Sort Of...
Having had a few days to fully reflect on Superman Returns, here now, is my full review of the movie:
Superman-The Movie was the first feature film to treat a comic book super-hero seriously, while still managing to be lots of fun in the process. It's stayed with me since the first time I saw it at the age of 10.
When director Bryan Singer announced that SR would use elements from the first 2 Superman features as a springboard for the new movie, I was both excited and intrigued at the same time...
Following a 5 year absence in search of his home world of Krypton, the Man of Steel (Brandon Routh) comes back to Earth. While arch-enemy Lex Luthor (Kevin Spacey) plots to create a new continent for the ultimate land grab, vowing to render our hero powerless once and for all. Superman also faces the heartbreaking realization that the woman he loves, Lois Lane, (Kate Bosworth) has moved on with her life. Or has she? Superman’s bittersweet return challenges him to bridge the distance between them while finding a place in a society that has learned to survive without him.
For all intents and purposes, the film is as much a remake of the '78 film, as it is a sequel. Singer pays homage and then some---Some tips of the hat are obvious, like the flying credit sequence that opens the movie, while others only true devotees of the Donner flick would appreciate. WARNING GEEK-OUT ALERT The Daily Planet background employees, for instance, share the same names as their 1978 counterparts
Singer has made an epic film for sure, and it has lots of stuff that works--The shuttle rescue is a breathtaking sequence of film making. It was at that moment that Routh made me believe that he could do a solid job as the super blue boy scout. Having said that, I still got the impression that he is more comfortable as alter ego Clark Kent, than supes. I have no problem with Bosworth as an actress here but she still looks a bit too young for the role She also lacks Lois's trademark sass making it difficult to believe her as the star reporter. Spacey as Luthor is a hybrid of the Gene Hackman version who had an "affinity for beach front property" and the darker Lex from the modern day comics...Poor James Karen and Kal Penn. They are totally wasted here, with probably one line of dialogue each, in the movie... Parker Posey as Luthor's gal Kitty fares slightly better--but not by much. I loved the psuedo- recreation of the cover from Action Comics #1. Sooo cool!!! Seeing Jack Larson and Noel Neill from TV's The Adventures of Superman series in cameo roles is also a real kick of nostalgia.
The major issues I have with the movie start and end with the bloated screenplay by Michael Dougherty and Dan Harris. They try to cram so much into the story that the climax seemed like it was rushed while the mid section lumbered along. Even at 2 hours and 23 minutes the original never plodded like this one does at times. Big mistake; a comic book film should never feel like its "plodding" along.
If we are to believe that the events of SR follow those depicted in Superman II than Superman's line to the President, in that film--"I'll never let you down again" is meaningless--Because he lets everyone down by leaving without an explanation. I find it hard to belive he would do that...
And there's more... The Kid--The fact that Supes was a mortal when he slept with Lois in II, means any offspring would be human, no?...and the famous memory wipe smooch means Lois would have had no knowledge of having slept with our hero in the first place. The end of the movie hints otherwise... Those aspects are forgotten by Singer and Co. entirely and left dangling--waiting to be answered. As disciples to Donner's vision--I expected those plot points to be adressed here and now and not for the sequel... All glossed over in favor of seeing our hero eavesdrop on Lois and new beau Richard White (James Marsden, who finally has a decent part in a comic book flick) more than once. Is this Superman, or Stalkerman?! Lois' kid Jason (Tristan Lake Leabu) is the obvious set up for sequels.
Maybe there I will find the answers to my questions...I wonder ever so briefly...Would it have been better to start anew?...
I liked the movie very much---But I was left wanting to feel more exhilarated--The film rates a 7.5 (1-10) . I don't know if those expectations I tried so hard to keep in check, got in the way, but it definitely looses points in places that I wasn't expecting.
No comments:
Post a Comment