darn you, Klar! I hoped I would be the FIRST to have something to say about this film.
I said to myself, "oh boy, I bet anything that Klar will have lots to say about this film." Mostly he sticks around these boards, giving the odd sarcastic comment, but since he's a movie guy, he'll no doubt have lots of in-depth things to say."
Im with you and need to catch up on sleep before I really let fly but in short it was a very very mixed experience ultimately leaving me with a bad taste in my mind.
When I saw Superman the Movie on opening day, first show I left the theatre --well-- high - there's no other wonder to describe the exhilartion of seeing my Superman - the silver age Supes - so brillaintly depicted. Not to say that there were flaws but there were and they were many. But ultimately forgivable as a motion picture it delivered the goods.
Superman Returns for all its Christ like ballyhoo is a big bloated disapointment. A times it was like watching a zombie movie because it was like a undead beach party - some great Super FX sequences bogged down by an unwieldly plot, inane logic and a slavish retread of the original. By the time I saw the ninth visual cue from Donners 78 or another line of dialog resaid, I was cringing.
Well, like I said, the original Superman movies have a lot of power in people's minds, and I personally think the director made the right choice to bring the movie in line with that.
(Thankfully, Superman didn't throw his cellophane S-shield!)
In one interview, Singer was cited as saying he never read Superman comics growing up or comics in general -- and it showed. Of course, another interview contradicted that -- that he was the biggest fan ever.
Well, at least he had the decency to make something like that up. I hate all these directors that do comic book movies and go on record as loathing comics (Tim Burton comes readily to mind).
So what are you left with -- some great Super action (but not nearly enough), a selfish Superman who's ultimately an ALIEN DEAD BEAT DAD (if the Munchkin really is his son - ambiquity and confusion reigns here)
I'm glad you picked up on that. The film is edited in such a way that it's really difficult to draw a conclusion on that with absolute certainty. Everybody's mind jumps to the conclusion that the kid is Superman's because that would be the most sensationalist thing. Personally, I think Superman's kid would have a lot more brassy personality.
True story: I saw SUPERMAN RETURNS in a theater that a lot of teenagers, the THERE'S SOMETHING ABOUT MARY crowd. One girl, behind me, was doing her very long nails before the movie started, and jawing to a girlfriend on a cel. When that piano hit that goon, I heard a lot of cooing and "Oooooh!" as if someone had told them a really hot piece of gossip on the phone!
Luthor's plan is illogical and illconcieved - it seems only as an excuse to reuse the 'land' shtick from S1 and Jon Peter's inisitence on the death/resurrection of Superman. Oh did I mention the uneccessary kryptonite shiv and sadistic beating of Superman?
I don't know, I sort of liked that it was Luthor himself that gave Superman the sock on the jaw. Kevin Spacey played that with a lot of rage.
Maybe Superman fighting three polar bears or a giant mechanical spider would've been better!
Isn't fighting polar bears better than anything?
Routh channeling Reeve is OK but even Dean Cain and Tom Welling added their own interpertations to the mythos. Bosworth is pretty but no depth.
Agreed. Lois Lane needs to be played by a funny and pretty character actress and Kate wasn't that. This is "Tarzan/Jane Porter" syndrome: the hero, when confronted by all sorts of beautiful women, always chooses the single most boring one to be his main squeeze.
