Superman Returns Review
I haven’t really followed the build up to the release of “Superman Returns” beyond seeing a few pictures of Kal-el’s new pants, and so I didn’t know quite what I was getting. I was expecting a standalone re-imagining of the franchise, but what I got is a movie that clearly links itself to the Christopher Reeve series of films, or at least with the first couple — Nuclear Man wasn’t mentioned — through the direct inclusion of materials from those earlier movies. The John Williams theme music is resurrected, and no complaints about that, as it’s as strongly associated with Superman as the big red ‘S’. Also imported are an impressionistic, if not exact, copy of the Fortress of Solitude set from the Reeve movies along with a murky replay of Marlon Brando as Jor-el. Oh, and it also copies the entire plot from the 1978 film, but I’ll get on to that later.
Superman himself is visually quite pleasing. If Reeve is considered the standard, then Routh’s impersonation is not bad at all. The costume that looked a bit tatty in preview shots is not obviously so in the edit. I still have problems with the pristine plastic chest badge in the sense that I’m curious if Ma Kent has an injection moulding plant behind the barn, but I can let it pass. The director, Bryan Singer, seems pleased with the look too, and demonstrates huge confidence in his visual interpretation. He goes out of his way to (re)produce iconic images from the original films and the comics. The first third of the movie is a constant stream of potential poster shots with Superman striking various dramatic poses against space vistas or the Metropolis skyline accompanied by the stirring Williams theme. It’s as if Singer wants to beat down any possible doubters with brute force imagery: This is the real Superman, dickhead, and don’t you think for a second it isn’t.
I’m not about to argue with him. All in all, the cape flowed, the quiff curled, the set-piece shots were all beautiful to look at and avoided the cheese-factor that threatens Superman above all superhero franchises and I was happy.
Of course the costume and the quiff aren’t enough, Superman does superstuff, and that brings me on to the flying. It works and it doesn’t. In one or two instances we see Superman blurring into the action and slamming to a concrete-splintering halt in the manner that seems just “how you would do it if you could”. He’s, you know, super and all that. In other instances, he weedily floats, bobs and slides around on his stomach as if he’s the asthmatic kid learning to swim on a tummy-board. Un-super in my opinion.
There are similar issues with his interactions with the rest of the world. In one scene we are treated to a demonstration of his lack of respect for bullets, culminating in a beautiful slow-mo view of a slug fired from point-blank range simply disintegrating against his cornea. It’s like Bryan Singer discovered that every kid in the world has had a conversation about Superman being shot in the eye and wrote it into the film. Somewhere in your cold, adult intellect, that kid you used to be will cheer.
Unfortunately, the cold, adult intellect won’t be so happy about other elements. Superman is super. I buy that or the movie doesn’t work at all, so that’s a given. Here’s the thing though: the rest of the world isn’t super. I’m not a complete nerd about this stuff — his costume really should be able to deal with much of what he gets up to, but I’ll allow that he can’t keep on finding himself naked because his clothes are burned off by air friction. Other stuff though, no.
Example, there are a couple of scenes where quiff-boy lifts some heavy items. Okay, super-ness, gotcha, but the thing he’s lifting isn’t super. You can’t put several tens of tons (several million/billion at one point) on a support the size of a man’s shoulders without the object simply breaking. It doesn’t make sense. Another example, if you are a 6’4″ super-hero, it’s safe to say that your chest volume is about the same as a 6’4″ man. Unless your super-powers include “infinite capacity lungs” you can’t blow an explosion back up a pipe that is 10 feet across, because there isn’t enough air in your lungs to blow.
These problems are harder to forgive because the effects guys have gone to some effort to include other details, such as impact shockwaves and stress fractures, that lay claim to physical reality. It’s a case of doing part of the job so well that the bits you didn’t try so hard with stand out. If you can’t get past these sorts of reality concerns, then you’re going to have credulity issues with “Superman Returns”. Personally, I choose to let the problems go while watching the film, but reserve the right to bore people down the pub with the reasons why they wouldn’t work. I’ll have my cake and eat it too, thanks very much.
Routh as Clark Kent is less satisfying, but the script doesn’t contain a lot of Clark time in it. There’s nowhere near the amount of comedy around Clark’s clumsiness that marked the Reeve movies and we get certainly nothing like the taxi accident from the original that allows us to enjoy watching the alter-ego as much as the super-hero. This is a pity, especially given the two and a half hour running time that surely provided room to explore a Clark storyline. Perhaps we’ll get more in a subsequent film.
Aside from the man of steel himself, the other characters don’t disappoint for the most part. Kevin Spacey is instantly acceptable as Lex Luthor and while I wouldn’t accuse him of copying Hackman’s reading, it would be safe to say that they don’t disagree on many points. It’s not a problem, as Hackman was superb in the role and Kevin Spacey is no less convincing. If there is a criticism it’s that he seems to find it too easy, appearing to stroll through the film, but the air of mocking detachment from his surroundings is part of the Luthor character. Even if this is Spacey being lazy, he’s in-character doing it.
Among the smaller roles, indie-fave Parker Posey does a competent turn as the ditzy female sidekick to Luthor who has a soft-spot for Superman. Some credit goes to the handling of the character of Lois’s child, where they seem to have chosen to avoid asking the kid to act and just let him speak the lines and generally appear somewhat confused by matters, which is fairly naturalistic for a five year old child. The rest of the characters: Jimmy, Richard White — Lois’s husband and Perry White, Richard’s father and editor of the Planet have fairly minor roles, but they all worked for me even if they didn’t stand out as noteworthy.
There is one problem in with the characters and casting: Lois. Lois Lane was an experienced reporter in the original storyline and that storyline spanned a few years in itself. Now we are five years on from where we left and she’s had a child. I’m thinking that Lois must be around thirty years old, and considering the image presented by Margot Kidder, possibly nearer forty. Kate Bosworth is twenty three years old and looks more like twenty. So, physically, she just doesn’t look right, and as an actress the only positive I can think of is that she brings the full range of “teenager” to the role. Bosworth’s youth reduces the go-get-em, tough reporter character of Lois Lane to a petulant, sulky and demanding adolescent with an overblown sense of entitlement. I hope she’s some kind of draw with the kids, because she’s a hopeless piece of casting from every other angle. You have to wonder whether there was a mixup between Posey and Bosworth’s casting calls.
So, the plot. The script is a direct reworking of the 1978 film’s storyline, just with the origin replaced with a flashback and the “Return” of the title where Superman repeats his crash landing on the Kent farm, this time as an adult. The details of Luthor’s scheme are different to his attempt to break California off the U.S. with nukes in the original movie, but the intention is the same and the plot follows the same essential path. There’s one major new element introduced, but I won’t spoil that, even though it’s fairly obvious from very early on.
If you’ve seen the original then you may find that the middle section drags a little. When you know how the story has to end, the only real interest in the various perils that beset the characters is how they will overcome them. In this case, you have to be interested in how Superman will deal with the situation. Unfortunately, if the resolution to the problem is “he can fly in and pick them up”, we’re left with something that doesn’t exactly hold your attention. The writers should have paid more attention to the earlier movies and scenes like the refinery fire where we at least have the fun of knowing that Superman can’t simply punch the fire out or lift it off the refinery.
It’s possible to see the direct reflection of the original movie as cheap, but if you buy the concept, it all falls into place. The sets, the theme, the way the characters are played (except for Bosworth) and the plot combine in a homage/remake/new chapter all in one. “Here’s a new movie, but you’ve seen it already” is not a great selling point on the face of it, but it’s a cunning way to bring the franchise back and unite the old and new audiences. It worked for me anyway, I liked it.
