Hey folks, Harry here... I've seen the film twice, plus this morning I saw a bunch of the IMAX 3D footage that was fucking unbelievably awesome. The shot of the glasses on the floor of the barn - where we see through them at the floaty Clark... amazing. Flat out jaw-dropping 3D shot. The plane stuff was the stuff of wet fanboy and fangirl dreams. Just Amazing. When you see this - you will pang to see this process done to something like THE WIZARD OF OZ. Just holy fuck cool. Anyway - seems Capone loves the movie even more than I do... which is kinda amazing. Here ya go...
Hey everyone. Capone in Chicago here. When I interviewed Bryan Singer back
in October 2004 ( http://www.aintitcool.com/display.cgi?id=18610), it was
less than a week before Christopher Reeve's death. It was several weeks
before he named the actor playing this latest incarnation of Superman. In
fact, Singer wasn't even sitting across from me to talk about any
superheroes; he was on a promotional tour to talk about his
soon-to-be-launched T.V. series "House." But in looking back at his comments
the during the pre-production phase of Superman Returns, it astonishes me
(even though it probably should not) how faithful and clear his vision was
even that long ago. But not even Singer's detailed descriptions and
enthusiasm for the project prepared me for seeing the final product.
The most difficult part of this review will be not getting lost in all the
history of this franchise or the long road taken to get Superman Returns
made. No, the hardest part about writing this one will be not getting lost
in how much the 1978 Superman changed my life. The Richard Donner-directed
masterpiece may have been the first film I ever completely obsessed over. I
knew/know all the dialog, found all the plot holes through repeated
viewings, marveled at the then-state-of-the-art special effects, and
desperately tried to understand why Marlon Brando and Gene Hackman got top
billing over the unknown actor played the Man of Steel (I was young, what
did I know about billing?). Time and study has revealed all to me over the
years, and upon rewatching the first two Superman movies again recently
(since this new version has been said to pick up five years after the second
film), I now appreciate how epic and wonderful the first film is and how
underwhelming Superman II is to me now, despite my childhood memory of it
being the best of them all.
Upon writing this review, I've already seen Superman Returns twice and will
be seeing it two more time before its release (the final time being the
partially-3D IMAX version). The first time watching director Bryan Singer's
utterly faithful rendering of the Superman character (perfectly inhabited by
newcomer Brandon Routh) and legend, I was deeply entranced and touched
watching Singer recreate (but not re-imagine, thank god) the universe these
characters inhabit: Metropolis (no longer a stand-in for New York City, but
close), the Arctic-located Fortress of Solitude, and the Kent family farm in
Smallville, Kansas. I also loved searched and usually finding the little
things that Singer has carried over from Donner's work: Lois Lane (Kate
Bosworth) is still a terrible speller and smokes on occasion; Clark Kent
still can't negotiate a revolving door and still loves the word “swell.”
This is the Superman I grew up loving. Rather than change everything, Singer
adds to it in ways that I couldn't help but be in awe of the first time
through.
The second viewing, I was determined to actually judge the movie as a movie,
as an entertainment machine for people not as familiar or enthused about
Superman. I found myself even more drawn in by Singer's take on these
familiar characters and themes. Superman has been missing from the world for
five years after astronomers believed they have found remnants of his
homeworld Krypton. Using the spacecraft he was sent to earth in as an infant
(which is apparently reusable), Superman leaves his adoptive earth to found
out something about who he is. Singer never misses an opportunity to cast
Superman as the outsider, the man alone; earthlings love him, but that
doesn’t make him one of them. Although he doesn't approach the darkness of,
say, the Batman, Superman is far more brooding, contemplative, and desperate
for love than we've seen him before on film. There's almost an indication
that he performs his heroic deeds because the adoration of the people fuels
him. He can't help but smile at the TV reports of his crime- and
disaster-stopping ways.
Assuming that the film takes place in the present day, Superman being gone
from the earth for five years also implies (although it's never specifically
said) that he wasn't here to stop the events of 9-11 from happening or the
war that followed. (A similar device was used in the last James Bond movie.)
Upon his return to earth, he spends some time with his mother Martha (Eva
Marie Saint) on the farm, remembering more innocent peaceful times as a
young boy when he was just discovering his powers. These are moments we
never saw in the first Superman (the Clark Kent we see here in flashbacks is
younger than the high schooler in Donner's film), and they are simply
beautiful.
But the stuff most people care about begins with Clark's return to
Metropolis and to his old job at the Daily Planet. It doesn't take long for
him to see how much things have changed. Lois has a young son and a fiancé
(X-Men's James Marsden), Richard White, nephew of Planet editor Perry White
(Frank Langella). And on his first day back in town, Superman already has a
catastrophic event to deal with: the crash landing of a plane full of
reporters, including Lois. Holy living crap, I can't wait to see this
sequence in 3D. With the full power of CGI and infinitely better blue screen
technology, Singer cuts loose on showing us just how agile and powerful
Superman truly is. His strength, speed, and heat vision are all on full
display in this sequence, and it will melt your mind how cool it is.
The flip side of this equation is the story of Lex Luthor (Kevin Spacey) and
his gang of henchmen. Spacey's Luthor is still playful like Gene Hackman,
but he's far more menacing and dangerous, less of a jester. In other words,
he's as evil as they come, and his King-of-the-World plan to essentially
grow a continent in the Atlantic Ocean using crystals stolen from Superman's
Fortress of Solitude is as ingenious as it is impractical. (If you drown
billions of people by growing a new land mass, who would be left to actually
purchase your real estate? And Al Gore thinks global warming is a problem!)
And I found it fascinating that Luthor once again (as he did in the first
two films) devices an evil scheme that involves creating valuable real
estate where once there was none. Blessedly, Luthor's supporting cast is not
all about broad humor and dumb jokes, although the casting of Parker Posey
as his assistant Kitty Kowalski comes close sometimes. I did find it strange
that Luthor's technical wizard is played by Kal Penn (Kumar of Harold and
Kumar fame); not only is he not called upon to be funny, he also isn't given
a single line in the film.
In one of the film's most talked about and fascinating scenes, Luthor and
his crew must travel to the Fortress of Solitude to gather the crystals. Lex
stands before the control panel where the younger Clark stood years earlier
to learn all about who is really is. The face of Superman's real father
Jor-El (a resurrected, god-like Marlon Brando) appears to provide whoever is
watching with information on any subject. Luthor utters the spine-chilling
line “Tell me everything, starting with the crystals.”
If you thought it was tedious that we don't even see Superman in costume
until about an hour into the first Superman, don't be too freaked out that
Superman and Luthor don't actually come face to face until the top of hour
two in Superman Returns. But when they meet, their battle is sensational and
brutal. And I enjoyed the way Singer incorporates most of his major
characters into the final scenes. Richard's skills as a pilot come in handy;
Lois never forgets that she's a journalist and uses her investigative skills
to track down Luthor (albeit inadvertently); and her son...well, he helps
out to. No one is left just standing around waiting to be a hapless victim
waiting to get saved or taken down.
Today's world is a place in which nearly every news event is captured on
amateur video tape or on someone's camera phone, and this fact isn't lost in
this film. This is also a world desperate for someone to fly in and save it,
and while that will never happen in the real world, it's nice to know there
are places where a savior to all humankind exists. On more than one
occasion, Singer shows us Superman hovering over the earth, listening to
every single sound coming from it just so he can single out those voices in
need of help. Superman floats in space, arms slightly extended, brow
furrowed, cape billowing around him like a red aura. Never on film has he
seemed more Christ-like (the tortured only son of a white-haired disembodied
figure who apparently has infinite knowledge? Come on), and it suits him. On
the flip side, Superman has never seemed more human. He relentlessly comes
on to Lois, stalks her a little, and practically begs her to leave Richard
and be with him. But a part of us (and him and her) knows this can probably
never be, and you actually feel kind of sorry for the man who can do
everything but not have what he truly wants.
As good as all of the actors are here, let's face it: the film lives or dies
on Routh's performance. Some will say that he's the embodiment of
Christopher Reeve's portrayal of Superman, but this isn't entirely true. He
does resemble him, I'll give you that, and there are times while he's
playing Clark Kent that it scared me how much he acting and sounded like the
late actor. But when he reveals the blue costume and red accessories, he's
his own man. This is not the same Superman of your youth, and I'm not
completely sure I can explain why. He's more mature. The trip to find the
remains of Krypton has changed him, hardened him significantly. He's still a
genuinely good and kind person, but he gets lost in his own mind and
shadowed thoughts more often, and Routh adds a subtle and necessary weight
to the proceedings.
Superman Returns is the finest and most well-rounded film about superheroes
ever made. This is a film that doesn't skimp on the action, but also bothers
to take the time to develop and grow its characters. To those who say the
film is flawed or that they were disappointed, I say that you need to remind
yourself what made the original Superman so important. It wasn't just the
behavior and actions of the super-powered beings, it was the way the rest of
the world incorporated them into the culture. When Singer directed the first
two X-Men movies, he put a great deal of emphasis on how the world's mutants
are feared and hated by most. Here, Superman is revered and loved, something
the lonely Clark Kent desperately needs, but he's still very much alone in
the world. Superman Returns isn't simply good, it's damn near perfect, and
it gets better with repeated viewings.
Capone
Send Your Kryptonite Here, Bitch!
