> Hi everyone,
> My latest film music review is of the score for the new super hero reboot
> SUPERMAN, with music by John Murphy and David Fleming.
>
> https://moviemusicuk.us/2025/07/15/superman-john-murphy-and-david-fleming/
> Enjoy
> Jon
Insightful review Jon. This part in particular was fascinating:
> Although David Corenswet is closer to Reeve than Cavill was, his Superman is still almost 50 years removed from Reeve, and for me hearing the Reeve theme in this context constantly took me out of the movie. Look; I understand nostalgia. It’s a powerful thing. Children who grew up in the 1970s and 80s, as both Gunn and I did, love being reminded of the innocence of that era, and it’s tempting to wallow in that whenever you get the chance, but sometimes doing that results in an inferior piece of entertainment. Such is the case here. Every time I heard any fragments of Williams’s theme in this Superman, it just reminded me how much this Superman is not, and can never be, that Superman. This Superman isn’t a sequel to that Superman. It’s a completely different take on the character in a different universe, with different political and societal touchpoints. Part of what made the 1978 Superman score great was because it was very clearly and distinctly of its time, whereas this Superman seems to be trying to have one foot in both camps, having it’s super-cake and eating it too.
So a few thoughts about this.
1) I think your implication that the Williams theme is fundamentally un-adaptable to a modern film (and not just a throwback sequel like Superman Returns) is intriguing, but something I disagree with entirely. Obviously I was not a kid in the 70s, but in my head that theme is just Superman, not Christopher Reeve Superman. I saw Corenswet onscreen and my brain wasn't comparing him to Reeve or Routh or Cavill, I just saw him flying around in the blue and red and was like "Okay, that's Superman." It's like seeing Daniel Craig or Pierce Brosnan as James Bond. He does Bond-like things, the theme plays, and I think "Okay, that's James Bond" instead of thinking "But that theme was for Sean Connery's Bond!"
1.5) "This Superman is not, and can never be, that Superman." I get your point that Corenswet's Superman loses his temper here and there, but like, the main one I remember is him blowing up during the interview when he has to explain his actions in stopping the war. He did what he thought was right and would save lives, it's pretty obvious that's what he achieved if you're not drinking the propaganda, and he's frustrated at having to explain basic morality. Seems understandable to me lol. Compared to, y'know, Reeve losing it when the cute reporter he had a couple dates with dies
2) I want to ask about "the innocence of" the 70s and 80s. WAS it an innocent time, or is it just the innocence of your own childhood?
2.5) What was the political context of the 1978 film? Because this film had very direct commentary on the current political climate (some of which translates to other periods pretty well I'm sure), and the Snyder films, if not having meaningful commentary on it, certainly capture a vibe and atmosphere from that period. All I really know of the 70s is like Watergate and Vietnam, so I feel like when I did see that movie it was detatched from the politics of that period. I wonder if that movie's earnest heroism wasn't a reaction to the period's paranoia and cynicism, which may place it closer to Gunn's film than we realize.
3) I'm not really sure the Superman theme is "distinctly of its time"? Part of this is because I recently finished a book (which I've been meaning to post about here) which frames Williams' work in the 70s and early 80s as a revival of 30s and 40s style scoring. So in that sense, Williams scoring approach during his breakout years went against the grain of film scoring conventions (though I guess by the time Superman had come out, he was already reshaping the industry in his own image). I also feel like some people here like to describe the sound of a symphony orchestra as "timeless," which I half agree with, so it's interesting to hear you think that the Superman theme is of its specific time.
Some of this I think also boils down to "Do you think any of the Williams aesthetic is viable in modern Hollywood?" and I think everyone I ask will have a different answer haha. Interesting to discuss though!
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