Superman Returns

What did I think of the latest Superman movie, Superman Returns?

Was it worth the 19-year wait? Or did it fall short?

READ ON!

This movie was very mixed for me. I did enjoy it as a movie overall. I thought it was a very well done movie. I thought for the most part it was acted very well, written very well, and directed very well. Very well-done movie, like I said.

I first would like to talk about the actors. In past Superman movies, there is a moniker associated with Superman actors. I thought for the moist parts, these actors really nailed their parts down. I think they embodied the characters pretty well.

The first actor worth noting is obviously Brandon Routh. In a Superman actor, one has to embody basically 3 personas: Clark Kent (the mild-mannered reporter), Superman (the greatest hero of our time) and Kal-El (basically a mix between Clark and Superman). I think Brandon Routh just nailed all those down. I thought he was the perfect Superman. Some criticized his performance as being too much like Christopher Reeve. But that was the interpretation of Superman that Brandon was playing, so I think it worked for him. I was in awe of his performance. He also seemed to nail down Clark Kent’s mild-mannered reporter persona, but I wish more time was spent on Clark, developing that side of him. But kudos to Brandon Routh for nailing it!

Another actor who seemed to nail his performance was Kevin Spacey as Lex Luthor. Now, Kevin Spacey is an amazing actor. When I initially heard that Kevin Spacey would be playing Lex Luthor, I was excited! That was only amplified by the trailer, and the movie itself. When Lex enters the scene by taking off the wig, I was entranced by Spacey’s performance of the character. I don’t know if he watched any Smallville or any Superman movies, but if he did, it definitely showed in his portrayal. Kevin Spacey’s Luthor seemed to be a mesh of both Michael Rosenbaum and Gene Hackman’s portrayals. I had been watching Smallville and finished the fifth season at that point, and I could actually see Smallville’s Lex becoming the Lex Luthor of this movie. It was truly riveted.

One character that did not knock it out of the park for me was Kate Bosworth as Lois Lane. Now, prior to this movie, I had not seen Bosworth in anything that I could remember. But after this movie, I don’t know if I want to. I’m sure it has nothing to do with Bosworth’s portrayal, but I’m sure that had something to do with Lois Lane’s poor portrayal of Lois in this movie. Now, Lois Lane is an amazing character and every actress that has portrayed her thus far has added something new to the table. Bosworth didn’t really seem to do that for me. I understand she’s a mother and she has more responsibility. But Lois, in this movie, was portrayed as a heartbroken reporter mom, rather than the sassy star reporter that I know her to be. That being said, I thought Lois looked nice in this movie.

Now, in the comics, what makes Superman so amazing is his supporting cast of characters. No Superman cast of characters would be complete without Mr. Jimmy Olsen. Now, I absolutely loved Sam Huntington’s portrayal of Jimmy Olsen in this movie. I really thought he nailed every aspect of the character. I really wanted to see him with some scenes with Superman, and not Clark Kent. I thought his scenes with Clark were equally good, too. But Huntington’s Jimmy really stepped out of the comics for me. He just nailed every part of his character, which is what you would expect from an actor portraying such as classic character like Jimmy. I also loved Sam Huntington’s scenes with former TV show Jimmy Olsen, Jack Larson.

One character that I was unfortunate to not get to see a whole lot of was the character of Perry White. In past interpretations of Superman, we have gotten to see Perry White really shine. The most notable for me was Lane Smith from Lois and Clark. I really thought he nailed that character. Anyway, I don’t know if I can make a judgment off of Frank Langella’s portrayal of Perry, because I really didn’t get to see him come into his own with that role. But what I did see, I enjoyed thoroughly. I hope we will see more of him in future movies.

One thing that DC Comics is really good at is introducing new characters into their comic mythos on onscreen projects and making them work. One example of this is Chloe Sullivan on Smallville. But that’s beside the point. The character that really surprised me wasn’t actually a character in the comics or movies that they introduced. I was not looking forward to this character at all. I thought he was lame, and didn’t like him in subsequent trailers I saw. But, when I saw the movie, my opinion was changed. I actually liked the character of Richard White, nephew to Perry White. I thought he was a great foil for Superman. He was almost the Sawyer to Lois’ Kate. I mean, the love triangle between Superman, Lois and Richard was like Jack, Kate, and Sawyer in LOST. It reminded me so much of that complicated relationship where either man would be good for the main girl. I, for one, cannot wait to see how Richard is explored in later movies, and hopefully later comic books. I would love to see Richard in a Superman comic book. He wouldn;’t be a romantic foil for Lois, but I’d justl like to see him mesh with Clark and Lois in the comics. Overall, I thought he was a strong character, even saving the man the woman he loves might still love.

Well, I don’t think one can talk about this movie without mentioning the character of Jason. Now, as for me, I did not like this addition. From a storytelling standpoint, I think it’s good. Definitely adds some drama to the Superman and Lois Lane relationship, but I just do not like it. Why, you ask? I’ve always considered Superman to be this moral center for people, including myself. He is one of my heroes. Now, when it was revealed that Jason was Superman’s son, I was crushed. It just seemed to be a way for Hollywood to demoralize the character. I also felt that this kid was the crux of the movie. Whenever he used his powers, it seemed to take the focus off of Superman’s situation a bit, at least for me. So I did not like that addition.

One addition I did like was the addition and return of Marlon Brando as Jor-El. Some would think this is cheap to go back to this, but I thought it was once again brilliant writing by the writers to sort of make a transition from those old movies of the late 70’s and early 80’s. With the absence of Jor-El by the end of the movie, I thought it was a transition wonderfully made and I think it’ll do great things for Superman’s charcter in future movies.

However, I thought the story flowed quite well, throughout the entire movie. I thought the writers, Michael Dougherty and Dan Harris, really handled the script well. It was a fantastic story and really reintroduced to the audience that Superman character, as well as the other characters that we know and love from the Superman mythos.

Some have criticized that Superman Returns was almost an exact duplicate in story to that of the first Superman movie. To that, I say no. I think that a movie like this had to be done in order for there to be a smash hit sequel. I’m sure that there were people a few years ago who believed the first X-Men movie to be lame, but when they saw X2, I’m sure they were relieved. I know I was. It really raised the bar to what a superhero movie could be. I believe that the Superman Returns sequel will raise that bar again, especially with Bryan Singer directing.

Now would I have preferred an origin story? Sure, but objectively, I don’t think an origin story is needed at this point. Everybody knows Superman’s origin. Even the non-fans know it. Also, we have 2 great origin stories in Superman’s past: Smallville and Superman: The Movie. I thought that Superman Returns really did a great job of reacquainting us with these characters and the world of Metropolis. The writers had a lot to live up to.

I also thought that the individual characters really got strong character arcs throughout the movie. Which, to me, is the sign of a wonderful movie. I think the mot interesting of the character arcs is of course Superman’s arc. At the beginning of the movie, he returns from trying to find anything left of the Kryptonian race, but finds nothing, and hopes to find some semblance of what his life used to be., only to find his world had drastically changed. He struggled with the fact that people might not need him as a hero anymore, but Superman’s moral center would push him that far into line of thinking. He will never stop helping people, which is the beauty of his character. At the end of the movie, he feels loved and needed by the people of the world, and especially the woman he loves and adores, Lois Lane.

A character that went on a nice little character arc was surprisingly Jimmy. Throughout the movie, Jimmy is struggling to do his job right, trying to get the past photo possible. To me, this is classic Jimmy Olsen. Jimmy Olsen is always concerned with this little nag. But at the end of the movie, Jimmy shoots a nice picture of Superman for all the world to admire and see.

Another thing to note about this movie is the special FX. As with all Superman movies and TV series, they were wonderful to behold. I thought they really knocked it out of the park with this one. The flying looked so realistic and it was pulled off beautifully, I thought. What I thought was a nice touch with the FX was when Superman used his heat vision, it reminded so much of Smallville. It was totally awesome to watch! I think the FX only added to the greatness that is Superman. The FX really have improved in the last 20 years since the last movie and it shows!

Another notable thing about this movie was the sets. The Superman mythos is known it for its classic set pieces. One set piece worth talking about is the Fortress of Solitude. I loved the way the Fortress of Solitude looked in this film. The scope of it was amazing. It looked so different yet so much the same from the other movies. I really loved that set.

Another set that went through some revamping was the set of the newsroom of the Daily Planet. Me being a Superman fan, and having seen many Daily Planet sets, I loved it. It definitely felt realistic and like an actual newsroom. I can’t wait to see this set elaborated in future movies and I’m sure we will.

This movie was directed extremely well, and the way it was shot felt more like a comic book than any movie I’ve ever seen. There is a shot when Lex Luthor walks out onto his balcony and reveals a Daily Planet newspaper, it reminded me of many Superman comic books. I just loved the entire direction of the movie. It just worked all around.

Another thing that Superman movies do frequently is do little stunt casting guest spots. For example, the first Superman movie had Kirk Alyn (Superman from the movie serials) and Noel Neill (Lois Lane in the George Reeves series). This movie also had this. This movie guest-starred Noel Neill (TV’s Lois Lane) and Jack Larson. What makes these stuntcasting spots so interesting is that they don’t call attention to them. I think Bryan Singer paid wonderful homage to these two actors by including them in the opening credits.

All in all, I thought this movie was really great. Like I said, everything seemed to work. Acting, writing, direction - - it was awesome. I had minor squibbles with the movie. Some of which I have mentioned in this review. But I enjoyed it overall.

RATING: 9/10

This entry was posted on 15. April 2008 at 19:38 and is filed under Movie Reviews. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response or trackback from your own site.

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