Review: Superman Returns
The effects are good. The acting’s not bad, especially Brandon Routh but the story sucks and you’ll believe a turkey can fly.
Actually, it should be called Superman Reruns because, frankly, it’s nothing more than cobbled together bits of the first movies and a lot of Lois & Clark thrown in for good measure.
Superman is a truly heroic character. He has immense super-powers, but – in celluloid at least – he’s never been truly challenged. I mean, the guy’s indestructible, has x-ray & heat vision, he can fly, he has super-hearing, he’s unbelievably strong and fast. What does he get as an arch-villain nemesis? A bald bloke.
The Chris Reeve movies had some degree of an excuse. Cinematic technology hadn’t yet caught up with the scope of the comics. This can no longer hide behind that. To reduce this story to yet another whinge about how Superman & Lois Lane can’t get it on is a pathetic cop out.
That’s bad enough, but it’s too long, too waffly and just plain dull. The sense of humour is absent, the sense of wonder is minimal and the attempts to make Mr Routh look as much as possible like Mr Reeve are pathetic. Not only is it insulting to the actor to hint that no-one can surpass Reeve’s performance but it’s insulting to the audience to assume we couldn’t accept someone making the role their own. If it’s true that they digitally altered Mr Routh to make him look even more like the late Mr Reeve then it’s a truly shameful act on behalf of the producers and director. Not to mention a little worrying about how likely they will be to stop looking for new talent once digital technology actually allows them to ‘resurrect’ dead stars.
A lot has been made of the messianic aspects of Superman’s character. I see him as a wonderful analogy for America itself. Although it acts for what it sees as the right reasons, it is essentially a bully using its overwhelming might to enforce its world view. Take away what makes it powerful and it’s pretty useless. Superman’s the same. Alright, his reasons are clearer, but ultimately he’s a bully and a coward without his powers. Look at the previous movie, number 2 where he surrendered his powers to be with Lois. He got beaten up by a jock at a truck-stop and when he couldn’t win he ran away. When he got his powers back, instead of taking his lumps as a lesson in humility he goes back and beats the guy up. Yeah, real hero.
If you go to see this film you will believe a turkey can fly. (Thanks to Ian Cairns for the last joke.)
The effects are good. The acting’s not bad, especially Brandon Routh but the story sucks and you’ll believe a turkey can fly.
Actually, it should be called Superman Reruns because, frankly, it’s nothing more than cobbled together bits of the first movies and a lot of Lois & Clark thrown in for good measure.
Superman is a truly heroic character. He has immense super-powers, but – in celluloid at least – he’s never been truly challenged. I mean, the guy’s indestructible, has x-ray & heat vision, he can fly, he has super-hearing, he’s unbelievably strong and fast. What does he get as an arch-villain nemesis? A bald bloke.
The Chris Reeve movies had some degree of an excuse. Cinematic technology hadn’t yet caught up with the scope of the comics. This can no longer hide behind that. To reduce this story to yet another whinge about how Superman & Lois Lane can’t get it on is a pathetic cop out.
That’s bad enough, but it’s too long, too waffly and just plain dull. The sense of humour is absent, the sense of wonder is minimal and the attempts to make Mr Routh look as much as possible like Mr Reeve are pathetic. Not only is it insulting to the actor to hint that no-one can surpass Reeve’s performance but it’s insulting to the audience to assume we couldn’t accept someone making the role their own. If it’s true that they digitally altered Mr Routh to make him look even more like the late Mr Reeve then it’s a truly shameful act on behalf of the producers and director. Not to mention a little worrying about how likely they will be to stop looking for new talent once digital technology actually allows them to ‘resurrect’ dead stars.
A lot has been made of the messianic aspects of Superman’s character. I see him as a wonderful analogy for America itself. Although it acts for what it sees as the right reasons, it is essentially a bully using its overwhelming might to enforce its world view. Take away what makes it powerful and it’s pretty useless. Superman’s the same. Alright, his reasons are clearer, but ultimately he’s a bully and a coward without his powers. Look at the previous movie, number 2 where he surrendered his powers to be with Lois. He got beaten up by a jock at a truck-stop and when he couldn’t win he ran away. When he got his powers back, instead of taking his lumps as a lesson in humility he goes back and beats the guy up. Yeah, real hero.
If you go to see this film you will believe a turkey can fly. (Thanks to Ian Cairns for the last joke.)
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