Yes, I know you’ve read IGN’s Superman review, the greatest Superman review on the internet. But let’s be honest, we’ve all been waiting for Metal Gear creator and film critic extraordinaire Hideo Kojima to deliver his verdict. Well now, it’s finally in.
Kojima starts his review with a setup that makes his overall view clear: “Since I’ve been on a world tour, I hadn’t had the chance to watch it, but this morning, I finally got to see James Gunn’s Superman. It was good.”
Kojima then delivers a line that initially reads as a fairly brutal assessment of James Gunn’s DCU kickstarter: “It was neither dark nor stylish, cool or even ‘super.’”
But Kojima appears to veer more positive from there, if we are taking what came before as ever so slightly negative.
“The perspective of the audience — the distance and elevation — is different from the ‘Superman’ we used to LOOK UP (into the sky) to,” Kojima continued.
“This film gently observes the human being Clark Kent and Superman as one and approaches him from the same human perspective. It’s a heartwarming ‘human’ film.
“The movie itself wasn’t ‘punk,’ but ‘Punkrocker’ by Teddybears, with vocals by our very own Iggy Pop, played during the credits — that part was pure punk, and it was amazing.”
So, what I’m getting from Kojima’s review is that he liked, but didn’t love, Superman. As he says: “it was good.”
Since I’ve been on a world tour, I hadn’t had the chance to watch it, but this morning, I finally got to see James Gunn’s “Superman.” It was good.
It was neither dark nor stylish, cool or even “super.” The perspective of the audience—the distance and elevation—is different from… pic.twitter.com/oIYjeHVR3A
— HIDEO_KOJIMA (@HIDEO_KOJIMA_EN) July 31, 2025
How does that compare to IGN’s Superman review? We awarded it 8/10, saying: “Superman is a wonderfully entertaining, heartfelt cinematic reset for the Man of Steel, and a great start for the DCU on the big screen.”
It feels like IGN and Kojima are more or less on the same page then. Perhaps, if he were forced to give Superman a score, he’d go for something like 7/10? Do you agree with Kojima’s assessment?
Kojima’s been in the news a fair bit lately, not least for some (more) fun comments in response to a question on whether he’ll play the Metal Gear solid 3 remake, and his brief and typically vague thoughts on Xbox game OD, which he is turning his attention to now Death Stranding 2 is out the door.
Photo by Phillip Faraone/Getty Images for Kojima Productions.
Wesley is Director, News at IGN. Find him on Twitter at @wyp100. You can reach Wesley at wesley_yinpoole@ign.com or confidentially at wyp100@proton.me.
