Return Engagement

I just got home from seeing Superman Returns. I know that a lot of people out there were totally jazzed about seeing this movie. To me, this was just one more summer blockbuster among many. And boy, was I glad to have approached it that way, because that's exactly what I got. The movie was like Chinese food. It was fairly tasty while it lasted, but less than half an hour later, I felt "hungry" again and totally unsatisfied.

The set-up of the movie seemed to create a background where some real emotion could be portrayed. Superman goes off to find Krypton and comes back empty-handed, isolated and alone. Except that he's almost instantly over that, and it's basically never an issue again for the whole movie. Lois goes through some motions about being betrayed or angry or something, but it too fails to amount to anything. Pick the worst episode of Lois & Clark, and you'll find more spark and genuine emotion than made it to the screen in this movie.

So all that basically covers the "minus column." In the "plus column," Kevin Spacey gives a pretty fun performance. He makes Luthor more diabolical in a way Gene Hackman never quite landed (though probably never intended to). The effects are pretty jaw-dropping. And there's a "big reveal" in the movie that could be pretty fun, assuming you've managed to last this long without having it spoiled for you somewhere. (All the entertainment magazines and sites have already ruined the surprise, though.)

But most of the movie falls in the "maybe plus, maybe minus column -- depending on your perspective":

Brandon Routh channels Christopher Reeve so thoroughly, it's damn creepy at times. His performance both in the suit and as Clark Kent must be the result of watching Reeve's performance so many times as to have worn out a dozen copies of the tape. I truly couldn't decide how I felt about this.

It's not the only thing ripped straight from the original films, either. Composer John Ottman has faithfully integrated pieces of John Williams famous music. The opening credits whoosh at you in that same block letter 3-D of the 1970s. The closing "flight over the Earth, turn and smile for the camera" moment has been duplicated. These were pluses in my book.

The messianic metaphor is evoked repeatedly. (I'd say strangled to within an inch of its life, but here again, it's a matter of your own perspective.) Superman does the "crucifixion pose" multiple times in the film.

Superman remains as "variably vulnerable" to kryptonite in this story as he usually seems to be. He's as vulnerable as the plot requires. Sometimes, kryptonite makes it so he can't even move. Other times, he possesses a "Wile E. Coyote over the edge of a cliff"-like ability to not really be harmed until he notices it's there. (I put this in the "plus or minus" column because if you don't normally mind this, no problem here. If it drives you nuts, it will this time too.)

Bottom line, I give the film a C. And this final opinion: I suspect that the average person's perceptions of the film will perfectly match the expectations he brings in. If you're all aboard with Superman and excited for what you expect to see here, I think the movie will deliver that to you. If you're pretty neutral going in, I think that's what you'll get.