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I was 8 when I first saw Richard Donner's Superman with Christopher Reeve. That film wasn't just a superhero movie, it was cinema as wonder. The music, the love story, the earnestness. It made you believe a man could fly. The effects might have been primitive by today's standards, but they sold the illusion because everything else was grounded, human, and emotionally real.

Fast forward to 2025, and James Gunn's Superman, and I found myself hating almost every minute. Not because I dislike the character, but because the movie mistakes chaos for wonder.

The worst offender? The so-called "Pocket Universe™" sequence. Lex Luthor invents world-changing portal technology - something that would revolutionize travel, trade, war, everything. What does he do with it? Builds a personal prison dimension. That's it. A cosmic Airbnb for people he doesn't like. Inside, we get rivers of antiprotons (whatever that means), a black hole that sucks things selectively without bending time or space, and a menagerie of creatures with whatever magical powers the writers thought up five minutes before lunch. The more I think about it, the more absurd it becomes.

This is what frustrates me: good movies, even fantastical ones, take time to sell you the impossible. Frankenstein explains electricity and galvanism. Jurassic Park spends half its runtime walking you through DNA science before showing you a dinosaur. Donner's Superman grounded you in Clark Kent's humanity before letting you soar. Gunn's Superman just waves portals and antimatter in your face and says, "Don't ask questions, Lex is rich and smart, go with it." Well, I didn't go with it. I rolled my eyes. Repeatedly.

The film leans heavily on John Williams' classic theme, blasting it over and over as if repetition alone could recapture that old magic. Instead, it only reminded me of how much heart, sincerity, and sheer plausibility the 1978 film had... and how hollow this one feels in comparison.

Superman deserves better.

I recall few pieces of entertainment as profoundly emotive as this one. This episode pulls no punches, delivering an experience so raw and deeply affecting that it could stand alone as an award-worthy film.

Within a greater narrative, this is an absolute masterpiece of storytelling. Every element-the writing, the performances, the cinematography, and the pacing-works together in perfect harmony to create something truly special.

I am in awe of everyone involved in this project. This is the most human, sincere, and devastating portrayal of the human experience I have seen in a long, long time.

As a fan of Sci-Fi, it is difficult for me to hate a movie about AI and the ethical issues associated with a sentient machine. This movie uses a tried and true formula used by movies like Dances with Wolves, Avatar and many others, putting the protagonist in the place of the unknown civilization.

So, good premise, known formula, what could go wrong? A lot, actually.

The Creator never pays attention to the most fundamental part of good sci-fi: make it believable. These AI beings are completely ridiculous in the most fundamental ways. Intelligent machines with humanoid form, without any of the advantages of a machine, and all the disadvantages of humans. Many taking the form of old, feeble men, and lack the intelligence of even basic LLMs of today. Why? It is never explained.

The characters act in counterproductive stupid ways, completely against their own interest. Just as an example of the idiocy in this movie: enemies arrive on a shuttle to a trillion dollar military facility, and are welcome with an extended bridge, and then the place is completely evacuated to be attacked without countermeasures.

I hated this movie. And the forced emotional scenes with the violin music feel so unearned and manipulative, that had in me the exact opposite effect.

I am so glad that I waited for streaming, because at the theater I would have left mid film.