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The man of
steel has returned! With the previous Superman
films, not counting the first one, we had
severe plot holes, unnecessary comedy and
bad writing. The last two were the worst,
basically sacrificing good writing for,
well, I have no idea what for. The point
is that while Superman Returns
may not ever make us get over how terrible
the series was treated with the previous
films, at least this one is a firm competitor
for outshining the first film. It might
very well be the best Superman
movie to date.
While it
may have been a bad thing that director
Bryan Singer left the X-Men franchise
to do this movie, it sure paid off for
bringing Superman back to life. In Singer’s
mind, Superman III and IV
do not exist, making this one part 3 (although
Superman Returns can also be
watched as Superman V as well
with no continuity errors whatsoever).
The spirit of the original film is maintained
with how this film looks and feels. Even
before the movie really starts, his respect
for the first one is evident right away
with the opening credits, which take on
the same retro style font the original
ones had as we hear in the background
the familiar (and exhilarating) original
Superman theme that John Williams
scored. We are immediately taken back
to the late 70s and early 80s, and our
minds and hearts believe once again that
a man can really fly.
Once we
finally get passed the nostalgic credits
at the beginning, the movie takes flight.
Superman has been gone from earth for
five years in search for what astronomers
claimed were remains of planet Krypton,
Superman's long since extinct home planet.
He hoped he might find something there,
some sense of meaning to his life. But
very little was left. So he decides to
return to earth, only to find out that
many things have changed, particularly
with Daily Planet journalist Lois Lane
(played by Kate Bosworth - a much younger-looking,
but cuter actress than Margot Kidder,
who played Lois in the originals). She
was Superman's female love interest from
the previous films, but now she has a
new boyfriend (James Marsden, from the
X-Men films) and a son (Tristan
Lake Leabu). She has even written a Pulitzer
Prize winning article entitled "Why
the World Doesn't Need Superman,"
which is obviously a personal vendetta
she has against him just disappearing
without a word. So the question is, what
happens between Superman and Lois, now
that he has returned?
Meanwhile,
Superman's arch nemesis and master criminal
mind Lex Luther got away with not going
to prison because Superman did not show
up at his trial because he was away. Since
Superman's reentry into earthling society,
Luther has been planning a scheme to use
Superman's crystal technology from Krypton
that was used to build his home in the
North Pole to create an entire continent
made of Kryptonite that will flood over
other continents, be deadly to Superman
and make Luther ruler of the world. Pretty
cool, huh? Well, it sounds kind of corny
on paper, but it really does work well
in this movie. Remember, we're dealing
with a comic book film here.
Roger Mussenden
and Ann Robinson did a tremendous job
casting this film, particularly with Brandon
Routh as Superman and Kevin Spacey as
Lex Luthor. Both prove to be suited well
for there roles. Routh not only looks
like Christopher Reeve, but he got his
mannerisms down as well. There were some
times where it looked as if the spirit
of Reeve possessed Routh as an actor,
with his nerdy smirks and clumsiness taking
center stage. The only disappointment
was that he was not given more dialogue.
As for Spacey, well, all that can be said
is that he was perfect. He even looks
and acts kind of like Gene Hackman, but
plays Lex much more sinisterly. He no
longer surrounds himself with idiotic
goons, and comes off as much more of a
darker character - which is a good thing
for this film. He actually seems to be
a real threat to Superman this time around.
This movie definitely delivers what the
spirit of what Superman was all about
in the first and second films. He is all
about "truth, justice, and all that
other stuff." Yes, the writers cut
out "and the American way" when
Perry White (Frank Langella) says this
line in the film. Does that mean that
the writers of this movie are saying that
Superman does not stand for the American
way anymore? Of course not. It simply
means that we live in a world where there
are more countries besides ourselves that
think the same way we do about helping
others and telling the truth, thus it
is not just the "American way"
anymore. It is "the right and moral
way of all decent people."
Any decent person, from any part of the
globe, respects someone who does not lie
and does everything he or she can to serve
others. Oh, and not saying the "American
way" might prove beneficial to the
film's box office results overseas. Take
that for what you will...
What else can be said, except that we
could not ask for a better Superman
film - especially after the debacle of
films that were Superman III
and IV? The only good thing that
can be said about those movies is that
they helped pave the way for one really
spectacular film now with Superman
Returns. We have great action sequences,
particularly with Superman coming to the
rescue of an airplane crashing to the
ground, and pretty much any other time
he comes to rescue people. The cinematography
is angelic, embodying the very essence
of who Superman is. The film definitely
feels like it is a part of the series.
Lastly, it has near perfect casting, near
perfect writing, etc. (if one pays attention,
many lines of dialogue from the previous
films were used in this one. They also
cast as minor characters Jack Larson and
Noel Neill, who played Jimmy Olsen and
Lois Lane, respectively, in the original
1950s TV series). We now can only ask
for complete perfection, which
is a rarity among films. If Superman had
more to say in this film (a.k.a. give
him more dialogue next time!), it might
have been perfect. If somehow Clark Kent
and Superman had not returned coincidently
at the same time, it might have been perfect
(seems like people would catch on to his
identity, doesn‘t it?). But those
are minor quibbles, as the previous films
contained far more plot holes. Superman
Returns almost works on every level,
and that is saying a lot for this series.
IMAX 3D:
Anytime one gets to see a special effects
film on IMAX is a treat. But to see it
in 3D (or at least some of it, as is the
case with this film), is even better.
Four scenes are in 3D here:
1) Clark Kent as a kid, testing his powers
at his home in Smallville. We see him
leaping cornstalks in a single bound,
practically flying. Kind of a weird choice
for 3D, but it was interesting to see.
2) Superman rescuing the airplane that
is falling to its demise. This was an
obvious choice to make in 3-D, and is
the highlight of the 3D sequences. Superman
seems to be flying right out into the
audience at times, as does the airplane.
3) The creation of the Kryponite continent.
Another obvious choice for 3D, and it
proved to work quite well.
4) Superman flying into outerspace before
the end credits. This was a poor choice,
since the sequence lasts about a minute
and there is not much to see.
What would have been cool is if they put
the opening credits in 3D. If anyone remembers
what they looked like in the original,
the credits look like they are flying
out at the audience. Why not make they
really do that? Not only that,
but there is a sequence with Krypton blowing
up at the beginning before the credits.
These two things were obvious choices
for 3D, and they could have counted them
as one sequence since they happen one
right after the other.
Overall, I enjoyed the IMAX 3D Superman
Returns, but they could have made
better choices for scenes to be converted
into 3D. It would have been nice for them
to include more 3D scenes than just the
four listed above. But this was due to
time-contraints and such, so we cannot
really be too ungrateful. What we received
is a lot of fun, and worth the money,
since you can either pay $12.00 for an
IMAX film, or you can pay $12.00 for an
IMAX film with 3D sequences.
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(out of four)
