After the opening weekend of Tim Burton’s 2001 remake of Planet of the Apes, I heard a local radio personality say, “This weekend I went to see a movie. There were apes in it. That’s good enough for me.” I felt the same way. I went to the theater. I was entertained. That was good enough for me.
But nobody really remembers this version of Planet of the Apes. It has largely been forgotten. Why? Because the movie had no depth. Despite some entertaining action sequences, it felt rather shallow. The characters weren’t particularly interesting or complex, so we had no reason to root for them—or to want to see them in a sequel. It paled in comparison to both the original and the reboot that would follow in 2011.
The 2025 version of Superman is about as intellectually satisfying as a bag of popcorn. The story can be summarized like this: Superman gets beat up a few times by powerful enemies, finds a way to win, saves a few people along the way, and patches up his relationship with Lois Lane. That’s it.
The movie introduces many characters but doesn’t give them enough screen time for us to get to know them.
Superman’s parents are portrayed as loving country folk, but the film doesn’t give us much reason to care about them.
Nicholas Hoult starts out strong as Lex Luthor, but toward the end, his character also feels shallow.
David Corenswet makes a decent Superman. He shows the most emotional depth of any character in the film, but he doesn’t feel as authentic as Christopher Reeve or Henry Cavill, both of whom embodied the character more convincingly, both physically and emotionally.
This movie is all about action, not characters—and that’s a major shortcoming. It tries to do too much, throwing so much at the audience that we’re not supposed to notice the lack of emotional connection.
The ending fails to stick the landing. It wraps up with a series of news clips meant to tie everything together, but it feels way too rushed.
Rating: B-
I much prefer Man of Steel, which feels more like a genuine science fiction film than most Superman movies. I even prefer Superman Returns for its character development.
