Superman Returns

[logisticslad]

Overall, I give it a B. I thought that the movie was too long and did not display enough emotional depth to be fully satisfying. They cast everyone to physically resemble the Christopher Reeve Superman cast, and while they didn't have to, that actually worked pretty well.

Spoilers behind the cut...

The new Superman captured Reeve's innocent naivete as Clark and his drive to do right as Superman. There was chemistry between him and Lois. However, there was more chemistry between each of them and James Marsden! whom I thought did a great job in the movie. The story takes place 5 years after Superman II, describing what has happened after Superman has gone exploring in space for those 5 years. There was a fun cameo by the woman who played Lois Lane in the 40's and also by the billionaire owner of Virgin (who must be friends with the director or something). I liked how it was never quite clear whether the kid had powers or not. I didn't like how nobody really talked about what they wanted in the situation and how to resolve it. The running joke with the dog was a bit over the top. The music was done by John Williams and so included many references to the Reeve movies in unfortunately unsubtle ways. The classic Superman lines were in the script in interesting ways and they did indeed use Marlon Brando's old footage a la Olivier in Sky Captain. I liked the theme that Superman's absence had as many effects as his presence, but it just didn't resolve in a satisfying way for me. So in the end, I thought it was good, but it could have been better.

Comments

[cyan-blue.livejournal.com]

I liked that they dealt with the love triangle honourably.

[logisticslad.livejournal.com]

I have no problem with the outcome for the love triangle, despite its departure from the comics. And you're quite right - Superman could never break up a family. I was expecting Richard to die by the end of the film in order to rsolve things and was pleased that a more complicated situation was depicted. What I found unsatisfying was that they didn't really talk to each other about what they wanted, and Lois never seemed to make an actual decision. She appeared to let circumstances and status quo make her decisions for her.