Superman Returned

OK, so I have given it a couple of days to sink in and I think I am ready to talk about it. When I was a kid, I had a cape… and the tights, the whole outfit. There are pictures, and no you cannot see them… ever. I have been a Superman fan since the first movie and I was 4 years old. I remember watching the George Reeves series in reruns on Saturday morning when I was a kid. I remember watching the Superfriends in the afternoon. I have always loved the big lug.
On Tuesday night, something funny happened to me. I drove to the theatre with my wife and some friends, and yet somehow when the movie started I was four again. The opening credits gave me goosebumps, put a huge smile on my face. Why? Because they were the same style as the first movies, with the names wooshing by one after the other. And the music, that classic John Williams score, the only piece of music which I have consistently listened to for much of my life. I had it on vinyl, I had it on cassette, and I now have the extended version on CD, and I listen to it pretty regularly. I have upwards of 1000 hours of music in my collection to choose from and Superman gets played at least once a month.
Yes, yes, but how was the movie. It met my expectations, and that is saying a lot. I had huge hopes for this movie. I wanted it to blow me away, I wanted Brandon Routh to nail it, I wanted the effects to be amazing, and I got all of that and a little more. In a few of the flight shots I actually got a touch of vertigo, which is so great because it gives you an idea of what it would be like to fly without assistance (and this also makes me anxious for the IMAX version… in 3D). Bryan Singer did a truly amazing job, as did all the actors. Even Kate Bosworth, who I normally don’t mind a lot but had a hard time seeing as Lois Lane managed to pull it off really well. If anything it was just that no matter how hard they tried she seriously looked too young, but that’s fine and a minor quibble. Really the only quibble I have has to do with something of a spoiler so I won’t address it here, but it mostly has to do with the fact that the foundation that was laid really didn’t play out all the way. I wanted more (which is never a bad thing, sequel wise I guess) but I thought it should have played out more in THIS movie.
A word needs to be said about Kevin Spacey. The guy pulled off a miracle. He converted the Gene Hackman Lex Luthor into a seriously unbalanced individual. Gene Hackman was great but he was way to hammy. He played Lex the way a guy who had never read comic books perceived comic book villains. If he had one, he would have twirled his moustache, that kind of thing. Spacey’s Lex still has part of that, but something else entirely. His time in prison has turned him into a total sadist, which comes to a head in his confrontation with Superman on a Kryptonite laden island. Spacey manages to convey intense hatred and unbridled joy in one facial expression as he watches Superman be beaten to a pulp and then plunges a piece of Kryptonite into his back and snaps it off. By that point you know Lex has embraced his fate to be the archvillain, and he’s just fine with it.
Brandon Routh is Christopher Reeves’ long lost younger brother. There are times when the resemblance is really incredible. The thing is though, I appreciated the fact that Routh made a real effort to continue the character established by Reeves. In a day and age where we have grown more cynical and scrutinize every little thing it becomes even less plausible that a guy could hide his identity with glasses and a hairstyle. Therefore it is necessary for Routh to be able to pull off what CR did before him, make Clark a clutz who is unsure of himself and has zero self-confidence. Mild-mannered only begins to cover it. That said Routh is not merely a carbon copy, he brings some real flair to the film that wasn’t there before. The chemistry between he and Bosworth is unreal. In their flight scene in this film (clearly an homage to the original) there was nearly smoke coming off the screen, and that never existed in the originals.
On last thing. If the other movies were sort of Christ allegories, this one is that in spades. There are even elements of death and resurrection and my favorite line of the film relates the idea (Superman hovers above the Earth with Lois), “You say the world doesn’t need a savior, but your wrong, I hear their cries for help every day.” This is not a bad thing. I now have a rich source of sermon illustration material. ; ) So to wrap up this is a great film that you seriously have to see in the theater. Watching it at home will not do it justice at all. I loved every second of it and it made it hard to go back to my normal 31 year old life again afterward.