Tuesday, July 04, 2006

 

SUPERMAN Returned...

All right. It has been just about a week since the long anticipated SUPERMAN RETURNS came flying into movie theatres. I had the distinct pleasure of viewing the film with some of my best friends. My reaction was not great at the time. And most of the following synopsis, not quite review yet, will be from the first reaction point of view. I've had a chance to see the movie a second time and enjoyed it more. I warn you I will be revealing HUGE plot elements so i you haven't seen the movie yet, stop reading this blog. But considering the fact that i only know 3 people who read this blog and they were all with me when i saw it, i guess it won't be too much of a problem. Up up and away!


I was surfing Supermanhomepage.com and read someone's opinion that they were absolutely thrilled and yet disappointed at the same time. I couldn't help but feel the exact same way. IT WAS GREAT seeing Superman in action. I just would laugh out of pure fanboy giddyness when he would rescue somebody. The music, the effects, the homage to the first film...great!

I was a little out of breath from running when the opening credits ran. I almost passed out. I just wanted to cry/laugh/scream at the same time. It was amazing hearing the John Williams score with the credits rolling. Visually it was beautiful. It was like sensory overload, I felt I needed to read every line of the credits while watching the journey through space.

This movie had soooo much to offer. But something just didn't feel right. The editing seemed a little odd at times and I noticed certain scenes that I've seen online missing.

Lex and Superman had 5 minutes on screen together. I timed it the second time i saw the movie. That includes 45 seconds back on the plane with Lois and Richard. This needs to be at least tripled for any future films. Its like they're were two different story lines that happened to interact eventually. And I know we all know Lex and Superman's history, it just felt like we needed more. Deep down we knew why Lex was beating the crap out of Superman, and yet if felt like we should have a better explanation for why Lex hates this guy so much.

More Martha Kent would be good. There were a lot of scenes of her online and even in the trailer that ended up on the cutting room floor. I would venture to say that would make the movie better. I could be wrong and I know it probably killed Bryan Singer to cut some of this stuff he did. 4 hours would be too long for most people to sit through a Superman movie. Although we better get an extended edition DVD like the LOTR treatment.

I bought everyone in their various roles from seeing the trailer except Lois. Kate didn't seem to do it for me in the trailer. But then the first time we see her in this movie and she is at the press confrence on the plane throwing questions out, I was like SHE IS LOIS! But then the whole "mommy" thing came into play. Lois Lane is not a mommy. It's not in her character for her to have someone so dependent on her such as a child, and i think that's why we had such a hard time buying Kate as Lois, because she wasn't the Lois we were used to. She was Lois if she had a kid. Which I am begining to accept.

Which raises my biggest complaint with the movie! THE KID. I have been afraid since i heard there was a kid in the movie that it would be Superman's but Singer is always talking about how you have to be true to the character that has been around since 1938. Well he screwed up here. Since 1938 Superman has never had a kid. There is a reason for that.

It adds a whole new dimension to who Superman is, just as being a father adds to any man. Now it is a unique aspect that would be interesting to explore with Superman. He would be a great dad. But not like this. Not out of wedlock. And no freakin Super Power please. Its one thing to be a husband and drop everything to go be Superman, but you can't really drop being a father to go stop a volcano etc...

Ihave had a chance to discuss the kid with my good Superman friends. It was brought to my attention that many of things we know and love Superman for were not straight out of "cannon." Kryptonite for example came from the Radio show in the 1940s. Flying was not even one of his original powers. So the more I thought about it, the more I was excited for Superman to finally have a son. This is something I may even hope comes to the comics, where Lois and Clark are happily MARRIED and Clark is himself, not hiding behind Superman. The way the movie is showing things, Lois doesn't even really know who Superman is. Let alone who Clark is. I think this needs to be adressed. This also raises some problems for the Man of Steel. Lex Luthor knows the kid is Supe's. Will Superman marry Lois? Or will Clark marry Lois? Assuming marriage is even brought into the picture. Is Superman going to be a father or will he simply "be around" as he so elegantly put it at the end of the movie. That's my problem with the kid, it just makes Kal-El seem kind of like a Deadbeat dad.

But the more I think about it, the more I can't blame this movie for Superman's seemingly lack of traditional morals. Superman II is where he actually slept with Lois. The kid is a direct result of Mario Puzzo promising to explore the sexuality of Superman back in the 1980s.

So it will be interesting to see where things go from here. I hope this clears up some things. I was having a really tough time right after seeing this movie. I saw people loving it like I loved Batman Begins and I really wanted to love it to jump up and down, but I couldn't bring myself to that level of excitement. That's what truly disappointed me. It could be a result of following a movie through production from casting to premire that builds up so much excitement no movie could deliver enough. But something wasn't completely right about this movie. My first reaction was that I wished Superman would kiss me so that i would forget everything.

IT will never rate anywhere near SUPERMAN THE MOVIE mostly b/c it just used a lot of the same script. Which as a fanboy i love and apriciate the effort but it seemed as if they were trying to do it too hard and too long. But I did LOVE the homages to the first film.

Ladies and Gentlemen take my advice, don't let any aerial mishaps put you off flying. Statistically speaking, it's still the safest way to travel.

Comments:
Very solid review. I'm linking to it, so that both of my readers can see it too.
 
I don't want to use my blog to talk about Superman so I'm going to take up the space here. I felt like the movie was bad because the characters had no depth whatsoever. There really was no emotion, ever. Except maybe Lex Luther was mad at some points.

That's all.
 
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