My Review:
Superman Returns - 3 stars
The man of steel is back in all his spandex glory. The biggest question for the newest superhero movie is the question of if it could be presented in a way that will stay faithful to the films from the 70s, while not looking outrageously corny and too absurd for our modern time.
Let???s face it: Superman is probably the most boring of all major superheros. He???s invincible, he can fly, he can see through things, he can shoot lasers from his eyes, and he even has ???super??? hearing (although many of the viewers may not after viewing the loud film). However, the film makes all of these traits secondary ideas, and the main feature is the emotion and the ideas presented within.
Bryan Singer, the director of the first two X-Men films, was in charge of this ambitious and large scale project. It was another worry out there, because of the simple B-movie quality of the first two X-Men films. Superman is much larger scale than either of those movies (and has a much bigger budget), and Singer seems to have acquired a visual style that is very complex. Instead of using one style in particular with the cinematography, multiple techniques and styles are explored, most of which works well. He doesn???t get carried away with a tripod the same way the Wachowski Brothers do, nor get carried away with a dolly like Ron Howard will, it requires a genuine balance to achieve excellence in cinematography, and it???s found in this film.
John Ottman was in charge of the soundtrack for this two and a half hour film (which may be deemed as far too long by some), yet Singer made it very clear that John Williams??? Superman theme was to be both used in it???s original form and incorporated into the score. What we get is a nice balance that John Williams would not have been able to pull off, of both emotion, excitement and nostalgia (which is undeniably a focus of the film).
The opening credits was a shock, similar to the one experienced with the 2005 version of King Kong. It emulates the original film (looking very 70s while doing so), and even includes the voice of Superman???s father from the original movie (as the beloved actor is now dead), leaving a kind of imbalance compared to the rest of the film, which stays fairly modern.
The story takes place after a disappearance of Superman for five years, to explore the remnants of his home world: Krypton, which astronomer???s had discovered. He comes back to find that Louis has a child and a boyfriend, that have a relationship that emulates that of the modern family (although it is unclear as to whether they are married, the film leads us to believe that they are not). Lex Luthor has been released from prison, and inherits a fortune from a dying lady that he swindles into loving him.
Luthor???s plot? To take crystals from the place where Superman found out about his past, and create land, wiping out the lives of billions of people to do so for wealth and power. Luthor cites his father in saying ???the one thing that there will never be more of is land???, but with the alien technology he discovers, it is now possible to create more.
Louis Lane has also won the Pulitzer prize for an article entitled ???Why the World Doesn???t Need Superman???; something that offends our hero, and leads to conflict in their relationship, with her efforts to ???move on???.
A central focus in this film is not found within Superman, which should bother a few fans, because quite simply: this movie is not about Superman alone, it???s about human emotion, and other issues that this film explores. To emphasize this point, let us take this quote from when Superman and Louis are up in the clouds discussing issues present with his disappearance for five years:
???What do you hear????
???Nothing.???
???I hear everything. You wrote that the world doesn???t need a savior, but every day I hear people crying for one.???
Quite frankly, this is a good thing, because the actor chosen for Superman, is not by any means, a good actor. He has very little dialogue, most of his screen time has the focus of special effects, and the subplots with Louis Lane and Lex Luthor become much more fun to watch.
Kevin Spacey was an excellent choice to play the villain, and he seems to have a lot of fun with the role, presenting the best twisted bad guy we???ve seen in a Superman movie as of yet.
One element of the movie, that will separate this from other super hero films, is the huge amount of subplots with Superman going around and just helping people, to be a good guy. He uses his power for good, and his only beef shouldn???t be with the main villain, as it???s usually portrayed in super hero films, but it should be with all villains.
In interest of not spoiling the rest of the film, this will conclude the review, and just keep in mind that this is one of the best super hero films yet, and it works very well.
