Superman Returns 2006

B

Superman movies are hard not to like. Despite marginal acting and silly plots in the Christopher Reeves movies, people loved them. However it’s hard to do a lot with the form. Superman is so super that he never seems to be in that much danger and so good that he becomes kind of bland. So by the time Reeves made his third movie, people just weren’t paying attention.

This movie shows signs of suffering from the same problems, but is able to feel new with a new cast and better special effects. The relationship between Superman and Lois Lane has gotten complicated due to Superman’s 5-year absence (he took a sabbatical to Krypton to look for his home planet, but not much else is said about it) and now Lois Lane has taken up with another reporter and had a kid. And Lex Luthor is out of jail because Superman wasn’t around to testify against him.

So there is some amount of conflict, but the highlight of the movie is how great Superman is and the reaction people have to him, whether it is a stadium full of baseball fans or a clueless bad guy who thinks he can just shoot Superman in the eye. Sorry, that’s bulletproof too. And we also see new powers. He has heat vision that can cut through metal. But he has forcefield vision that can stop falling debris. He has super breath that can extinguish raging fires or a match from across the room. He can even super whistle and snag an empty cab. I think they’re having fun with the idea (there are a number of funny scenes), but it kind of cheapens the premise that any time there is a tough situation it just turns out Superman has another super power he can use to resolve it.

The acting is pretty good. I guess Superman is just naturally a stiff character and Clark Kent is always going to be a bumbler. So those two are flat, but maybe there’s no way around it. I don’t know if it was the makeup, face, or slicked back hair, but every time they had a tight face shot of Superman it looked computer animated. I didn’t notice this with the other characters. My girlfriend said repeatedly that he is good-looking, but I thought he seemed kind of lanky. There is a cast of solid actors in other positions like Frank Langella as Perry White and Kevin Spacey as Lex Luthor. Kate Bosworth is very good as Lois Lane, even though Lois has lost her edge. Unfortunately, I thought Parker Posey was wasted as Luthor’s girlfriend. She should have been more of a sassy bimbo, but only has a few good lines and then mostly just dumb looks. Spacey wasn’t great, but given his abilities, I have to think the material or director let him down.

Also I think the movie is just too long. Even the opening credits went on for too long. Do we really need to know the name of every actor in the movie up front? Once the movie started, it still took a long time for anything to really happen. Realistically, the whole movie should have been really short because there isn’t a lot to explain about Superman and the purpose of this movie was to just get reacquainted with characters and get used to the new cast.

Anyway, this movie is definitely worth seeing and fun to watch, but doesn’t stand out among superhero movies. B

Owned on: Digital