Return of the Superman flick
Jun. 29th, 2006 02:13 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
missroseroseHaving sold our TV to Chris and Jeanne last weekend while dealing with interminable shipping delays on the Toshiba DLP we ordered, Brian and I have found ourselves without any means to watch movies for a good week now. While this hasn't made too big a difference in our usual activities, last night we found ourselves missing the option, and decided to give the ol' movie theatre one last whirl and catch Superman Returns on its opening night.
Before I get into the movie itself, however, I would like to say that the theatre will not be sorely missed. The technological superiority of our own equipment aside, we managed to get seats next to the obligatory opening-night noisy/smelly drunks. On the plus side, however, the police came by to kick them out about three-quarters of the way through, which provided some entertainment that the movie, at that point, was somewhat lacking. Also, there was the fact that the downtown theatre's seats are far too uncomfortable for a 2 1/2 hour long movie - my arse was all but numb by the end.
On to the review, as it were...
Being a comic book geek at heart, Brian was very excited to see the previews for Superman Returns, especially with the plethora of well-done comic book movies that've been made lately (V for Vendetta and Batman Begins come to mind). I was somewhat less excited, but no less intrigued - never having subjected myself to Supermans II through IV, I was nonetheless interested to see how they might expand the franchise from its roots in the 70s. Superman has always struck me as an interesting character in potentia, but very few of his stories have actually explored him to any depth. Someone in![[livejournal.com profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/external/lj-community.gif)
metaquotes put it pretty succinctly - "He's like the Swiss Army Knife of superheroes. A new problem comes up, and *BAM*, Superman pulls out a new power to battle it." Good Action Comics fare, certainly, but not so interesting once you've literally explored every possible power beyond its point of ridiculousness, as the comics (and, to some extent, the movies) have. However, given the increasing number of stories exploring the lives and minds of characters that originated in comic books, it seemed reasonable to hope that upon Superman's return he, too, might show us what goes on in his head.
Unfortunately, while the movie occasionally plays with deeper concepts, in the end it is much more of a comic book movie (with all the action sequences, BIFFs, BAMs and POWs necessary for such intact) than a graphic novel (with its requirements for things like characters and story). The action sequences are fantastic and hold up well - most of them manage to create quite a bit of suspense. And it is wonderfully gratifying in a totally 6-year-old kind of way to see Superman returning to do what he does best - rescuing planes, foiling bank robberies, and (of course) posing for publicity photos. The script is pretty shallow and most of the characters one-note, but most of the actors hold up well and are honestly trying to make this an enjoyable, if not particularly deep, experience.
The big problem here is that obviously the writers have seen some of these films in which the comic-book character is more interesting and three-dimensional; and here it is that the script starts to flounder. We see hints at all kinds of themes about the darker side of being Superman - his loneliness, his feeling of alienation from humans, his relationship with Lois Lane, suddenly much more complicated now that she has a fianceé and son - but none of these are explored to any real depth. Superman spends a moment in space, the voice of his father playing in his head, contemplating the world below him and his alienation from it; but suddenly he looks at his watch and realizes it's time for the next big disaster. There's something going on with him here, but we only get tantalizing hints of it in between the ostensible story. There was also a rather touching subplot involving Superman's relationship to Lois' child. Unfortunately, since none of this is really developed past the embryonic stages, the only purposes it serves are to frustrate the members of the audience who were hoping for more than slam-bang action and to continue to lengthen an already overlong movie.
I also feel the need to mention how utterly disappointed I was with Kevin Spacey - not in his performance, per se, but in what the scriptwriters did (or didn't do) with him. Lex Luthor has many times been written as incredibly intelligent and charismatic - in short, an interesting villian. Given Spacey's history of playing roles where he's a few steps above everyone else in terms of intelligence, it seemed logical that that would be the angle they'd play. Instead, however, we get a double portion of "insane megalomaniac" with a heaping side of "egotist". And while he certainly doesn't come off as dumb, any intelligence he might have seems subservient to the cackling mad-scientist-thug-boss persona, which in addition to being uninteresting has also simply been done to death. Spacey does the best he can with the lines he has, but the character is so limited by the script that it might as well have been a less expensive actor with a shaved head. I mean, if you're going to hire an A-list actor, give him something to work with, nu?
Reading over these lines, I realize I'm coming off as rather negative, so I just want to state once more for the record - it was good to see Superman again, and it was fun watching him rescue people and fight crime and whatnot. But next time, could we push some of that aside and get more into who he is, and why he does the things he does? I really think there's any number of interesting stories there, if only someone in Hollywood as the cojones to make a movie about them.
Before I get into the movie itself, however, I would like to say that the theatre will not be sorely missed. The technological superiority of our own equipment aside, we managed to get seats next to the obligatory opening-night noisy/smelly drunks. On the plus side, however, the police came by to kick them out about three-quarters of the way through, which provided some entertainment that the movie, at that point, was somewhat lacking. Also, there was the fact that the downtown theatre's seats are far too uncomfortable for a 2 1/2 hour long movie - my arse was all but numb by the end.
On to the review, as it were...
Being a comic book geek at heart, Brian was very excited to see the previews for Superman Returns, especially with the plethora of well-done comic book movies that've been made lately (V for Vendetta and Batman Begins come to mind). I was somewhat less excited, but no less intrigued - never having subjected myself to Supermans II through IV, I was nonetheless interested to see how they might expand the franchise from its roots in the 70s. Superman has always struck me as an interesting character in potentia, but very few of his stories have actually explored him to any depth. Someone in
metaquotes put it pretty succinctly - "He's like the Swiss Army Knife of superheroes. A new problem comes up, and *BAM*, Superman pulls out a new power to battle it." Good Action Comics fare, certainly, but not so interesting once you've literally explored every possible power beyond its point of ridiculousness, as the comics (and, to some extent, the movies) have. However, given the increasing number of stories exploring the lives and minds of characters that originated in comic books, it seemed reasonable to hope that upon Superman's return he, too, might show us what goes on in his head.Unfortunately, while the movie occasionally plays with deeper concepts, in the end it is much more of a comic book movie (with all the action sequences, BIFFs, BAMs and POWs necessary for such intact) than a graphic novel (with its requirements for things like characters and story). The action sequences are fantastic and hold up well - most of them manage to create quite a bit of suspense. And it is wonderfully gratifying in a totally 6-year-old kind of way to see Superman returning to do what he does best - rescuing planes, foiling bank robberies, and (of course) posing for publicity photos. The script is pretty shallow and most of the characters one-note, but most of the actors hold up well and are honestly trying to make this an enjoyable, if not particularly deep, experience.
The big problem here is that obviously the writers have seen some of these films in which the comic-book character is more interesting and three-dimensional; and here it is that the script starts to flounder. We see hints at all kinds of themes about the darker side of being Superman - his loneliness, his feeling of alienation from humans, his relationship with Lois Lane, suddenly much more complicated now that she has a fianceé and son - but none of these are explored to any real depth. Superman spends a moment in space, the voice of his father playing in his head, contemplating the world below him and his alienation from it; but suddenly he looks at his watch and realizes it's time for the next big disaster. There's something going on with him here, but we only get tantalizing hints of it in between the ostensible story. There was also a rather touching subplot involving Superman's relationship to Lois' child. Unfortunately, since none of this is really developed past the embryonic stages, the only purposes it serves are to frustrate the members of the audience who were hoping for more than slam-bang action and to continue to lengthen an already overlong movie.
I also feel the need to mention how utterly disappointed I was with Kevin Spacey - not in his performance, per se, but in what the scriptwriters did (or didn't do) with him. Lex Luthor has many times been written as incredibly intelligent and charismatic - in short, an interesting villian. Given Spacey's history of playing roles where he's a few steps above everyone else in terms of intelligence, it seemed logical that that would be the angle they'd play. Instead, however, we get a double portion of "insane megalomaniac" with a heaping side of "egotist". And while he certainly doesn't come off as dumb, any intelligence he might have seems subservient to the cackling mad-scientist-thug-boss persona, which in addition to being uninteresting has also simply been done to death. Spacey does the best he can with the lines he has, but the character is so limited by the script that it might as well have been a less expensive actor with a shaved head. I mean, if you're going to hire an A-list actor, give him something to work with, nu?
Reading over these lines, I realize I'm coming off as rather negative, so I just want to state once more for the record - it was good to see Superman again, and it was fun watching him rescue people and fight crime and whatnot. But next time, could we push some of that aside and get more into who he is, and why he does the things he does? I really think there's any number of interesting stories there, if only someone in Hollywood as the cojones to make a movie about them.
