I remember years ago opening the Arts section of The Miami Herald and seeing the ad for the movie "Superman." The ad showed the iconic image of an opened up shirt revealing the "S" insignia on the costume of Superman's chest. "Superman" was released in December 1978, and if memory serves, I saw the movie on Christmas day. I was five years old.
By today's standards, the special effects in "Superman" are pretty cheesy, and truthfully speaking, there's a lot in the movie that I loved as a kid that I don't like as an adult. When I was a kid, the "Otis" character (played by Ned Beatty) was hilarious, but now he seems like an annoying distraction, and a source of unwanted camp. When I was a kid, seeing Superman fly around the world and make the planet move in reverse, thereby allowing a "do over" of sorts, seemed really cool. As an adult, it's so illogical and stupid that I can't help but roll my eyes just thinking about it. There are a lot of flaws in "Superman," but the good in the movie is REALLY good, and most importantly, the movie was epic, treating the character seriously, and setting the bar very high for comic book movies.
Two years later, "Superman II" came out, and though I liked it as a kid, I have serious issues with it now. The flaws are much greater than in the first film, and the good scenes are few and far between. Still, it's entertaining, and compared to "Superman III," it's a masterpiece. As for "Superman IV: The Quest for Peace," well, the less said about it, the better. The one thing that all four films had that I can't say a single negative thing about is the man who played the dual role of Clark Kent and Superman. Christopher Reeve was absolutely perfect, in both roles. The thing about Christopher Reeve's performance that I'll never forget is how he looked while flying. He looked so comfortable, as though he'd been doing it his entire life. Obviously, it's all special effects, blue screen, and all that, but the look on his face, the position of his body, and just the overall comfort he showed in the flying scenes is what I'll remember most. One of the taglines for the original film was "You'll believe a man can fly," and the reason we could all believe it was because of how Christopher Reeve looked doing it.
Almost 30 years after "Superman" hit theaters, we get "Superman Returns," which is practically a direct sequel to "Superman II" (the filmmakers wisely decided that "Superman III" and "Superman IV" never happened). Just about every review I've read for "Superman Returns" mentions the revolving door of directors that came through before production actually began. I won't get into that, but I WILL say that I was really happy to hear that Bryan Singer was chosen to direct the film. He did great work with "X-Men" and "X2: X-Men United," and I was really looking forward to seeing his vision for the Man of Steel. Then I saw the costume. Ugh. I instantly hated it. The classic Superman costume was updated for modern audiences (or whatever), and the red in the costume was replaced by maroon, the cape looked to be made of leather, and the "S" insignia on the chest, which is supposed to be big and majestic, was considerably smaller. Not cool. Still, I had faith in the film because of Bryan Singer. Besides, there was an uproar over the massive changes to the costumes in "X-Men," but after watching the movie, no one seemed to complain.
I was indifferent to the casting of Brandon Routh as Superman/Clark Kent. I was hoping that an unknown actor would take the role, and that's what we got, but the truth is that NO ONE could replace Christopher Reeve. After Brandon Routh was announced as the man playing Superman, I saw pictures of him online, and I was glad to see that he looked the part, but other than that, I was skeptical. I knew he couldn't be as good as Christopher Reeve, so I just hoped he'd do a decent job. When Kate Bosworth was announced as the actress playing Lois Lane, I was surprised, because she's blonde. Still, I knew she was a good actress (I was impressed with her in "Blue Crush"), and I figured she'd be fine in the role. The casting announcement that made me wanna stand and applaud was Kevin Spacey as Lex Luthor. All of the comic book geeks rejoiced after that announcement. Then came the teaser and the trailers, all of which were great, and they did a lot to build anticipation.
Despite my misgivings about the costume and my skepticism about Brandon Routh, by the time the movie was released, my hopes were really high. Unfortunately, the movie didn't live up to my expectations. Don't get me wrong, I liked the movie. I liked it a lot, actually, but it wasn't as great as I'd hoped it would be. I did like it, though. I was gonna see it a second time before writing this review, but my dog ended up getting really sick, and I decided against going. I think my opinion would have remained the same, though. Really good movie, but not as good as I'd hoped.
Much to my surprise, one of the best things about "Superman Returns" is Brandon Routh. No, he may not be Christopher Reeve, but he was still really good. He was believable as Clark Kent, and he was believable as Superman. He may not have the presence that Christopher Reeve had, nor does he have that knack for making flying look so believable, but he was really good in the role. Kate Bosworth was great as Lois Lane, and Kevin Spacey was perfect as Lex Luthor, but it's Brandon Routh's performance that I'll remember the most, since it was so totally unexpected. When it comes time for the inevitable sequel, I hope Brandon Routh will be playing the role again.
There's a storyline in "Superman Returns" that veers waaaaaay off the comics, and although I'd much prefer it if the movie didn't get into it at all, I have to admit that I didn't hate it as much as I thought I would. I won't get into what it is, but comic book geeks know what I'm talking about. I'm curious to know how the majority of comic book geeks feel about that storyline. Oh, and I'm happy to report that "Superman Returns" incorporates almost no elements from the TV show, "Smallville," a show I don't like at all. That show veers off the comic to such a degree, it's damn near unforgivable.
Bryan Singer did a really good job with "Superman Returns," but I have to be honest and say that I wanted more action. The movie focused heavily on the love triangle between Lois, Clark, and Lois' boyfriend, and I don't think that anyone walking into the film wanted more of that stuff than Superman action. I certainly didn't. In short, I wanted more fun. "Superman Returns" becomes a lot like a soap opera at certain points, and although it was compelling, it's not what I wanted to see. I guess some blame should also fall on the script. The screenplay was written by Michael Dougherty & Dan Harris (together they helped write "X2: X-Men United"), though Bryan Singer collaborated with them on the story. I know that I'm making it sound like I didn't like the movie, but I did. It's just that my hopes were probably higher than they should have been, and I think that too much time was focused on the love triangle.
"Superman Returns" is a really good movie, but I wanted more Superman action and less Lois and Clark soap opera. Also, despite not totally hating it, I would rather the movie didn't include the storyline that veered so far from the comics. "Superman Returns" was a little too long, a little too slow, and less epic than I would have liked, but it's still a really good movie. Yes, it has its share of flaws, but so did the original "Superman," and perhaps over time, I will appreciate "Superman Returns" in the same way that I appreciate the 1978 film. I'll always hate the updated costume, though.
Scale of 1-10: 8