Post by kalkamel on Jul 3, 2006 14:30:02 GMT 8
After watching crapfests like Mission Impossible III, The Da Vinci Code and the movie that takes the crown, X3: The Last Turd, I was gonna give up hope on 2006’s blockbuster offerings. In fact, the only good movie I saw this year up till 2 days ago was V for Vendetta. Then I saw Superman Returns. My hope is restored.
I got hooked on Superman comics after reading John Byrne’s excellent miniseries in the mid-80s. The Salkind movies version with Chris Reeves also fueled my interest. Superman The Movie was absolutely fun to watch. Richard Donner absolutely captured the legend and catered it to a wider audience on the big screen. Donner midway exit for Superman II to give way for Richard Lester somehow reduced the depth of the story to make way for more comedy, but it didn’t really spoil the excitement for me. And despite the reviews, I kinda liked Superman III (I had the complete Topps cards collection!). But come Superman IV: The Quest for Peace, it looked like the final nail on the coffin for the franchise was finally hammered in.
Since then I waited for Superman’s big screen return. In the late 90s there was talk of a new Superman movie with Nicolas Cage as the Man of Steel (begging the question “what were they thinking?”). I’m glad that didn’t take off. Then Kevin Smith climbed on board as writer and the script was leaked onto the internet to good reviews. It was a grandiose storyline, with Luthor teaming up with Brainiac to create Doomsday, who will battle Supes for the climax. But Smith’s discontent with WB executives, particularly Jon Peters, who insisted outrageous additions to the storyline, made him left the project. Again, Supes failed to take off. Then about 2 years ago, JJ Abrams was anointed as the writer with McG as director. JJ’s script also was leaked on the net and that began a massive fan protest due to the liberties JJ took in the reimagining of the characters that we all know so well. Due to the protests, WB decided to abort JJ’s script, he left and so did McG. Enter Bryan Singer.
Singer at that time was on an all time high after the success of both X-Men and X2: X-Men United. So it was natural for WB to rope him in to take over the directing job for their troubled superhero franchise. Singer did a wise thing. He took in his X-Men writing team, Mike Dougherty and Dan Harris and together they came up with a script that was not only faithful to the comic storyline, but was also a direct sequel to the Superman: The Movie and Superman II. He also brought in his Usual Suspects star, Kevin Spacey to play Lex Luthor and assigned music composing to his regular, John Ottman. And his best move was to cast a relative unknown, Brandon Routh, to play Superman/Clark Kent.
The result is an outstanding film. Just to give a brief synopsis: it would appear some time after defeating the Phantom Zone escapees in Superman II, the Man of Steel (Routh) took a 5 year leave of absence from Earth to search for the remains of his destroyed homeworld of Krypton. Within that 5 years, Lois Lane (Kate Bosworth) has found new love in the form of Cyclo… errr…. Richard White (James Marsden) and also has a child by the name of Jason (Tristan Lake Leabu). And she’s receiving the Pulitzer Prize for an article entitled “Why The World Doesn’t Need Superman”. Meanwhile, Lex Luthor (Spacey) inherits the wealth of an elderly woman after her death and sets upon his latest grand scheme, i.e. to use the technology of the Fortress of Solitude to his own benefit which would result in the death of billions, not millions, of lives. Superman returns (naturally) to find all these changes and questions whether the world still needs a savior or not.
When you watch Superman the Movie again now, you gotta admit, some parts of it are cheesy. But what made it work was Chris Reeve. He was truly the embodiment of the Man of Steel on the big screen for our generation (much like how Kirk Alyn and George Reeves were to their generation). So I was kinda skeptical of Brandon Routh. I didn’t accept Gerrard Christopher as Superboy, didn’t quite like Dean Cain as Superman and I sure as hell don’t dig Tom Welling as Kal-El, but when I saw Routh on screen as Supes, I was convinced he was the Second Coming of Christopher Reeve. Whether it was deliberate or not, there’s no denying that there are moments in the movie when you can mistakenly think you’re watching Reeve as Superman and as Clark Kent. Their resemblance is truly uncanny. And Routh’s acting of both parts is as if chanelling his inner Reeve. Sure Clark is still dorky, but Superman is a commanding presence. That is part of the reason why Superman Returns works.
Kate Bosworth is…. acceptable. I still think Evangeline Lilly (Kate from Lost) would make a better Lois, but that’s digressing. She doesn’t seem inquisitive enough to be a star journalist, more like a disgruntled soccer mom. Kevin Spacey… what more can I say about Kevin Spacey? Here’s a guy who can play any role you throw at him. And the best part is, he outdoes Gene Hackman’s Luthor. Although I didn’t quite agree with the decision to follow Hackman’s style in the first place (I prefer a more menacing and calculative Lex), Spacey plays Luthor with gusto, chewing the scenery wherever he’s in it. Parker Posey joins him as yet another bimbo Lex chooses to hang out with. Kal Penn is Kal Penn. At least he’s not Kumar.
The rest of the cast do their job admirably, most of all, James Marsden as Lois’ new love. I truly expected him to be a despicable character, someone Supes/Clark will later beat up on to claim Lois as the prize, but Marsden plays him very down to earth, not the slightest bit cocky. He’s unsure of Lois’ feelings for Superman and how that will affect his relationship with Lois, and Marsden is able to portray this uneasiness to the point that you can feel sorry for him.
The special effects in this film is awesome, but not to the point of distracting you from the story. The flying effects are well made, no doubt, thanks to the lessons learned from the Neo/Smith flying fight scene in Matrix Revolutions. Kudos should also go to John Ottman who orchestrated the score. His rendition of John William’s Superman Theme is a perfect tribute and definitely aids in making the movie a lot more enjoyable. I got goosebumps during the starting credits when I heard the familiar theme together with the familiar Salkind style credit sequence.
I walked out of the theater satisfied and content, and thinking that this is a Superman movie that the late Chris Reeve would’ve bee proud of. I would definitely see it again.
Kal (without the El)
I got hooked on Superman comics after reading John Byrne’s excellent miniseries in the mid-80s. The Salkind movies version with Chris Reeves also fueled my interest. Superman The Movie was absolutely fun to watch. Richard Donner absolutely captured the legend and catered it to a wider audience on the big screen. Donner midway exit for Superman II to give way for Richard Lester somehow reduced the depth of the story to make way for more comedy, but it didn’t really spoil the excitement for me. And despite the reviews, I kinda liked Superman III (I had the complete Topps cards collection!). But come Superman IV: The Quest for Peace, it looked like the final nail on the coffin for the franchise was finally hammered in.
Since then I waited for Superman’s big screen return. In the late 90s there was talk of a new Superman movie with Nicolas Cage as the Man of Steel (begging the question “what were they thinking?”). I’m glad that didn’t take off. Then Kevin Smith climbed on board as writer and the script was leaked onto the internet to good reviews. It was a grandiose storyline, with Luthor teaming up with Brainiac to create Doomsday, who will battle Supes for the climax. But Smith’s discontent with WB executives, particularly Jon Peters, who insisted outrageous additions to the storyline, made him left the project. Again, Supes failed to take off. Then about 2 years ago, JJ Abrams was anointed as the writer with McG as director. JJ’s script also was leaked on the net and that began a massive fan protest due to the liberties JJ took in the reimagining of the characters that we all know so well. Due to the protests, WB decided to abort JJ’s script, he left and so did McG. Enter Bryan Singer.
Singer at that time was on an all time high after the success of both X-Men and X2: X-Men United. So it was natural for WB to rope him in to take over the directing job for their troubled superhero franchise. Singer did a wise thing. He took in his X-Men writing team, Mike Dougherty and Dan Harris and together they came up with a script that was not only faithful to the comic storyline, but was also a direct sequel to the Superman: The Movie and Superman II. He also brought in his Usual Suspects star, Kevin Spacey to play Lex Luthor and assigned music composing to his regular, John Ottman. And his best move was to cast a relative unknown, Brandon Routh, to play Superman/Clark Kent.
The result is an outstanding film. Just to give a brief synopsis: it would appear some time after defeating the Phantom Zone escapees in Superman II, the Man of Steel (Routh) took a 5 year leave of absence from Earth to search for the remains of his destroyed homeworld of Krypton. Within that 5 years, Lois Lane (Kate Bosworth) has found new love in the form of Cyclo… errr…. Richard White (James Marsden) and also has a child by the name of Jason (Tristan Lake Leabu). And she’s receiving the Pulitzer Prize for an article entitled “Why The World Doesn’t Need Superman”. Meanwhile, Lex Luthor (Spacey) inherits the wealth of an elderly woman after her death and sets upon his latest grand scheme, i.e. to use the technology of the Fortress of Solitude to his own benefit which would result in the death of billions, not millions, of lives. Superman returns (naturally) to find all these changes and questions whether the world still needs a savior or not.
When you watch Superman the Movie again now, you gotta admit, some parts of it are cheesy. But what made it work was Chris Reeve. He was truly the embodiment of the Man of Steel on the big screen for our generation (much like how Kirk Alyn and George Reeves were to their generation). So I was kinda skeptical of Brandon Routh. I didn’t accept Gerrard Christopher as Superboy, didn’t quite like Dean Cain as Superman and I sure as hell don’t dig Tom Welling as Kal-El, but when I saw Routh on screen as Supes, I was convinced he was the Second Coming of Christopher Reeve. Whether it was deliberate or not, there’s no denying that there are moments in the movie when you can mistakenly think you’re watching Reeve as Superman and as Clark Kent. Their resemblance is truly uncanny. And Routh’s acting of both parts is as if chanelling his inner Reeve. Sure Clark is still dorky, but Superman is a commanding presence. That is part of the reason why Superman Returns works.
Kate Bosworth is…. acceptable. I still think Evangeline Lilly (Kate from Lost) would make a better Lois, but that’s digressing. She doesn’t seem inquisitive enough to be a star journalist, more like a disgruntled soccer mom. Kevin Spacey… what more can I say about Kevin Spacey? Here’s a guy who can play any role you throw at him. And the best part is, he outdoes Gene Hackman’s Luthor. Although I didn’t quite agree with the decision to follow Hackman’s style in the first place (I prefer a more menacing and calculative Lex), Spacey plays Luthor with gusto, chewing the scenery wherever he’s in it. Parker Posey joins him as yet another bimbo Lex chooses to hang out with. Kal Penn is Kal Penn. At least he’s not Kumar.
The rest of the cast do their job admirably, most of all, James Marsden as Lois’ new love. I truly expected him to be a despicable character, someone Supes/Clark will later beat up on to claim Lois as the prize, but Marsden plays him very down to earth, not the slightest bit cocky. He’s unsure of Lois’ feelings for Superman and how that will affect his relationship with Lois, and Marsden is able to portray this uneasiness to the point that you can feel sorry for him.
The special effects in this film is awesome, but not to the point of distracting you from the story. The flying effects are well made, no doubt, thanks to the lessons learned from the Neo/Smith flying fight scene in Matrix Revolutions. Kudos should also go to John Ottman who orchestrated the score. His rendition of John William’s Superman Theme is a perfect tribute and definitely aids in making the movie a lot more enjoyable. I got goosebumps during the starting credits when I heard the familiar theme together with the familiar Salkind style credit sequence.
I walked out of the theater satisfied and content, and thinking that this is a Superman movie that the late Chris Reeve would’ve bee proud of. I would definitely see it again.
Kal (without the El)