For fear of sounding like a hairdresser, I don't get Brandon Routh's excess hairdo. He looked more like Clark Kent in the Halloween costume he wore before he got the movie part. He would've been better served with Dean Cain's hairstylist in Lois & Clark, even if it meant less spitcurl. The same goes for super piano-throwing kid, whose hairdo looks designed to elicit loathing. Kevin Spacey had the best hairdo, of course, followed closely by Kate Bosworth's (who is approximately 517,323,484 bazillion times hotter than Margot Kidder's Lois in Superman II+). Parker Posey might've had a good hairstyle too -- hard to say.
I think Routh's hair comes down to two things. One, another attempt to summon the ghost of Christopher Reeve (who always had too much hair in these things, too) and two, young guys have too much hair in general these days (said the curmudgeon). This is especially true with kids in middle school or thereabouts...I saw a group of them the other day and it looked like the McDonald's "french fry guys" had come to life.
I agree Bosworth's hotter than Kidder, but so is Eva Marie Saint even at her current age. In fact, I'd rather see Frank Langella in a slinky gown than Margot Kidder. As for Parker Posey, I'd have thought she'd be a perfect Lois herself. I can only guess she's considered officially "too old" now by Hollywood standards.
- The Krypton-tech spaceshit Superman crashed to Earth in and was never mentioned again, yet Superman somehow seemed down and out without those crystals which he didn't put in a safer place. If Krypton had such advanced space travel, why are almost all Kryptonians dead?
As in 1978, we are left to figure for ourselves why Kryptonians didn't have a space program. Maybe some religious or political ban on it. Or maybe whatever Zod's heinous crime was involved space travel, so it was forbidden to everyone. (Or maybe Martha's remarks in this scene are setting up a sequel where other Kryptonian's *are* out there in space). The ship
was mentioned again briefly (Clark to Mom: "Don't worry, I buried it").
I agree he should've done a better job securing the crystals, especially given that this is Luthor's second invasion of the fortress. It always bugged me that the movies reduced the Fortress from a super-cool stronghold ("NO GURLZ ALLOUD") into what amounts to a jumbled up pile of pick-up sticks. If that's what appeals to Kal's Kryptonian aesthetics, fine, but it doesn't do to leave your valuables in an unlocked house. And really, are you allowed to call a place a "fortress" if it doesn't even have a door?
Speaking of which, it's interesting that Luthor managed to activate the crystals by waving his hand over them. I guess I always assumed Jor-El's messages were designed to be triggered by Kal's specific genetic code, and not just any warm body that happened along.
- The lack of Krypton-tech Lex had despite "tell me everything". Besides his "let's recreate Atlantis with the Genesis Effect" crystal, he didn't really demonstrate being a genius. Yeah, like I'm gonna fly off to some sort of uncontrollably growing crystal rock formation in the name of real estate.
This is a carry-over from the earlier films and part of that unhappy baggage I talked about earlier. In the films, Luthor isn't a "genius" except in his own opinion. He's a nutjob with a Napoleon complex and an unrealistic fixation on "real estate" as the key to world domination. His scheme in the first film was utterly ridiculous and unworkable and even if it had succeeded would have gained him nothing, but that was the point. Because, again, the second half of Superman: The Movie was played for belly-laughs. Superman Returns is, for the most part, played straighter, but Luthor's old schtick remains because SR is also, in terms of structure, a remake of Donner's film. I like Luthor's plot better this time around just by virtue of being more visually interesting, but it still makes no sense. The only way to explain it at all is to recognize that the movie version of Luthor isn't even a little bit "genius," but he is 100% madman.
As for "tell me everything," remember it took even Kal-El ten years to learn everything on those crystals. Likely Luthor got to the part that interested him...how to build things with no real effort...and figured the rest could wait til later. For all we know, there's no such thing as Kryptonian weaponry anyway. Unless interlocked, spinning hoola hoops are weapons.
- The whole "go to Krypton" arc is just dumb. I just can't get into it. It was just as dumb as the 10 year gap between Jeff East and Christopher Reeve. Didn't Jor-El already feed him that info when he was a baby? Martha Kent is a saint for dealing with his absences.
What was really dumb about the 10-year gap between Jeff and Chris was that Jeff looked at least as old as Chris, if not older. Certainly he looked far too old for high school. Sloppy casting, there. But yes, I always wondered what Clark did for food during his ten-year training course with Jor-El. Or indeed, thanks to the editing in that sequence, whether the training took place entirely at the Fortress or whether it all happened in outer space.
As for going to Krypton, it was a dumb idea if you had time to think about it. I gather more was made of it in the first cut of the film, including scenes set in space at the site of Krypton's destruction. But this is one case where cutting was a good idea, because the whole trip is mentioned so briefly you can't stop to examine the story. In the novel, I gather, it's explained that astronomers saw "signs of life" on krypton and Superman, forgetting it takes thousands of years for light to travel here from Krypton, decides to go check it out. Not so smart. In the finished film, I think the hope is that we -- like Lois and Metropolis -- will be less interested in where he was than that he's back. Pay no attention to the man behind the curtain.
It probably cost more for the special effects to animate Noel Neill and Jack Larson's name in the opening credits than they got paid for their entire runs on the TV show.
How great to see these guys given something to do! In Noel's case, something important, in Jack's case something potentially recurring. Great stuff. Also nice to see the tip of the hat to John Hamilton's Perry White in that "Great Ceaser's Ghost" line. You could tell the old-timers in the audience when I saw the film...that line got reactions from scattered seats around me. (Also fun, the guy next to me had apparently never seen the "bullet in the eye" teaser...when that scene played out, I thought he was going to get up and dance!).
