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Ben Shapiro recently shared his review of Superman, directed by James Gunn, which is currently running in theaters. Shapiro posted a video on his official YouTube channel on July 12, 2025, where he was heard criticizing the CGI featured in the film.
The political commentator said at the beginning of the video that his wife described the film as fun, adding that the public also liked it at the same time. Shapiro displayed an action scene from the film on screen and said:
“The visuals are CGI vomit, like complete CGI vomit. So James Gunn has an addiction to kind of gross and weird imagery, which doesn’t really fit in the context of the again, Americana, that is Superman. And so there are some really gross and weird images, particularly in the Pocket Universe.”
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The media personality mentioned that certain characters in the Pocket Universe change themselves into “weird tentacled octopuses.” Shapiro claimed that director James Gunn is obsessed with eyes, referring to moments where characters are also attacked in the eyes. He continued addressing Gunn by adding:
“He has like an obsession with the eyeball being pierced and it’s very strange and off-putting. My wife was very off-put by a lot of this imagery. It feel like psychedelic LSD CGI vomit. Is what it feels like for large portions of the film. You never really get a kinetic scene of Superman doing something cool.”
Shapiro said that there are many sequences where giant objects fall on top of the superhero, who also stops them from falling on any anonymous individual. Shapiro elaborated on the same and added:
“The entire building will fall and he will stop the building from falling to save one person or a chipmunk who is in the way, but it’s an entire building full of people. So presumably all those people are dead. In any case, the visuals I think are a problem.”
Ben Shapiro compares James Gunn’s Superman with the 1978 film
While sharing his opinion about the superhero film, Ben Shapiro focused on a “fundamental flaw” in all the films based on the character from DC Comics. Shapiro played a clip of Superman Returns, featuring Brandon Routh, where Perry White questions whether the superhero stands for truth and justice.
Shapiro stated that the only film where the character used truth and justice was the 1978 film with the late actor Christopher Reeve playing the lead. He displayed a clip where Reeve says that he was on Earth to fight for truth and justice. Shapiro opened up on why it was important for the character to fight for truth and justice and said:
“Superman is unbelievably powerful, unstoppable. He’s faster than anyone. He has X-ray and laser vision. He’s stronger than anyone, right? He’s basically a God on Earth. And the biggest god, he’s Zeus, right? He can do whatever he wants.”
Shapiro opened up on why the superhero is the “good guy” and Lex Luthor is not. Ben stated that people would feel scared of anyone who had powers like Superman. Shapiro explained his claim and said:
“As Federalist 51 suggests, you need ambition to counteract ambition. If any one person had ultimate power, what you’re really talking about is a philosopher king. And that’s very scary, because that person could be a dictator, simply doing whatever they want to the world.”
James Gunn opens up on the reason behind removing a shot from Superman
Following the release of the trailer for the superhero film in January this year, netizens criticized a particular shot. According to ScreenRant, the shot focused on the face of Superman, played by David Corenswet, and social media users pointed out that they could not see the use of CGI in the scene.
James Gunn appeared for an interview with Entertainment Weekly last month, confirming that the film won’t use the shot. Gunn was questioned about the criticism that emerged from the shot, and he responded by saying:
“It was a TV commercial and it wasn’t a finished visual effects shot. So the part of him flying, it was a photograph of his face and him flying. It was a photograph of a drone flying in front of an actual background. So all the pieces were real, but it was incorporated in kind of a funky way. I didn’t love the shot, so it’s not even the shot that’s in the movie.”
Although Gunn spoke about the shot during his conversation with Entertainment Weekly, he previously shared a post on the social media platform Threads in January 2025, responding to the criticism. According to the New York Post, he wrote at the time:
“There is absolutely zero CG in his face. People’s faces can look different when you put a wide angle lens up close. The background plate in Svalbard is 100% real as is David.”
James Gunn’s film was released in theaters on July 11, 2025. Apart from Corenswet, the film features many popular faces in the lead, including Rachel Brosnahan and Nicholas Hoult. A report by Deadline on Monday, July 14, stated that the film has recorded a box office collection of around $125 million so far.
