Superman Returns

I saw Superman Returns in IMAX 3D last night - twice. I sat through it again in the back row to get a better perspective on things I might have missed the first time.

I have to say, I liked it. It wasn't as good as it could have been, and it DEFINITELY wasn't as good as I thought it would be, but overall, I liked it.

There were a few elements that were somewhat jarring for me, most notably the timeframe aspects. In order for the timeline to work, Lois would have had to have gotten together with Richard about one month after Superman II, putting the lie to her having had a hard time dealing with Superman's disappearance. Also, did anyone else notice that she was being honored NOW for the "Why the World Doesn't Need Superman" article, meaning that it had been published within the past year, meaning that she waited FOUR years after Superman's disappearance to write it, thus putting the lie to her saying that it was part of getting over him.

Notice that the Lex Luthor in this film is NOT the Luthor we are familiar with from post-crisis comics. Lex the manipulator, Lex the twelfth (or whatever) level intellect...what we have here is Lex Luthor the insane villain. Think back to Gene Hackman's portrayal in the first two movies and you'll realize what I mean. Because, seriously, his plan is NOT very well thought out. Building a land mass out of rock...with no surfaces capable of sustaining agriculture, no natural resources to speak of, no livestock, no flora, no fauna. Nothing. How does he expect this property to be worth money to him? Also, I should think he would be more interested in developing his defenses before ever putting the land plan into motion, because, seriously, you want to plan for contingencies. Also, unless he has some method for stopping the generation of his new landmass, he will cover the entire earth in it, and then there will be no water either! So, no, we're not dealing with Lex the brilliant here, we're dealing with Lex the crazy...which I can live with, since Kevin Spacey's portrayal was excellent - right on the money.

Did anyone notice that scenes where Lex and his henchmen are plotting are often shot at "crooked" angles? Brilliant! This evokes memories of the classic campy Batman show, where all villains' lairs were shot thus.

Why would the kid not try to open the pantry door first, before saying he was sorry, instead...waiting until later to try? I'll suspend my disbelief for now.

Did anyone notice that the first few times we see the kid, he's wearing a combination of red, blue, and yellow? Nice detail there. Similar to what the producers often use on Smallville.

Brandon Routh's performance as Christopher Reeve playing Superman playing Clark Kent was excellent...except that he didn't really talk much. But when he did, he even SOUNDED like Christopher Reeve. And his smile - exactly! The rest of the time I was mostly focused on the way his hair always managed to go back to its well groomed appearance, regardless of how much it got wet, dirty, windblown, or shaken about. Seriously, I've never met ANYBODY with hair that good!

It bothered me quite a bit at the beginning of the film that Superman was acting like Super-Stalker. Using his X-Ray vision and hearing to watch Lois in her house and listen in on her conversations just creeped me out.

I've seen some people questioning the final fate of the crystals dumped from the helicopter. I think they stayed on the landmass, having fallen into a crack within. Now they are somewhere in outer space. I'm sure he has more somewhere, doesn't he?

The characterization of Superman's reaction to Kryptonite was a bit off. It should make him sick when he gets close to it. Instead, when he is lifting the landmass, he only feels its effects when he touches it, and then, he burns like a vampire exposed to sunlight. I realize that such allowances had to be made for the end of the movie to work, and construction of a lead suit would take way too much time, but still.

And Eva Marie Saint was wasted.

I'll probably post more comments on the movie later, when I think of more to say, but for now, I'm done. I'll finish by rating the movie a low GOOD. Thank god (no, not Superman!) it wasn't as bad as X-Men. I may change my rating upon further reflection, but for now, I'll let it stand...I DID enjoy it (and I paid way too much money to hate it).