Superman Returns

Superman Returns is a film of great scope that pulls together much of the history of Superman in comics and film and television to update the tale of the Man of Steel. Bryan Singer’s Superman Returns is a summer smash with all of the action and character and explosions requisite in a comic book film. Though not as good as the current Spiderman films or as dark as the new Batman Begins, the film is impeccably cast and provides greater depth to a superhero who was always all power and not though and just a little too perfect. This is one of those films that I wasn’t sure that I liked in coming out of the theater but aside from one or two plot devices that were either inconsistent or just difficult to understand, Superman Returns delivered a well conceived story announcing Superman’s resurrection as a viable film franchise.

Superman Returns is an interesting film in that it is both a re-envisioning off the Superman universe and at the same time a sequel to the 1978 and 1980 Superman films starring Christopher Reeve. So at times the film feels like an origins film, but it also feels like a sequel at times though it is not truly either. The film takes place five years after the actions of the first two Superman films and there is a certain continuity in the after effects of Superman’s actions and the actions of the other characters in his five year absence.

The feeling of familiarity begins immediately with the familiar Superman theme from John William’s original score for the 1978 Superman film. Even the late 70s neon font is carried over into the rushing opening credits. It lends substance and a sense of history to picking up where the story left off. Through film magic and the use of unused footage and alternate takes Marlo Brando’s Jor-El is as much a part of this film as he was of any of the earlier films. This is where the feeling of a sequel ends though. The actors are all new and they seem younger than those in the first two Superman films though Brandon Routh is roughly the age Christopher Reeve was when he first donned the blue tights.

The film is well cast but it finds its strength of character in some surprising areas. With such strong predecessors there is no doubt that the actors are under the microscope and that they are mercilessly compared to Christopher Reeve and the actors from the previous films. Luckily the casting of Superman Returns was painstaking and there are no better people than the ones chosen. Kevin Spacey makes a deliciously and irreverently evil Lex Luthor but I would expect nothing less. Perhaps less hammy than Gene Hackman he lets the situation set itself up and then under whelms into the punch line. Most of the humor in the film of course belongs to him. If only the plot line had been a little more coherent to allow Luthor an understandable and remotely realistic attack on Superman.

Luthor’s henchmen are again a motley bunch of idiots but his girlfriend Kitty, played here by Parker Posey has greater depth and more interest than just the ditsy mol of the past. The filmmakers seem to understand this in that there are a number of scenes of Posey that weren’t needed but still made it into the final cut. I can only imagine that the part was beefed up when it was discovered that she was the only villain to add a touch of emotion and humanity to the otherwise destructive comic book bad guy plot.

Brandon Routh makes a good Superman, a very good Superman, but I can’t decide if this is a problem or not. With computer editting of the film and the dialogue Routh comes across more as a plasticine doll made up to look and sound like Christopher Reeve. And the success is complete especially with some of the dialogue. I can’t imagine how many times Routh was required to say the name Lois to make it sound so pitch perfect like Reeve. The problem is that it makes Routh seem like a cheap knockoff, an airbrushed Maxim model of Superman. Most likely the audience just needs a little time to adjust to the new man in the blue tights.

Kate Bosworth plays Lois Lane and she looks the part but she doesn’t bring the humor and gusto that Margot Kidder brought to the role. Maybe becoming a mother took some of the spunk out of the spunky reporter but at least she seems less likely to fall off of the Eiffel Tower now. Bosworth’s Lane is more forthright and more altruistic than in the past: less newswoman and more everywoman. This isn’t bad; it is just a little less fun. At least Kate Bosworth doesn’t disappear from the screen whenever she shares it with her leading man the way Katie Holmes did in Batman. Bosworth’s Lane can hold her own even when holding Superman’s gaze. Bosworth and Routh even have a certain amount of moony chemistry that makes the Clark Kent/Superman is in love with Lois Lane plot device far more believable than in past incarnations.

Poor James Marsden always seems to be cast as the other man in superhero sagas. I suppose he isn’t that poor since he is generally not the lead character but he is the one that gets the girl. I can only imagine that it is his all-American looks and his complete lack of screen presence and personality that make him perfect for the part. He had better try something else soon or he might be eternally typecast as the third banana in every film. Here he is Richard White, a rich pilot and newsman, with money and family connections. What is not to love except that he isn’t a perfect superhero?

The plot ranges around quite a bit and it is perhaps this that makes it most dissatisfying. One would hope that the script has been put under a microscope and that consistency within the Superman saga has been maintained, but to the casual observer it doesn’t feel like it has. The film has some leeway to play because as it begins Superman, and his alter ego Clark Kent, is returning from a 5 year sojourn into space to find the remnants of the planet on which he was born. A sort of soul searching for the identity, and personality, that Superman always lacked. But he doesn’t find anything so he comes back to Earth and the only people he knows. He doesn’t seem too bummed about not finding anything and it doesn’t cause Superman to delve into his dark side or doubt himself much or anything. Leave the self doubt to lesser superheroes like Spiderman and Batman. Superman just returns and starts saving planes full of people again from certain death and then poses for the cameras.

I suppose this is the biggest problem for the Superman movie is the problem that has always plagued the Superman mythos. Superman has the whole package, the heat beam eyes, x-ray vision, icy breath, super strength, flying. Batman and Spiderman patrol their cities taking on bad guys to the best of their abilities but because Superman has greater abilities we expect more from him. It seems cheesy if Superman stops three guys from robbing a bank. Where is the guy’s time management? Shouldn’t he be stopping a bus from crashing in India and killing hundreds? Superman doesn’t think big enough. Lex Luthor is right when he comments on Superman being all brawn and no brains. He just helps the people in front of him and moves on to the next disaster. Superman gets some great press but he really needs some management people. A little team of techno-geeks to monitor what is going on in the world and let Superman know where to turn his attention. Kind of like the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation, there is a lot of stuff to do in the world and there has to be some organization and prioritization in order to do the stuff that gets the biggest benefit for the largest amount of people at any given time.

Lex highlights this problem when he goes to the Fortress of Solitude and spends his time studying and learning far more about the alien culture from which Superman has sprung than Superman ever bothered to sit still for himself. If he had maybe Superman would have kept all of those little crystals, a combination data storage/seed, closer to home and out of harms way. This sets up the majority of the plot. Once again Superman will face off against Lex Luthor with a lot of people’s lives at stake. This time Luthor wants to use the alien technology from Krypton to grow his own land and flood out most of the existing land. Luthor wants to do this for power and money, both of which he seems to already have in abundance, but it is not always the focus of the storytellers to provide motivation for evil geniuses. In this case, Luthor is evil, Luthor is crazy, and he wants to use his genius to turn Superman’s own world against him. But Luthor’s motivation seems weak and his plan for world domination looks less than a success even when he is first speaking it. Spacey’s Luthor deserves a fighting chance against the Man of Steel with a good solid interesting plan.

The part that doesn’t make so much sense is one of the tenants of Superman lore, Kryptonite. A big chunk of Kryptonite is dispersed to make Luthor’s crystal island. Then miraculously in quick succession Superman can fly to the island without any idea something is wrong, land on the island and get his butt kicked with the Kryptonite in full force, and then recharge and use super strength to launch the same island into space. It is as if the director has a switch that turns on and off the magical properties of Kryptonite. Maybe there is a time delay to the Kryptonite. Perhaps I am looking into this too closely, but Kryptonite is one of the cornerstones, no pun intended, of the Superman mythos and it is also used as a massive plot device in all of the Superman stories including this film. It just does not seem to be handled evenly here.

Superman Returns is a lavish and generally well thought out film. It is a beautiful blockbuster in all sense of the word and should do well in the week leading up to Pirates of the Caribbean. But the film isn’t perfect. Though technology has finally caught up with the magic of flying and the story has a big epic feel to it, Superman Returns still feels somehow dissatisfying. I can only imagine that it is because Superman is too perfect and the film is too big and too well publicized and neither the film nor the man can live up to expectations.