So onto the final part of the Superman film anthology, which is for
Superman Returns, which saw the franchise after a near 20 year absence
make a reappearance, with a new cast (well it could hardly be the old
one!), and production crew. So here's a bit more about the plot.
Its
starts with Superman having been missing for 5 years, returns to Earth,
as he heard that Astronomers had found the location of Krypton, however
on his return he found nothing of his planet of origin. Since Superman
has been missing, Lois Lane (Kate Bosworth) has become cynical of
Superman and wrote an article "Why the world doesn't need Superman"
which she won the Pulitzer Prize for. Superman goes back to his Clark
Kent identity and gets his job back at the Daily Planet, due to one of
the former employees passing away, and meets back up with Lois, chief
editor Perry White (Frank Langella) and Jimmy Olsen (Sam Huntington).
However bad things are afoot as Lex Luthor (Kevin Spacey) has been
released from prison, and since then he married an aged widow, who on
her deathbed, decrees her will over to him. Luthor then travels to the
Fortress of Solitude where he steals some kryptonite crystals, which he
uses in a scheme to create a new landmass in the Atlantic Ocean, which
will result in the deaths of billions of people. Superman prior to this
of course reannounces his presence to the world as he rescues a test
flight space shuttle, which Lois is on, covering a story, and lands it
in a baseball stadium. Superman soon carries on his good deeds, foiling
robberies, criminals of all sorts, and he also speaks to Lois to
explain his absence. However, Luthor's plan to create a landmass soon
comes to fruition, and its up to Superman to stop him, as he soon
confront the slapheaded madman.
I have to say that
while it stands easily hand and shoulders over Superman IV, that
Superman Returns, next to that, is my second least favourite film in the
series. Bryan Singer definitely does deserve credit for bringing the
superhero back to the big screen, but unfortunately the pace of the film
is sluggish, and the tone is pretty dreary, and at 2 hours and 30
minutes, it is way overlong. Many scenes in the film definitely feel
slow and lack pace, excitement or any sense of fun, and that's
definitely what is missing here: fun. Singer, even in the titles, is
clearly paying tribute to Richard Donner's original movie, but Donner,
gave that film the perfect mix of drama and humour, but here its mainly
80% drama and 20% very dry humour. I can see that Singer definitely
tries to keep the expectations of the kick start of the franchise alive,
but here its definitely falls somewhat flat. And on a plot point, it
seems very strange that no one seems to arouse suspicion around Clark
Kent's disappearnce for 5 years also, but when he comes back, Superman
arrives at the same time. Surely based on that they can put two and two
together! But I guess Clark's timid nature makes him incosequential in
everyone's eyes, unlike Superman, he isn't really missed.
However
that's not to say the film doesn't have its good aspects, it certainly
does have them, mainly the casting of Brandon Routh, which is actually
inspired in a way, as Routh is really good as Superman, and he even
bears a close resemblance to Christopher Reeve (particularly as Clark
Kent!). However his part in a way largely minimised, especially in his
dialogue as both Clark Kent and Superman, as he barely speaks in either
role! And I think this was unfair on Brandon Routh, as clearly he is
actually a good actor, and I definitely think the script lets him down
and to say its underwritten is an understatement! Kevin Spacey however,
gets his fair share of dialogue and is excellent as Lex Luthor, as he
plays him with a far more twisted sense of menace than Gene Hackman's
comic depiction. But Spacey is also let down by the rather insipid nature of
the film, as with a better script and pacing, his role as Luthor could
have been even better. The supporting cast are also quite good, as Kate
Bosworth does well as Lois Lane, as she get's Lois' bossy, and sassy
qualities to the forefront. Frank Langella, while I think was a bit
miscast as Perry White, still does a fine job as editor and chief of the
Daily Planet, and Parker Posey adds a bit of amusement to the film as
Luthor's mistress and henchwoman, Kitti Kowalski.
The film however still does have some good moments in it such as the quriky one where Lois and her son are captured onboard Luthor's ship, Lois' son goes over to the piano and he plays a few notes, and the henchman watching them goes over and joins in and they play "Heart and soul" together. The scene also where Superman rescues the screeching Kitty from a car with no breaks is good, especially as she later slaps Luthor angrily and says "I thought you said we would make it look like we had no breaks, but I didn't expect you to actually CUT THEM!!". And the scene where Superman flies into the path of a criminal who has a massive minigun and the bullets bounces off him, he walks right up to the baddie, who runs out of ammo, and resorts to shooting Superman in the eye, but the bullet simply bounces off his eyeball and drops to the floor, leaving Superman grinning.
On
the production front of course the film has some excellent special
effects, and John Ottman (Bryan Singer's usual composer) does a fine
rendition of John Williams original score as well as add new music.
Although one thing I didn't like was Superman's custome, as its nowhere
near as cool as Christopher Reeve's was. In fact it resembles in colour
more like the bad Superman's costume in Superman III, as the colours
are darker and more insipid looking, and the "S" crest is also a bit too
small and crap looking. And another problem with the film is the look
of the film as the photography is just a bit too soft and the muted
colours also do precious little to add to the proceedings (actually the
film was apparently shot using high def cameras).
So
overall Superman Returns for me was a disappointment, it did well to
bring the superhero back to the cinema, and Brandon Routh was an
excellent choice as Supe. But I think the Brandon and the cast were
handed a bum steer on this one and the film could easily have been much
better than it is.
And on that note, that concludes my Supe analysis.
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