new Supergirl movie came out this weekend. And just like with every other estrogen-fueled superhero movie that is not about Princess Diana of Themyscira (and even that eventually fell flat on it’s face a few years later with it’s sequel), it has had it’s wide share of controversy. I would go over exactly what *some* of this controversy stirs from but literally just think of any woman-lead ANYTHING that has come out post-GamerGate and you will know exactly what I’m talking about. And as much as folks would love to rally behind this film’s defense, Supergirl (2026) is just not good or interesting enough of a movie to die on it’s hill.

It has received a 54% rating on Rotten Tomatoes, the first project in the DC Universe to receive that rating (The MCU didn’t have a single rotten rated film until Eternals in 2021 btw!), it got a very poor B- rating on CinemaScore (With Superman 4‘s C and Joker: Folie A Deux‘s D being the only two DC films that have received worse ratings), and even the audience ratings on Rotten Tomatoes have been just decent at best (ranged around 75 to 76%). Because of these mixed reviews and poor word of mouth, Supergirl (2026) underperformed in even it’s slimest of expectations this weekend, grossing a dreadful $37 million domestically and only $62 million worldwide, that’s lower than the opening weekends of Morbius, The Marvels, & Joker: Folie A Deux. To put it simply, things are not looking good for Supes’ cousin at all.

So, what exactly happened here? While the stirred controversy I mentioned earlier before is nothing out of the ordinary, not even hardcore DC fans, moviegoers, or actual sane people not brainwashed by Fox News are coming to their (Super)girl’s support! Was it with Supergirl (2026) that is not connecting with anyone? The character has had her success in comics and television but can’t seem to translate that onto to the big screen, with both the 1984 version with Helen Slater and the 2026 version with Milly Alcock being financial bombs.

While I can go into things I pointed on in my review such as the barebone storytelling, uninspired direction, subpar looking visuals, and the main villain with somehow even less charisma and memorability than whatever the hell Christopher Eccleston was suppose to be playing in Thor: The Dark World, the moment that really sealed this movie’s faith for me was with Kara Zor-El’s final decision she makes at the end. It’s a decision that not only contradicts the source material it’s based off of but also contradicts the entire point to Supergirl’s arc in the movie.

In case anyone is unaware, Supergirl (2026) is based off Tom King’s 2021-2022 comic run of Supergirl: Woman of Tomorrow. In that version, we seen a young Kara being striped down from what would you expect from young blooded female superheroes. Instead of being portrayed as the biggest piece of eye candy you have ever seen or the ultimate girl power fantasy, Supergirl is just a girl who lost everything in her life at such a young age. She was raised on Krypton, watched everyone she loved perish away, and now has no one but herself and her lovable dog Krypto. It made for an interesting portrayal that you usual see from older, male superheroes.

Instead of using her superpowers to save as many people as she can and do pure good like her cousin, Superman, she instead uses it to go to red sunned planets to get drunk, party like a punk rockstar, and kick whoever ass gets in her way. That is until she has a come to Jesus moment and is offered a journey with another young girl named Ruthye, to take vengeance against the man who killed her parents, Krem. Kara refuses at first until Krem comes along the way to crash the party and puts a needle right through everyone’s favorite alien dog, Krypto. And just like that, the two go on a quest for revenge, to not only find Krem to put him out of commission but also to uncover the secrets behind this group known as Brigands, a group of space pirates and human traffickers.

It’s throughout the course of the film where you get to see just how Supergirl differs than Superman. Instead of finding family and love like her cousin did, she found only pain and lost. Instead of using her powers for the means of helping others, she uses her powers for the means of helping herself. And as the movie claims, instead of finding the good in everyone, she only she’s the truth. It’s loneliness that trumps togetherness, selfishness that trumps selfness, and being a realist that trumps being a optimist. Regardless of whether or not you think the film and/or comic goes too far with it’s “edgy” portrayal of Supergirl, you can’t deny it does help separate Kara than just being a gender-swapped version of Superman (something which CW’s Supergirl got bluntly excused off as that show went on).

However, the real dealbreaker that seems like was the one element that both super siblings could agree on is to NOT be a killer. While Superman (2025) certainly had a body count of some sort, you never got the sense that Clark Kent would go out of his way to kill someone out of the lime, even his worst enemy. And that is the one element that Kara wants to portray herself has to. Throughout the entire film, she tells Ruthye that killing is not the answer. No matter what Krem could’ve possibly done to take everything away from her, killing him would not bring ANYTHING back for her. Instead of leaving filling out that black hole inside of her, it will only just make that hole bigger forever and consume what good is left in her.

We then come to the final confrontation where Ruthye has Krem exactly where he wants him, he’s on his knees and vulnerable. If there is a more open time to kill him, it’s this one. However, once again, Kara arrives and tells her to spare his life, reminded her again that this won’t change anything and will basically just gives him exactly what he wants. After immense hesitation, Ruthye agrees and spares his life.

It’s that this moment where you expect a slight change from the ending of Woman of Tomorrow. While doing a notable time jump is perhaps out of the question, you can still have Supergirl make a move that leaves a big mark on Krem’s face, a scar that will remind himself of what he did to earn that mark. Whether it’s a cane or not, you can still have Supergirl acts as a mean of revenge that doesn’t take away her arc. However, director Craig Gillespie and writer Ana Nogueira decided to go in a complete different direction have Kara flat out kill Krem herself. Yes, you heard that correctly!

SUPERGIRL KILLS KREM!!!

That’s right! Instead of just giving him a ding to the head while getting the antidote to cure Krypto, Supergirl picks up her sword and kills Krem. Despite the fact that Kara has spent the whole movie preaching to Ruthye about how you can’t kill people because of how wrong it is, she does the dirty deed herself. Not only is that a complete betrayal of the Woman of Tomorrow comic itself, it’s a betrayal of Supergirl’s arc in the movie itself.

Despite what some might claim, NO, Krem is NOT killed in the comic run. Not only was this confirmed by comic writer Tom King himself in 2024, it’s made obvious in the final few pages where Krem is laying on the ground and covering his face after he just got wacked by an older Ruthye’s cane. He didn’t die there nor was he killed by Kara. It was actually Ruthye letting out years of vengeance inside of her and dumping it all over Krem right after he spent 300 years in prison, while Kara watches. Whether you think that’s tacked on or not, it still keeps Supergirl’s characterization consistent by her being as an edgy anti-hero that doesn’t feel the urge or teaches to kill. And the fact that writer Ana Nogueira interpreted that sequence as something different and didn’t even bother to check in with Tom King himself or do a quick google search is baffling to me.

But it hurts Supergirl even more in the movie itself. While Kara doesn’t see herself as being a Mr. (or Mrs.) Goody Two Shoes hero like her cous, Supes, she still draws the line at killing because that is what separates her from being an anti-hero to a straight up villain. That’s why she keeps telling Ruthye to NOT kill Krem, once you start down that dark path, you will never come back from it. It’s what keeps her from being Supergirl to just being Homelander with a vagina (or basically Stormfront). However, in the case of Supergirl (2026), it almost seems like a decision that would be more in line with what Zack Snyder’s version of Supergirl would be like instead of James Gunn.

Now, this is not me trying to defend the actions of Krem himself. He was objectively a terrible person who is the caught of tracking children and young girls alike. He deserved the most cruel and unusable punishment imaginable but I don’t think Supergirl killing him is exactly that. It almost feels like he got exactly what he wanted. Instead of living out the rest of his days in a jail cell, possibly turning into the same depressed and jaded individual that Supergirl herself became at such a young age, he now is left off the hook scott-free. And our main heroine let him do just that.

The only way this could’ve possibly work if we saw a certain change in Kara in the aftermath of her killing Krem. However, instead of seeing a sense of doubt or her being mentally scarred by this decision, she kinda just carries on like normal. She reunites with Ruthye one last time, letting her join along in celebrating the rest of her birth week, and then reunites with Superman on Earth. She doesn’t have a conversation about what transpires or get a hint of how she changed or grew from that experience. It’s back to stage one except she is slightly less depressed and angsty now.

Say what you will about Superman killing Zod at the end of Man of Steel, but at least we were able to get an IMMEDIATE reaction out of him after he did the dirty deed. Literally just SECONDS after he killed one of his own, he screamed in utter pain and agony, almost as if he just killed someone he loved deep down inside. It was then Clark was able to help heal the mental wound inside of him by being closer to his adoptive mother, Martha, and his new girlfriend/partner at the Daily Planet, Lois Lane. I still can’t say I was in love with that decision from Mr. Snyder and Mr. Goyer but you could at least see somewhat of a justification for it given Superman was trying to save literal human lives.

When it comes to Supergirl (2026), Kara killing Krem just seems like a decision that just comes out of nowhere. I don’t know if it’s because they wanted to make that change from the comic to catch people off guard. I don’t know if it’s because they wanted to subvert our expectations by showing how this Supergirl is much different than Superman. I don’t know if it’s because they wanted to show us how Krem basically won because he got Supergirl to break her unwritten rule. And I certainly don’t know if it’s because that’s what Ana Nogueira ACTUALLY thought happened at the end of Woman of Tomorrow so she decides to do the sequence just like that. The fact that I can’t tell you why that decision was made speaks volume to the film’s overall aimless writing and direction.

I’m not gonna act like Supergirl (2026) is the worst comic book movie of all time or even the worst one that has come out recently but it’s this one decision made at the ending with Kara that brings this movie down from being just a simply mid movie to a kinda crappy one. I also believe that is the one decision that is keeping even the most diehard of comic book fans from defending it from the corrupt mainstream media. It showed a fatal understanding of the comic it’s based on and even what the whole film itself stands for.

I’m not saying you have to stay faithful to every comic you adapt to an absolute T or can’t make required changes but you need to at least capture the full hearted spirit of it and why that story has resonated with comic readers all around the world. While Supergirl (2026) can claim it’s honoring it by incorporating certain story elements and characters from the book and bringing in Jason Momoa’s Lobo to steal the show, Kara’s ending actions and the way it’s executed proves that it doesn’t understand the point it’s source material was trying to make nor it’s own point. I don’t think I’ve seen an ending of a comic book movie misunderstood the point of it’s source material THIS hard since The Amazing Spider-Man 2.

I sure do hope that Supergirl (2026) only amounts to a slight bump in the road to whatever DC Studios has planned with their current cinematic universe and beyond. However, if this really is the quality we can expect for projects which James Gunn himself is NOT writing or directing, then we might be back in the same well hole we were in around this time a decade ago with the LAST DC cinematic universe and the ones before that.

Supergirl (2026) Movie Review- Punk Slop

AdamLeave a comment

Whenever you watch a movie that is based off of source material you are strongly familiar with, you tend to judge it on two different terms. 1.) Does it work as a faithful adaption of the source material? and 2.) Does it work as it’s own standalone film? Supergirl (2026), directed by Craig Gillespie, acting as the second film installment of the DC Universe, is inspired by Tom King’s comic book run of Supergirl: Woman of Tomorrow. At the time the comic released in 2021, it acted as a refreshing change of pace from your typical comic storylines centered around female superheroes. It boldly stripped down Kara Zor-El’s character as we know it, taking away her usual flawless looking girl power superheroine image in favor of turning her into a more relatable and pure messy “girlfailure” that is haunted by her tragic past. While most other Supergirl stories would have her spent her birthday saving the day and defying gender/sexist stereotypes, Woman of Tomorrow just has Kara celebrating her 23rd birthday with some good drinks. She then travels across the galaxy with her lovable dog Krypto where she would meet a young Ruthye Maryne Kroll that will lead her to a quest of revenge! (I basically just gave you the plot synopsis right there!)

While I’m not gonna say that Woman of Tomorrow is my favorite comic run of all time, it did stand strongly on it’s own as not just one of the better female-led superhero stories in recent memory but as a damn good story in it’s own right. And with James Gunn now in charge of the DC wheel, director Craig Gillespie (I, Tonya) at the helm of this project, the casting of Milly Alcock (House of Dragons) as the title character, and great source material to make a movie out of, you think this would be an absolute home run for DC Studios and female superhero movies in general. Right, right?! Well….you would unfortunately be wrong!

Supergirl (2026) is not without it’s own redeemable merits. Milly Alcock makes for a great Supergirl, feeling like the messy version of the character that was ripped straight off the pages of Woman of Tomorrow. Jason Mamoa is as reliable entertaining as Lobo as you would imagine him being. There’s some effective flashback sequences that tie back to Kara’s past that work quite well in their own rights, one of the few instances when the film allows itself to let those effective moments sink in. Also, David Corenswet is just as charming and delightful as Superman as he was last summer in the limited screentime that he has.

However, the film doesn’t so much feel like it’s trying to honor the spirit and heart of Woman of Tomorrow and feels more like it’s skimming through the pages to capture the “big” moments of the story in order to sell tickets. Or as if writer Ana Nogueira used ChatGPT to recite the plot summary of the comic in just three to four paragraphs. The punk rock style that worked very well in Superman (2025) doesn’t translate as hard here, much of the humor and action beats fall flat, the eye popping visuals from the comics are poorly realized here and not amusing to look at, and the villains (Just like in the comics!) are about as interesting as watching paint dry.

To the film’s credit, Supergirl (2026) does NOT play out as the goofy over-the-top Guardians of the Galaxy knock-off that the trailers themselves presented it as. It does takes itself quite seriously and very rarely undercuts any potential emotional beat in favorite of a funny one-liner. If anything, it feels more in line with Mad Max than Guardians of the Galaxy!

No, Supergirl is NOT Starlord! No, Lobo is NOT Drax the Destroyer! No, the main bad guy is NOT Ronan the Accuser (Although, even he was more memorable!) While there are definitely needle drops throw in (One of which is LAUGHABLY bad towards the end!), it’s no different than other needle drops in other superhero movies that doesn’t star Chris Pratt or Margot Robbie! (We can’t just claim that the Just a Girl happened in Captain Marvel all because Hooked on a Feeling happened in Guardians of the Galaxy!)

And it is that grim tone and edgy portrayal of Supergirl that is able to carry the majority of the film. Kara doesn’t strive to be this perfect girl that many Supergirls in the past are presented as. Instead, she’s strives on her imperfection and feels no need to apologize for it. Sometimes heroes can just let themselves loose and still act for the greater good. And it’s with her journey with Ruthye (despite a rather flat performance by Eve Ridley) that she holds similar confliction with her darker self about not letting vengeance consume you and sometimes it’s best to just not give yourself what you want because it will give you the exact opposite of that. This makes for a great reversal of Superman and an interesting way to examine the character without making her come across as strictly a female version of Kal-El.

Just too bad nearly ALL of that character work is thrown out by the time you reached the third act. Only then, we find Kara making decisions that complete contradicts her entire arc up to that point. Not to get too wrapped into spoilers but Supergirl’s decisions in her final confrontation is a COMPLETE 180 from the decisions she makes at the end of the comic. Whether that was intended to act as full circle moment for this edgy Supergirl, a subversion from most other superhero movies or changes to the book so fans wouldn’t be able to second guess everything beforehand is anyone’s guess. However, by the end, it felt incredibly unearned and left the climax feeling very less fulfilling than it otherwise should have been. (The Snyder cult is gonna have a RIOT with the end of this movie!)

From a technical side of things, the film is quite a mixed bag. While there’s some good set designs and the creatures and make-ups that looks incredibly fitting in such a dystopian world, the visuals and green screen are distractingly flat, feeling like it’s getting the very least of it’s $170 million budget that was given into production. Craig Gillespie has made some good movies in the past but between this and Cruella, he seems unqualified in directing high budgeted big feature films and should just stick to narrative-driven dramas like I, Tonya.

The editing between the flashback sequences and present day is quite distracting, the pacing grinds to a screeching hold in the second act, and while there are a handful of good tunes here, the original score by Claudia Sarne is nothing to write home about, failing to achieve even the ounce of the punk rock energy that John Murphy and David Fleming provided with Superman (2025). Even for a film that has a shorter budget than most superhero films nowadays, I was still expecting better.

The question some of you will ask is if Supergirl (2026) will work better for you if you have NOT read the novelization it’s based on?! It’s hard to say but that doesn’t change the shaking feeling of the film rather uneven quality, it’s bizarrely pacing and structure, and like a handful of chunks was cut out to trim the runtime down to an hour and 40 minutes for more theater showings. (I’m more than willing to believe those rumors about 30 minutes being cut directly from this film!)

Sure, you could bring up similar criticism in regards to Superman (2025) but that film was at least able to get it’s consistent message across involving kindness and warmth. It still felt like a complete vision from beginning to end, had plenty of standout moments in regards to character and emotion, and despite it’s rather overstuffed plot, it still was able to find a payoff for nearly every story element it sets up. With Supergirl (2026), you don’t get that vibe whatsoever, almost as if the film was directed by Lobo himself .

Supergirl (2026) is not a movie I hate or even dislike but it is the one that is bluntly shown the cracks of the armor of this new cinematic universe from Mr. Gunn and Mr. Safran this early on. While I am excited to see Alcock’s Supergirl teaming up with Corenswet’s Superman in next year’s Man of Tomorrow, DC Studios better bring their A-game this time next year or else the DCU could be over before it even gets a chance to settle in.

(At least Clayface looks good though.)

Other comments:

  • At my screening, I ran into Dan Murrell, a movie reviewer on YouTube and also previously worked for Screen Junkies, the channel that does the Honest Trailers. I was gonna get a pic of him to prove it but I had to leave immediately after the film ended because I had to go to the bathroom so bad.

  • Fyi, I don’t know if there’s a post credit scene or not. I heard reports that there originally was but it got cut for some reason. Just see for yourselves if you want.

  • This was probably the least packed early screening for a movie that I’ve ever been to. The only other one I can think of that was worse than this was for Night Swim, where the film press didn’t even bother to show up and they just gave us all the “good” seats because of that.

  • It’s very interesting how this makes for the SECOND recent film where the main bad guys are just a bunch of child traffickers. Between this and The Furious, it’s like cinema is trying to send a message to the US government to just release the files of a certain someone.

  • Also, see The Furious if you haven’t already! It’s f**king awesome! Best action film of the decade and best action film of it’s kind since The Raid 2!

Ranking All The DC Comics Movies (25-1) (2/2)

AdamLeave a comment

Since I felt putting all 57 DC Comic movies was a bit too much for one list, I decided to make a second post of it! That way, there’s most stability and this specific ranking doesn’t feel too clutter for one piece. My previous one was rankings from #57 to #26. This list will consist of #25 to #1!

No more time and filler! Let’s finish this MASSIVE movie ranking!

25.) Batman (1966)

24.) Watchmen

23.) Stardust

22.) Blue Beetle

21.) Aquaman

20.) Zack Snyder’s Justice League

19.) Birds of Prey (and the Fantabulous Emancipation of One Harley Quinn)

18.) Teen Titans Go! To The Movies

17.) Road To Perdition

16.) Superman (2025)

15.) The Lego Batman Movie

14.) Superman II

13.) Shazam!

12.) A History of Violence

11.) V For Vendetta

10.) The Suicide Squad

9.) The Batman

8.) The Dark Knight Rises

7.) Batman (1989)

6.) Batman Begins

5.) Batman Returns

4.) Batman: Mask of the Phantasm

3.) Wonder Woman

2.) Superman (1978)

1.) The Dark Knight

Ranking All The DC Comics Movies (57-26) (1/2)

AdamLeave a comment

Now that Superman (2025) is now out in theaters, I decided to do something totally insane and rank every single DC movie ever! Not just the movies related to the DC Extended Universe or the brand new DC Universe but all theatrically-released films that have some sort of connection to DC. That includes all the Batman, Superman, DC imprints, and even animated films that have been released in theaters of all kind!

Throughout last year, I actually took the time to watch every other DC-related film that I haven’t got around to just for the sake of making this list. Why? Because I have no life whatsoever and I like making insane lists! That’s why!

But anyways, let’s get into list making and rank all 57 theatrically-released DC Comics films from best to worst! If you agree with this list, awesome! If you disagree, fine and I likely will by the time I actually publish this! Either way, let’s have some fun and rank these superhero flicks!

Btw, NO I’m not going into any sort of description of each said film because then this list would take a million years to make! I’m just gonna let the ranked number for each film speak for themselves!

57.) Catwoman

56.) Steel

55.) Jonah Hex

54.) The League of Extraordinary Gentlemen

53.) Joker Folie À Deux

52.) Batman V Superman: Dawn of Justice

51.) Superman IV: The Quest For Peace

50.) Batman: The Killing Joke

49.) Suicide Squad

48.) Justice League (2017)

47.) Wonder Woman 1984

46.) Batman & Robin

45.) Red 2

44.) Green Lantern

43.) Superman III

42.) The Kitchen

41.) Aquaman & The Lost Kingdom

40.) The Losers

39.) The Return of Swamp Thing

38.) Black Adam

37.) The Flash

36.) The League of Super-Pets

35.) Supergirl

34.) Man of Steel

33.) Superman Returns

32.) Batman: Forever

31.) Shazam!: Fury of the Gods

30.) Batman: Return of the Caped Crusaders

29.) Joker

28.) Red

27.) Constantine

26.) Swamp Thing

Ranking The Superman Movies

AdamLeave a comment

At long last, Superman (2025) is now out in theaters, the first standalone Superman movie in over a decade and the first film set in the new DC Universe! Because of that, we now have ten films that have Superman in a large prominent role to rank from worst to best!

Superman has to be one of the most complicated superheroes in the history of DC Comics! While he is perhaps the most iconic superhero of all time, representing hope, optimism, and kindness in ways that no other superhero out there has, his films have had a long road of inconsistency and downright disappointment! There are certainly greatness to be sure but when looking through the entire filmography with Supes, you can definitely tell he has certainly NOT been given the love and care that say…..Batman has been given throughout his history in cinema!

Even so, we have ten movies to rank so let’s get right into ranking them!

10.) Batman V Superman: Dawn of Justice

Nine years later, I’m still in awe how you take a crossover with two of the most well-known comic book heroes in Batman and Superman and make it so dull, lifeless, and joyless. Dawn of Justice is a film that wants to comes across as the most grand and ambitious movie every made, but when you look deep into it, this movie actually doesn’t have much to say on anything it’s talking about. Other than trying to cram two to three movies worth of material into one film, there’s nothing really risky or daring here and it’s so-called themes have been done much better in plenty of other superhero films. The plot is a convoluted mess no matter which version you watch, all of the Superman characters from Clark to Lois to Lex Luthor to Doomsday are all done INCREDIBLY dirty, and the conflict between Batman and Superman is so incredibly ridiculous that it could have been avoided if they would just simply talk to each other.

Ben Affleck is fine as Batman and there’s a few standout moments here (The warehouse fight scene and Wonder Woman’s first appearance are all-timers) but that’s nowhere near enough to save this turd of a film. Even the ultimate edition which many claim “saves” the movie really just has more of the same things that were wrong in the first place, aside from being pacing. If there is a clear difference between ambition and aimlessness, then Batman v Superman: Dawn of Justice certainly strikes the finest line yet between those two definitions with results that fit more of the latter than the former.

This is a movie so bad that it not only arguably killed the DC Extended Universe before it even got going but also caused big damage to Superman’s reputation in pop culture, leading an entire generation of folks who firmly believe THIS is what Superman was always meant to be like when it’s absolutely NOT! I know tomatoes are going to be thrown at me for putting this at the very bottom but I’m sorry! When looking at it as both a DC superhero movie AND a Superman movie, Batman v Superman: Dawn of Justice (Both the theatrical and ultimate edition!) is an epic failure on every level!

9.) Superman IV: The Quest For Peace

If you thought Batman & Robin was the perfect example of superhero movies hitting rock bottom in the pre-21st century, then you should check out what they did to Supes in Superman IV: The Quest For Peace. Not only is this easily one of the worst superhero movies ever, it’s by far one of the worst main budgeted movies ever made. Even at the time of it’s release, the flaws that is presented on screen are so glaringly obvious!

It looks incredibly cheap with clearly unfinished special effects, obvious green screen, lazy as hell editing, and absolutely godawful transaction from one scene to the next. Throw in an absurdly stupid script, laughable dialogue, social/political commentary that doesn’t work in the slightest, no sense of logic, sense, or flow to anything happening on screen, and incredibly phoned-in performances and you get quite the big shitty picture. Even if you can argue that this film should be seen as a “so bad it’s good” kind of movie like Batman & Robin, the latter looks like an effing Stanley Kubrick film compared to this trainwreck!

With Quest For Peace, this represented Superman at his absolute low point back in 1987. Not only was this when audience stop caring about Superman but even Warner Bros themselves stopped caring for him too. This was so bad that it had take nearly 20 years for Superman to returned to the big screen because of how much this film (and the previous one) had tarnished his reputation! What an absolutely crappy end to easily the best Superman ever in Christopher Reeve!

8.) Justice League (2017)

It’s unbelievable how not only the first ever live-action Justice League movie doesn’t work, but it has to be one of the most forgettable superhero movies ever made. It’s clear that Warner Bros and company where so caught off guard over the backlash that Dawn of Justice received that they brought in Joss Whedon, after Snyder stepped down in part due to the passing of his daughter, in the hopes of providing the same spark he gave to The Avengers. Not only is that course correction painfully obvious on screen but mixing the visions of Whedon and Snyder could not have led to more disastrous results.

This is like the equivalent of a superb Japanese anime getting butchered in the English version by 4Kids, filled with jarring editing, censoring, and scripting to make it more “kid” friendly. Justice League (2017) (also known as JOSStice League) comes across as more of a straight-to-dvd Avengers knock-off that you would find at the bargain bin at the Dollar Store than an actual Justice League movie. The tone is all over the place, the reshoots are as clear as daylight it’s embarrassing, and it’s edited into incredibly bite sized pieces that you can tell were only done just so the movie can finish under two hours.

A handful of moments (or at least the ones I can remember) are cool in their own right (It’s always cool to see Wonder Woman on screen saving people) and is is nice to see Henry Cavill represent a bit of Christopher Reeves here (despite it making no sense in the context of the universe) but it’s incredibly unforgiveable just how cheap, hollow, and unmemorable this whole experience is. When even a remix of Danny Elfman’s iconic Batman theme can’t win me over, you know your movie has failed!

7.) Superman III

You ever heard of the term “third time’s the charm”? Well, that is CERTAINLY not how you can describe Supes’ third official film! Superman III was basically when the Superman franchise started to lose all of the hearts and wonders that it had from the beginning and started to descend to what it was never suppose to be. While the previous film had major behind the scenes drama that it was able to greatly overcome, the threequel with the man of tomorrow does the exact opposite of that.

Instead of having heart and wonder, it’s now just gags and slap stick. Instead of having important social/political commentary that resembles the world of Superman perfectly, it’s now just mindless action and explosion everywhere. Instead of intimidating villains that pose a real threat to our heroes, they are now just cartoon characters that you can’t take seriously. Instead of being smart, it’s now a self-parody! Putting all of this crap together, you get a complete mess in Superman III!

It’s hard to tell if how much of the studio politics played into the decision making of the film, how much of the film was what Lester wanted, and/or if this film would have even been made at all if Warner Bros wasn’t able to overpay Christopher Reeve to get him to come back, but Superman III follows victim to many disappointing threequels out there, forgetting what made it’s franchise successful in the first place and crushing the entire foundation in the process. What makes this third chapter stink more than most of them though is it’s lack of desire to be as engaging, interesting, or entertaining as the previous two Superman films were! That’s what you get when you become a self-parody!

6.) Man of Steel

The DC Extended Universe kicked off in 2013 with one of the most polarizing superhero movies of all time in Man of Steel. Looking back on it nearly a full decade later, I can’t help but have INCREDIBLY frustrating emotions when it comes to this film. In terms of casting, tone, action scale, scope, and score, this is everything that a modern Superman movie should consist off. However, when it comes to the overall story, characterization, script, and structure, it misses the mark completely!

Most of the characters come off as plot devices and motivation for Superman than actual characters, the dialogue strikes a fine line between being poetic/inspiring and just plain pretentious, and it’s overall themes feel not so much explored but just told directly to the audiences. The action is dynamic, the cast do great with what they have to work with, and the scope and Han Zimmer’s soundtrack are off the charts that it’s almost good enough to convince you that you are watching a much better film than you actually are! The elements that work are absolutely great while the elements that don’t work really bring down the whole picture.

When looking at it’s own thing and the seeds it plants for the future, Man of Steel could have been considered a solid re-introduction to the character of Superman and one that could successfully redefined Superman to a new generation. However, due to it’s shortcomings and the movies which came after tripling down on the things that don’t work rather than what does, you can’t help but see wasted potential. As it’s own thing, Man of Steel might be functional on a surface level but not on a depth level. Henry Cavill deserved better than this!

5.) Superman Returns

I’ve always had a complicated history with Superman Returns. It was the very first Superman movie I had ever watch from beginning to end. I couldn’t help but hate this movie and find myself hating Superman as a result. I just couldn’t fully buy into a superhero that’s all “Mr. Goody Two Shoes” and only has any important use as Superman but NOT Clark Kent. However, now that nearly two decades have passed by and seeing more bleak portrayals of the character as both a definite version and as a self-parody (A.K.A. Homelander from The Boys), I can’t help but have more respect in the way that Superman Returns portrays Superman.

It feels refreshing to see a film that is the cinematic equivalent of Superman/Clark being a friendly guy who saves people. It’s feels refreshing to see a Superman that always looks for the good in people and not just assumes the worst. It feels refreshing to see Superman have his own unique abilities and weaknesses without making him completely perfect. More importantly, it feels refreshing to see a Superman that completely embodies truth and justice. For all of the flaws that can be said for Superman Returns, this is the one element I can completely get behind. This might’ve not been the kind of Superman I (along with many others) was looking for back in 2006 but in the year 2025, I most certainly support it.

It’s unfortunate tho that Superman Returns is still a frustratingly mixed bag. It crosses the fine line between ambition and aimlessness by waiting to be the faithful third chapter to Christopher Reeve’s Superman that Superman III wasn’t while also wanting to work at it’s own standalone Superman film set in the 21st century. In so doing so, it undermines itself by failing to advance the characters the way they were back in the early 1980s and making them work in their own rights in the mid 2000s. With that amount of disconnect in terms of narrative, continuity to the prior movies, lack of action (outside of the amazing plane sequence) and failing to find an overall identity for itself along with the complete lack of action, Returns ultimately falls short of it’s notable good intensions.

4.) Zack Snyder’s Justice League

Because we live in some dark and twisted form of an alternate universe, Zack Snyder’s Justice League is a real thing now. Truth be told, even if you remove yourself from the toxicity that is the Zack Snyder fanbase (I won’t blame you if you can’t!), it’s actually pretty good with a lot more to like here than there is to hate. This is probably the one movie in the DC Extended Universe with Zack Snyder that doesn’t feel overly pretentious but more of just the man wanting to make the most epic Justice League movie he can possibly make. For the most part, he succeeds even if some of the faults from his other films are carried over here.

The first half is way too stretched out for it’s own good, feeling like Snyder is trying to get every single little frame of work that he desires in there regardless if it actually serves a purpose. There’s also the final fifteen minutes that feels more like a collection of post credit scenes rather than an actual epilogue. Even so, there’s good action set pieces, a nice & riveting score, memorable gorgeous visuals, and solid character interactions between all of the Justice League members, with Wonder Woman and Cyborg being the main standouts. And this also feels like the first time in Snyder’s films that the superheroes on screen actually act and feel like superheroes instead of just being all sad and mopey all the time. What a time to be alive!

While there’s still faults from the theatrical cut that are carried over here (*cough* Steppenwolf and Flash *cough*), this is certainly an improvement over the theatrical cut and should most certainly be considered the actual definite version of Justice League. If anything, this was about the closest that Snyder got to making a faithful and truthful Superman. At least here, he actually feels like a superhero that wants the best for humanity and now…..whatever the hell the previous two films portrayed him as. Warts and all, this is easily the best DC superhero film that Zack Snyder has ever made!

3.) Superman (2025)

At long last, James Gunn has arrived to save the day with his own take on Superman while also aiming to give DC a second leash on live with a rebooted cinematic universe, formerly known as the DC Universe. The good news is that Mr. Gunn is able to provide a Superman that not only resembles the character for who he is suppose to be at his core but also feels timely and warranted in our own bitter, cynical world we inhabit in today. The bad news is by wanting to start a cinematic universe here, it shows distinct cracks in the armor by overstuffing the film with multiple characters and subplots that don’t always work to their fullest potential.

The cast is all near perfect (the main trio of David Corneswet’s Clark Kent, Rachel Brosnahan’s Lois Lane & Nicholas Hoult’s Lex Luthor could not have played off each other better), the tone feels right at home with classic Superman, the spectacle is cool, and it even has those traditional superhero elements from earlier superhero films such as Sam Raimi’s Spider-Man (Lighthearted feel, comic book-like features, colorful superheroes, and an engaging romance) that I have missed in these kinds of movies for so long. However, the plot itself feels very overstuffed, with too many ideas and subject matter it wants to tackle all at once while feeling the need to shoehorned supporting characters that while cool, really don’t serve much purpose other than to set them up for future films and shows. It almost feels as if Gunn was forced by studios to cut down on the runtime so there could be more screenings, with the film lacking the extra 15 to 20 minutes it could have REALLY used.

Even so, Superman (2025) still presents us a Superman we can get behind and absolutely root for, acting as the perfect counter-culture hero who values kindness in a world that no longer calls for that. And after over a decade of Superman portrayals that have ranged from him being moody and depressed to being flat out evil, it’s more than refreshing to see Superman here being someone that represents hope, optimism, and has absolutely NO agenda other than wanting to be a good person that saves people. If that’s not how Superman should be, then I don’t know what is.

2.) Superman II

It’s nearly impossible to look at Superman II on it’s own terms when you take into account all of the behind-the-scenes drama that plagued it’s development. From director changes to studio interference to creative indifferences, the sequel to it’s largely successful 1978 game changing predecessor could’ve been dead on arrival. Yet, somehow and someway, Superman was able to prevail once again despite having basically everything stacked against him.

This is still able to continue to story of Clark Kent/Superman in a very respectful way, showcasing a vulnerable side of Clark in which he is forced to continue his life without his super powers, something which superhero films such as Spider-Man 2 took clearly inspiration from. The action scenes still hold up well, Zod makes for a very worthy foe to Superman, there’s plenty of nice humor thrown in, and there’s several emotional beats that pay off as well as it can. It’s just a shame that it’s hard to get the complete full picture of the “perfect” version of Superman II due to it’s troubled production and director changes.

I will say despite the two different versions of Superman II that I’ve seen, my opinion on the film is largely the same. In the sense, that it’s a very, VERY good sequel that perhaps falls JUST of the greatness the original film had, largely due to these conflicting directorial visions and feeling the need to pull it’s punches more times than not. Had we got one complete version from either Richard Donner or Richard Lester from beginning of production to the very end, then I think we could have a film that was even better than Superman: The Movie. Even so, I still would consider it to be the second best Superman movie to date and a worthy sequel to the original overall.

1.) Superman (1978)

Before the likes of the Marvel Cinematic Universe, Christopher Nolan’s Batman trilogy, and the multiple DC Cinematic universe attempts, even before the likes of Blade (1998), X-Men (2000), and Spider-Man (2002) rolled around, and even before Tim Burton’s or Joel Schumacher’s Batman made their ways onto the scene, there was one superhero movie that stood proudly on his own. Not only working as a near perfect example of what a superhero movie should consist of but it set the template and tropes on how a superhero movie or even a blockbuster in general should operated. That one film I’m talking about is no other than Superman (1978), directed by Richard Donner and played by the OG Superman himself, Christopher Reeves.

No matter what way you look at, Superman (1978) works in nearly every single way in which it was suppose to. The origin of seeing Clark Kent’s journey to becoming Superman is perfectly handled, every member of the cast fits their roles like a glove and acts as the definite versions of their characters, the themes and messages still resonate, the pacing takes it’s time but it always makes it worth it, the musical score by the legendary John Williams is excellent, and I imagine there was just no special feeling than seeing Superman fly around and saving people on screen for the first time ever back in 1978.

Superman (1978) was the superhero movie that changed everything! It proved that a film based off of a comic book superhero can work and translate onto the big screen as well as it possibly can. It proved that big cinematic experiences of this kind can be just as compelling as say a giant space opera or an intense thriller involving a big shark. And most importantly, it proved that comic books and superheroes can shine a very bright light on pop culture, telling stories with impactful themes and unforgettable role models that anyone can look up to (No pun intended!)! Because of all and so much more, Superman (1978) is still the best Superman film ever made and one of the best superhero movies of all time period!

Man of Steel (2013)- A Superman For A “Modern Audience”

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Well, that title is certainly quite the click-bait, isn’t it?!

I do wanna make something clear that when I claim that Man of Steel is a Superman made for a “modern audience”, I am NOT referring to THAT kind of “modern audience”, A.K.A. the one that gets described in this current day and age, particularly by a certain OBNXIOUS movie review who shall NOT be named! But…..if you know, you know!

Back in 2013, the term, “modern audience” meant a very different thing. It didn’t mean so much about changing classic IPs to align a proper race/gender ratio and what was considered to be the “correct” politics back in the early 2010s but more of finding a way to gain a new generation of fans by updating classic IPs to have them fit in the so-called “modern” era.

In the case of Man of Steel, it attempts to update Superman in a way that removes itself from the light heart, campy days of Christopher Reeve and lean more into the dark, gritty, and realistic nature of Christopher Nolan’s Batman trilogy. This was a move that I imagine was done to try to capitalize on the success of those three Batman films, along with promoting Christopher Nolan’s involvement as co-writer and executive producer to boost ticket sales.

It’s also worth mentioning about the complicated development history of Man of Steel. Originally, the film was meant to act as a full-on reboot and as it’s own standalone film, hoping it’s success would lead to MoS as being Part 1 of a new Superman trilogy after Superman Returns turned out to be such a massive disappointment. However, during the film’s development, Marvel’s The Avengers released worldwide and it ended up being an absolute (No pun intended!) Hulk smash hit! And after numerous of failed attempts at starting their own cinematic universe of superheroes with the likes of Superman Returns and more recently Green Lantern (Don’t remind Ryan Reynolds of that!), DC and Warner Bros decided that they wanted Man of Steel to act as the launching pad for their brand new DC Extended Universe, finally finding their answer to the Marvel Cinematic Universe.

However, instead of being lighthearted and comedic like most of the films under the Marvel Studios’ umbrella are, they wanted this universe to be more dark, gritty, and realistic in terms of tone and feel. Not only because they just didn’t want to blatantly copy and paste the same tone and feel that Marvel has but that was what also what made DC superhero films stand out on their own compared to Marvel for better or worse. And considering that DC and WB was coming straight off of The Dark Knight films, pretty much their only notable film successes with comic book superheroes in recent memory, they clearly wanted to ride that train as much as they can in the hopes of acting as a perfect countermeasure to Marvel.

Because of that, Man of Steel became not just the beginning of this newest iteration of Clark Kent/Superman played by Henry Cavill but also the new age of DC films from here on out. Because back in the 2010s, literally EVERYTHING had to be a cinematic universe or else you just didn’t get with the program. Regardless of the end results of this particularly cinematic universe over a decade later, I think it’s important to look at this film as it’s own thing like it was originally intended to. Was Zack Snyder able to make Superman work in the year 2013 and be able to bring in a new “modern” audience for the man of tomorrow? Well……it’s complicated!

It’s no secret that Man of Steel was one of the most polarizing superhero films of all time when it came out 12 years ago and it’s still highly debated to this very day. From it’s more broody tone to it’s gloriously excessive actions to the way it’s tells it’s story and some of the narrative/character choices the film makes, it has certainly left PLENTY of room for discussion among fans, critics, and the general audience. And I think a good majority of that has to do with the changes made to the source material in order to have Superman fit in the more “modern” times.

Instead of having a Superman sticking to his morals of hope and optimism, you now have a Superman that dares to question his morals and feels more grim than hopeful about the way he goes about his superhero ways. Instead of having a Clark Kent that is able to adjust to the modern world smoothly with only a handful of critics against him, you now have a Clark Kent that is unable to adjust to the modern world because almost everybody hates him since he’s an alien and not human. Instead of having a Man of Tomorrow that is able to preserve collateral damage and saves civilians lives at every turn, you now have a Man of Tomorrow that causes so much destruction and chaos while only saving a civilian if they are in his way or just happens to bump into one that is in danger. While these changes might fit for a “modern” take on Superman, it’s not one that seems to fit with the character’s overall history.

And of course, you also have the most controversial decision made in the film. Instead of having a Superman that has a moral stance against killing no matter what, you now have a Superman that goes as far as to kill his main opponent because he believes there could be no other outcome except that.

When looking at those factors, this can be seen as quite a betrayal for what Superman stands for. Man of Steel doesn’t so much feel like it’s trying to honor the Superman mythos but more trying to deconstruct and dissect it, given the impression that it’s deeper and more mature than your typical superhero flick when it’s really not. It’s a film that can be seen as mistaking dourness and pro-faced seriousness for depth and nuance. It’s a world that feels too much of a bleak reflection off our current world rather than it’s own unique world for Superman. This is a Superman that has more in line with Homelander from The Boys before Homelander from The Boys was even a thing.

The thing is though is that it COULD’VE gotten away from this if they tried. If they were able to use this dark and broody approach of Superman to have him become brighter and more hopeful by the end of the film. If they were able to use it’s massive scope and action sequences to deliver real stakes and hard hitting character moments. If they were able to use it’s motivational speeches and lines from the trailer to have it actually mean something in the grand scheme of things. If they were able to use it’s dark tone and feel for a purpose and not just because……that’s what The Dark Knight did. If they were able to deconstruct and dissect the traditional Superman mythos while also remember to put the pieces back into place.

And make no mistake, there are PLENTY of standout moments in Man of Steel where you can see that potential. You got the modern technology that’s able to deliver the Dragon Ball Z-like fights scenes that die hard fans have always dreamed off seeing on the big screen. You got a cast full of immensely talented cast that feel right for their roles. You got a grand musical score in Han Zimmer that gives the film it’s own gloom yet beautiful beating heart to it, almost feeling like it’s own character. You even got a structure which if done right, could be a fresh and inventive way of telling a Superman origin story that has been told many times over, having Batman Begins be to origin stories what Into the Spider-Verse has been to animation!

When it comes to elements such as action, scale, scope, casting, score, special effects, and ideas in terms of narrative, this is everything that a modern Superman film should consist off. And if we are to grade this film strictly from a technical and sound perspective, this should be the perfect Superman film for a “modern” audience. The kind of film that not only gains a new legion of fans but inspires a generation of upcoming filmmakers and lovers of superheroes to make their own work based off the man of tomorrow! The kind of film that would make the O.G. Clark Kent, Christopher Reeve, the O.G. Lois Lane, Margot Kiddler, and the O.G. Superman behind the camera himself, Richard Donner, very proud! Unfortunately, aside from an INCREDIBLY diehard fanbase/cult that Zack Snyder has gain over the years, Man of Steel fails to live up to those ideals that it DESEPREATELY wants to strive towards.

While nearly everything from the technical side of things, sound and audio side of things, acting side of things, and action/scale side of things are aces, the overall story and script leaves PLENTY to be desired. Most of the characters come off as plot devices and motivation for Superman than actual characters, the dialogue strikes a fine line between being poetic/inspiring and just being plain pretentious, the way it’s tell it’s origin story feels so disjointed and scattershot because it’s being told in non-chronologically, and it’s overall themes feel not so much explored but just told directly to the audiences, given the impression that the film thinks it’s too “smart” for it’s audience. It has all the elements that makes for an amazing trailer but NOT for an amazing film.

That’s might be just why I was actually quite a big fan of this film when I first saw it back in 2013. I SAW the potential when watching it with my very eyes on the big screen. I was blown away by the visuals, inspired by the quotes made for the trailers, was thrilled by the non-stop action and explosions, and found the morals to be interpreted in a way that I always imagined a modern Superman film should consist of. And because of that, I wore rose-colored glasses the whole way through because I just assumed I didn’t actually need to critique or analyze because well….the film was too smart for me that I didn’t think I needed to bother.

That is also why the more I’ve thought about Man of Steel over the years and the more times I’ve gone back and rewatched it, it…….kinda gets worse for me. Once I’m able to take those rose-colored glasses off, all I see are amazing concepts, ideas, and potential that is never has fully utilized as well as it should be. It’s a film full of eye popping moments but not one that commits to being a consistent narrative or a grand vision of it’s own. It’s a film that is loaded with action but fails to deliver consequential stakes due to Superman and Zod being practically invisible and the film failing to make the city of Metropolis and it’s people it’s own distinct character. It’s a film that has inspirational quotes and lines of dialogue that don’t amount anything to the story or characters. It’s a film that thinks it’s being faithful to Superman while also wanting to critique him in ways that I don’t think the filmmakers intended. Quite simply, it falls short of it’s ambition.

If there is one thing that I think anyone can agree upon regarding this film is that Man of Steel should NOT have been a film that kicked off a new DC universe with. It’s bizarre tone and feel is NOT one that can work as a consistent one for an entire cinematic universe of cinematic storytelling. Plus, Zack Snyder up to that point (and even now) has been quite a divisive filmmaker with an incredibly distinct vision that isn’t really appealing to mainstream audiences. Up to that point, the only film in Snyder’s filmography that had great appeal to mainstream audiences was his 2005 remake of Dawn of the Dead, which was also co-written by James Gunn (Don’t tell the Snyder bros that!).

This is honestly why I believe Man of Steel should have taken place in it’s own universe with Superman without any ties to the other DC characters. Similar to that of Christopher Nolan’s Dark Knight trilogy and Matt Reeve’s Batman universe, the world of Man of Steel should have been one that should have existed in it’s own terms and merits, being able to explore it’s ideas and concepts with multiple films and potential spin-offs. Plus, it’s more bleak and somber tone could’ve been one that worked more comfortably with more limited installments instead of with a whole decades worth of superhero cinematic content with different characters and stories.

If it was given a chance to be it’s own thing while also having planted seeds of it’s own that it was able to grow upon with future standalone Superman sequels, Man of Steel could have been seen as a grand re-introduction to the character of Superman and one that could successfully redefined Superman to a new generation the same way that Christopher Nolan did with Batman. However, due to it’s shortcomings, it’s obligation to start a new DC universe, and the follow-ups which came after tripling down on the things that don’t work rather than what does, you can’t help but see wasted potential. As it’s own thing, Man of Steel is functional on a surface level but not on a depth level.

I sure hope now that James Gunn is taking over Superman and is looking to create a new generation of Superman fans of it’s own, I sure hope he is able to learn from Zack Snyder’s shortcoming here. Make sure you know EXACTLY the kind of film you are making and the message you are trying to convey to the audience! If you are gonna create a new version of Superman for a “modern” audience, make sure to at LEAST capture the spirit of what the character has always stand for and only make changes that fit with the overall narrative and not ones for the sake of change!

Make those same mistakes and we might have another Man of Steel on our hands!

Next Up: Batman V Superman: Dawn Of Justice

Superman Returns (2006)- Identity Crisis

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It took nearly two decades but Superman finally returned onto the big screen in 2006 with Superman Returns. Coming off the cinematic disaster that was Superman IV: The Quest For Peace, DC and Warner Bros seemed to have no clue how in the world to tackle Superman in cinematic form. After the flame with the Christopher Reeve run as Superman died out, it seemed like no one would be excited for a new Superman movie ever again. Sure, there was a handful of famous cartoons, straight-to-DVD animated movies, and at least one video game (*cough* Superman 64 *cough*) but in terms of cinematics, it felt like a near impossible task to get Superman back onto the big screen in a post-Christopher Reeve world.

However, 19 years later, they were able to give it another shot. Directing this time around was no other than Bryan Singer, who have just come off his own recent comic book success with the first two X-Men films and even jumped ship on the third one strictly for Superman. And Clark Kent himself would be played by Brandon Routh, who was able to beat out Henry Cavill in auditions, the man who would later become the next Superman seven years later in Man of Steel.

Although, things would be different than the prior Superman movies. This would introduce a brand new Superman and a brand new actor playing him but it wouldn’t be strictly a reboot or remake. This would introduce a more warm and mature tone that wouldn’t match the optimistic and lighthearted feel of the former Superman movies nor the dark and bleak feel of what the latter Superman movies would be like. Most importantly, this would act as it’s own version of Superman 3 & 4, retconning Superman III and Superman IV entirely, but would also be set in it’s own distinct timeline with enough distance from the very first two Superman movies in order to fit into the current climate of when this film came out.

If that sounds like a jumbling mess to you, that’s because it absolutely is. Superman Returns is a film with a clear identity crisis. It’s unsure of how far it wants to go with respecting the past that’s it unable to blaze towards it’s own future. It wants to stand strictly on it’s own terms, being able to properly introduce Superman to an audience who weren’t alive during the Christopher Reeve days, but also wants to act as it’s own version of Superman III, in order to appeal to the longtime fans that had been waiting nearly two decades for a new Superman movie. And the inconsistency on display can be seen within the characters themselves and their connections to the first two movies.

Like if this is suppose to be a sequel to the first two movies, then why have this movie be set in the 2000s? How does Lois Lane still not know Clark Kent is Superman when she literally had his kid? Didn’t she find out Supe’s identity in Superman II? Plus, why does she look 10X younger than Margot Kiddler? As a matter of fact, why does everyone else look younger here than they did FIVE years ago?! Why would Superman go AWOL for five years looking for a remaining Kryptonians when he had already accepted their fates over two movies ago after beating Zod? How is it that Lex Luthor is just NOW getting released from prison at around the exact same time that Superman comes back? And do I even need to mention all the 2000s era product placement that practically breaks the timeline of this movie when you so much as breath on it?

It’s frustrating because on paper, a proper redo of the last two Superman movies could make for a bittersweet bow tie of the original Superman era while also making away for a brand new path. It could make for a nice “fixing the past to make for a better future” franchise metaphor that was the driving for for Bryan Singer’s very next superhero film he would direct with X-Men: Days of Future Past. Giving Brandon Routh his own Superman that captures the spirit of Christopher Reeves Superman and then be giving the chance to shine in his own spotlight in the future would have made for a nice passing of the touch between generational Superman actors. Unfortunately, because the continuity is so messed up and the characters feel so inconsistent compared to prior movies, the big emotional connection just doesn’t work here.

The other issue among the film is the desire to move away from being a typical summer blockbuster action flick. Because of that, this film is very light on action. The most memorable standout action sequences include the famous plane scene, Superman stopping bullets being shot at him, and the sequences where Lex and his goons beat up a wounded Superman. Aside from that, outside of your traditional flying sequences and brief moments where Superman saves some people, this is probably the Superman film with the least amount of action, a criticism that Man of Steel would later take and completely overdo the action as a result. This wouldn’t be so bad if at least everything else was engaging and exciting but it just isn’t.

Which is all frustrating because I do think this film does represent the perfect balance between the tone of the Christopher Reeve films and Henry Cavil films. It’s able to not be too campy and over-the-top that plagued the last two Superman films but also not be way too dark, somber, and bleak that sunk the very next Superman film. It has perhaps the most mature tone out of all the Superman movies to date, a tone that hopefully James Gunn is able to recapture with his own film coming out next week. When folks wonder what kind of tone and feel that they want in a modern Superman film, I’m pretty sure they would say this tone is a direct answer. In that case, I would agree entirely.

I’ve always had a complicated history with Superman Returns. It was the very first Superman movie I had ever watch from beginning to end. Because of that, I couldn’t help but hate this movie and find myself hating Superman as a result. I just couldn’t fully buy into a superhero that’s all “Mr. Goody Two Shoes” and only has any important use as Superman but NOT Clark Kent. If he doesn’t have superpowers, he can’t do anything. The main sequence of the film that showcases that is when Lex and his guards beat up Superman, stabbed him, and forces him off a cliff, presumably killing him. However, now that nearly two decades have passed by and seeing more bleak portrayals of the character as both a definite version and as a self-parody (take Homelander from The Boys), I can’t help but have more respect in the way that Superman Returns portrays Superman.

It’s feels refreshing to see a film that is the cinematic equivalent of Superman/Clark being a friendly guy who saves people. It’s feels refreshing to see a Superman that always looks for the good in people and not that just assumes the worst. It feels refreshing to see Superman have his own unique abilities and weaknesses without making him completely perfect. More importantly, it feels refreshing to see a Superman that completely embodies truth and justice. For all of the flaws that can be said for Superman Returns, this is the one element I can completely get behind. This might’ve not been the kind of Superman I (along with many others) was looking for back in 2006 but in the year 2025, I most certainly support it.

Much like many Superman films that have come after the first two Reeve films, Superman Returns is a frustrating mixed bag. It crosses the fine line between ambition and aimlessness by waiting to be the faithful third chapter to Christopher Reeve’s Superman that Superman III wasn’t but in so doing so, undermines itself by failing to advance the characters the way they were back in the early 1980s while also wanting to be a standalone film that’s set in the 2000s. With that amount of disconnect in terms of narrative and overall identity for itself along with the complete lack of action, Superman Returns ultimately falls short of it’s notable good intensions.

That being said, I still am grateful that this film exists. Not just because this was my introduction to Superman (even if it wasn’t a great one when I first watched it), but because it shows that it is possible to adapt Superman in the 21st century as a noble man with good intentions and not just as another Batman clone. And if what we are seeing and hearing about James Gunn’s Superman is any indication, we might just be getting the best possible version of that!

Next Up: Man of Steel

Superman IV: The Quest For Peace (1987)- When Nothing Matters Anymore

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Welp, this is about as bad as a Superman film can get! And about as bad as a superhero movie can get! And about as bad as well…..anything can get!

Superman IV: The Quest For Peace represented a complete rock bottom for not just Superman but the entire comic book movie genre up to that point! Even after the severely underperforming and poorly received Superman III, Warner Bros and DC still felt they could squeeze at least one more feature film with the man of tomorrow! The problem though is that the anticipation for a new Superman film was at an all time low in 1987!

Even though Alexander Salking and his son Ilya, the producers of the Superman series, was able to get the box office grosses they wanted from Superman III, there was very little enthusiasm from the cast and crew to do a fourth one. Christopher Reeve was hesitant on returning, they couldn’t get Richard Lester to come back, and the commercial failure of 1984’s Supergirl made the Salkings consider that perhaps this DC franchise had run its course. Regardless, they pushed through with another installment anyway!

Christopher Reeve was offered six million dollar signs from the studio to come back one more time, they were able to get Sidney J. Furie to take over the director’s chair (which originally went to Wes Craven before he dropped out due to him and Reeve not getting along), and decided that the whole story would be about Superman trying to solve the nuclear arm crisis from around the world, which was a major talking point during Ronald Reagan’s presidency throughout the 1980s. If even a word of what I just said sounds appealing to you, then I can assure you…..Superman IV: The Quest For Peace is anything BUT that!

Superman IV: The Quest For Peace is not only what happens when a franchise stops caring but when the people involved don’t even try to hide the fact that they are not trying anymore! From the obvious green screen effects to the lazy editing to the phoned-in performances to the awful transaction from scene-to-scene, Quest For Peace is what you get when the people involved with it feels like nothing matters anymore! Throw in an absurdly stupid script that defies any sorts of logic, dialogue that had to make the actors themselves feel embarrassed to say out loud, and no sense of flow or rhythm in terms of pacing and structure and you get quite a shitty picture!

The biggest comparison of this complete low point of Superman could be to that of when Batman had his own low point with the abominable Batman & Robin (which would come out 10 years later after this movie). Just like that other notable DC cinematic disaster that came out in the 20th century, that also saw the titled character at his absolute low point, leading into becoming a full-on parody, adapting a “we don’t care how stupid and dumb this all is” mindset, and having the only goal from behind the scenes is to sell as many toys and action figures to children as possible. However, I think Superman IV leans much worse than that!

As much as both films can lean into the “so bad it’s good” category among the most memorable superhero movies, Batman and Robin seemed like a much more competent product compared to Supes’s own fourth movie. It had it’s handful of heartfelt moments (most notably that special scene between Bruce & Alfred), a unique visual vibe that’s full of bright lights and colors that makes the film look pretty to look at, and had such an bizarrely over-the-top campiness to it that you can help but be gloriously entertained by it. Superman IV has none of those unique traits whatsoever.

There are no moments of heart, no moments of genuine emotion, no interesting way of telling it’s story about it’s current topics surrounding global annihilation, and no menacing bad guys that feels like a legit threat to our heroes. All we get is a dull, lifeless, and cheap-looking trainwreck where the only parts of genuine entertainment are the moments that are downright awful so much so that it’s HILARIOUS!

I mean who didn’t get some laughs at some of the most RIDICULOUS moments scattered throughout the film! Remember all the flying sequences with Superman that looks like it was shot in a backyard? Or when Superman is able to gain new powers out of nowhere just because? Or when the main bad guy tells Superman that if he doesn’t tell where Lois is, then he will “hurt” people? And then proceeds to stand out and do a bunch of random stuff while Superman is just staying shouting, “STOP! DON’T DO IT! THE PEOPLE!” Or when Superman loses a battle because….the main villain….scratches him in the neck? Or how about just about any moment where Lex Luthor tries to pronounce the word, “nuclear”? Or how about the fact the whole reason Superman is doing anything in this movie at all is because……a kid wrote him a letter, asking Superman to get all the missiles in the world and get them off the planet, solving the nuclear crisis just…..like that?

Believe it or not, these are moments I honestly COULD forgive or just shake off as being pointless nitpicks if the rest of the film was actually engaging or interesting! But Superman IV is anything BUT that! Even Superman III, despite it’s severe flaws in terms of story and tone, was at least somewhat engaging because of the fact that something was ALWAYS going on that you couldn’t help but have your eyes on the screen because of that! With Superman IV, you basically have to cherry pick the moments that stand out in any way, shape, or form because nothing from the movie as a whole does!

It might seem like I’m beating a dead horse here but Superman IV: The Quest For Peace is just the worst kind of bad! It’s the kind of bad that has no substance, no memorability, no point, no care, and no matter in the world! It’s a film that not only doesn’t need to exist but it feels like even the cast and crew working on it don’t believe it needed to exist either! As we should all know by the now in the year of our lord 2025, nothing matter anymore and just embrace nihilism!

In all seriousness, it really is a shame that such an iconic cinematic figure like Christopher Reeve’s Superman had to go out on such an embarrassing low like A Quest For Peace! He will always be a legend and be remember as the definitive Clark Kent and Superman but these last two Superman films did not do him any truth or justice in any meaningful (or American) way. (Yes, I completely intended that pun!) I just wish he was given at least one more quality film that was able to send his version of Superman up in the air (I’m on a ROLL today!) for one last time!

Regardless, despite how abysmal this film is, how bad Superman III is, and how Superman II fell just short of greatness, Christopher Reeve will still always be Superman in our hearts! He was the one that inspired us all to be the best version of ourselves and was the one man that got the ball rolling with superheroes! Even if Superman IV represented when nothing matter anymore for Superman, we can at least look back at the time to where it did matter for Superman!

And that is all thanks to Christopher Reeves!

RIP Good Sir

We will forever miss you!

Next Up: Superman Returns

Superman III (1983)- When You Become A Self-Parody

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The third installment of a franchise always tends to be the trickiest installment of them all to pull off. By that point, you start to run short on original ideas and it’s when the audience start to feel fatigue of your franchise since they are already familiar with your game and have seen all of the tricks you can pull out of your butts. There’s just so many times where the audience wants to see the Death Star get blown up! It’s also at this point where the studios are as desperate to make as much money as possible now that the brand is as popular as it is and the higher ups wanting higher box office numbers with each new installment. This leads to more emphasis on selling toys, comics, games, merchandise, etc than ever before! Because of that, the studios want to make sure the film aims to as big of a wide audience as possible! This usually results in studios being more involved with film production than before to make sure it has enough content in there for a wide majority of audience, the director having less creative freedom than before because of studio notes, and the desire to make the film more dumb down compared to the previous two films, to make sure it’s age appropriate for young kids and families to see in theaters! If you want a good example of exactly what I just said, look no further than Superman III!

Superman III was basically went the Superman franchise started to lose all of the hearts and wonders that it had from the beginning. While Superman II certainly had dents in it’s armor from both behind and in front of the camera, it was still able to hold together strongly because it built upon the original classics by having the world be more expanded upon, the characters being further developed, and the action and special effects being taken to the next level. This third installment with the man of tomorrow does the exact opposite of that. Instead of heart and wonder, it’s now just gags and slap stick. Instead of important social/political commentary, it’s now just mindless action and explosion. Instead of intimidating villains that pose a real threat to our heroes, they are now cartoon characters that you can’t take seriously. Instead of being smart, it’s now a self-parody! Putting all of this crap together, you get the complete s*itshow that is Superman III!

As you would expect, just like the last time around, Superman III had quite a bit of a rocky production! From disagreements on the script/budgeting to the cast feuding with the producers, it was not a smooth ship sailing to theaters in 1983! And unfortunately, it is very noticeable when you look at it on the screen! The effects looks worse because of it’s cheaper budget, the action as much less thought put into it with no weight, you have supporting characters that serve no purpose other than to be the comic relief (Poor Richard Pryor!), and it has little to no connections to the first two Superman movies!

All you have to do is look at two separate scenes in regards to how tonally all over the place in Superman III! Sometimes it’s all silly and goofy and other times, it gets dark really quickly!

Does those two scenes feel like they belong in the same movie? No, no they don’t!

Granted having a film be funny and dark CAN work if there is a properly balanced tone throughout and if the movie had an actual functioning brain in it’s head, knowing when to be funny and when to be serious! But, there in lies the problem!

Superman III does the exact opposite of what the last two films did, it refuses to take itself seriously by any measures! There’s no tonal balance that director Richard Lester is able to control, no genuine enough stakes to get invested in, and the only stand out sequences are the ones that are either obnoxious silly or obnoxiously serious! This is what you get when you become a self-parody!

For as much as other Part Three films have floundered, they at least did so because of a desire to try to top the bar the previous two films set up, only to end up having the whole foundation crumble right in front of you because of overreliance of your own ambition. Superman III doesn’t even attempt to be in the same wheelhouse as Superman: The Movie or Superman II. It has no desire to be a logical continuation of the first two films or offer an interesting expansion on the world of Superman. I’m willing to bet if you watched the first two films and watch this one without knowing it’s suppose to be the third Superman movie with Christopher Reeves, you would NEVER guest this was suppose to exist in the same universe as the prior two Superman movies. The tone is much different, the scenes feel much more weightless, the characters are giving much less to do, and the whole thing it seems to have room for is ridiculous action and gags throughout.

At times, Superman III feels even more of a soft reboot than even Superman Returns (I’ll certainly go into that more once the time comes!). It just exists in it’s own, immature bubble without a care in the world of honoring it’s title character or even trying to function in it’s own sandbox. It’s just well….. a self-parody!

It’s hard to tell if how much of the studio politics played into the decision making of the film, how much of the film was what Lester wanted, and/or if this film would have even been made at all if Warner Bros wasn’t able to overpay Christopher Reeve to get him to come back, but Superman III follows victim to many disappointing threequels out there, forgetting what made it’s franchise successful in the first place and crushing the entire foundation in the process. What makes this third chapter stink more than most of them though is it’s lack of desire to be as engaging, interesting, or entertaining as the previous two Superman films were! That’s what you get when you become a self-parody!

With a mostly negative reception from fans and critics alike and a disappointing time at the box office, you would think this was the end of the Christopher Reeve run of Superman. Believe it or not, that wasn’t the case! There was actually one more film! A film that somehow managed to be even worse than this one and be up there as one of the worst superhero films ever!

Tune in next time and I will tell you ALL about it!

Next Up: Superman IV: The Quest For Peace