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Superman Returns
3 of 4 Stars
Rated: PG-13 (Should be PG)
Starring: Brandon Routh, Kate Bosworth, James Marsden, Kevin Spacey,
Parker Posey
Directed by: Bryan Singer
Produced by: Chris Lee, Thomas Tull, Scott Mednick (II)
One of the most anticipated movies of the decade has finally arrived and, to
the pleasure of Christopher Reeve’s fans, you will not be even one bit
disappointed. This recent addition to the Superman franchise is right in line
with its predecessors and does them their due justice. OK, well actually the
last two in the series where absolute rubbish, but Superman 1 and 2 were
great. I would say that Superman Returns is better than Superman 1 and not
quite as good as Superman 2, which I still regard as the greatest superhero
movie ever made.
From the opening sequences of the movie to the quirky Superman one-liners,
things are just as they left them from the older movies. The movies actually
fall right in line with the comic book storyline as well, and they follow the same
sequence of events unlike most new superhero movies where they decide to
do a whole new spin off. This time Superman has been gone on vacation for
5 years. OK, well maybe he has been off in space trying to discover his roots,
but it’s pretty much the same thing. He returns to find Lex Luthor out of jail
and Lois Lane somewhat engaged to her live-in boyfriend with whom she has
a child. There are some absolute shockers in this movie so don’t ruin it for
yourself by asking anyone to tell you about it. I am being as vague as
possible because every part of the movie is fun to explore on your own and
the element of surprise is really a blast.
Superman Returns explores the human element in a very similar fashion to
the older movies, allowing the character to be drawn into the real world of
love and heartache, without forgetting the super human element. Superman
Returns also adds a new twist to the movie series when they explore his
abilities and show them in traditional TV series fashion. Back are the
stereotypical scenes with the machine gun’s bullets bouncing off Superman’s
chest, his super vision deflecting and melting various elements, and
Superman leaping tall buildings in a single bound.
The biggest question of the day is: Can Brandon Routh pull off Superman as
well as Christopher Reeve? Honestly, there is only one Christopher Reeve
and no one can play the role as well as he did. That said, Routh actually did a
great job. It was very hard for me to adjust to the change since I grew up
anticipating every movie that Reeve did and absolutely revering the
character. I was finally warming up to the newcomer after about 30 minutes of
the movie when I realized that he is perfect for the role now that Reeve is
gone. Part of what I didn’t like in the beginning was the appearance that
Routh was trying to play Reeve instead of Superman, but as he settled into
the role he created his own identity away from Reeve.
Kevin Spacey who plays Lex Luthor was pretty good but he is no Gene
Hackman. Kevin appears to be overacting quite a bit throughout the movie.
Parker Posey who plays Lex’s insanely dumb girlfriend/sidekick is just that,
dumb. She attempts to deliver some of the lamest jokes of the movie,
however they are all purposefully dumb, in a sad effort to keep the campy
style of the original movie. Neither of these distractions really takes away from
the movie, but you just never really appreciate their abilities as actors or their
characters.
Another element is the Christ factor. Yes, this movie TOTALLY plays
Superman as the savior of the world and shows many depictions of how he
represents Christ to the world. At one point Superman even says “You say
that the world does not need a Savior, but I hear their cries every moment.”,
in others he ascends to the sky with this arms in a cross fashion, another he
is pierced in the side with kryptonite and the coming back to earth, appears
as if he the returning Christ. For some reason, I had mixed feelings about it
this time. I didn’t like the depiction before because it just seemed wrong but
this time it seemed more like they were preaching that there could be a
“savior” and that the world does in fact need a “savior.” I don’t like the
correlation between the two because there obviously is a huge difference
between a God that dies on the cross for our sins and a man that flies around
in red underwear and a cape, but I do think that there’s an underlying
message that there is, in fact, a need for something in the world that is
superhuman and something that is more powerful than us. People obviously
know that Superman is not real, so my only hope is that they will somehow
search for Who that “Savior” is and find Christ, the REAL Savior of the world.
The end of this movie might leave you a bit bummed, not because it’s a bad
ending but because there is too much that needs to happen to cram
everything into a 2 and a half hour movie. This movie is very similar to the
first two in that they really are “to be continued.” Just understand that when
this movie ends, it’s not over - there will FOR SURE be a sequel (due out in
2009).
PARENTAL WARNING: This movie was cleaner that the first 4 movies. The
first had some dirty jokes and a lot of cleavage. This movie really doesn’t
have any bad jokes at all. They have one very subtle comment but nothing
more. Lois Lane and her boyfriend are living together and that is as bad as
the movie gets with filth. There is absolutely NO sex, NO bad jokes, NO blood,
NO bad language, and just one subtle reference. This movie is totally fine for
all ages.
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