Carl's Movie Mini-Review: Superman Returns
Superman Returns
I'll admit it, the emotional presentation pulled tears out of me. The epic-ness of this movie didn't seem at all as forced or annoying as Lord of the Rings or Harry Potter.
Great special effects in this movie. I was floored by how natural the flying segments looked, whether created by CG or green-screen.
Pacing. Ah, this is tricky. I felt that individual scenes were paced well, but as a whole the movie was a bit slow.
So it's no big secret that Lois' kid's father is Superman, right? Fortunately, they never exploit the kid's developing powers in the movie, even keeping his paternity pretty vague, even during the "revelation" scene. This whole love-triangle with a kid thing should have been the primary focus of the movie or at least the biggest sub-plot, but it unfortunately doesn't pay off as you'd hope. Sure, we all know that superheros are doomed to a life of solitude. This is even worse for Supes since Lois is with James Marsden, who seems to be type-cast as the guy who the girl gets engaged to when the main love interest leaves and has nothing wrong with him, so why would the girl leave him. That should all have been hyphenated as one long descriptor. His selflessness means he has to give himself to the world and cannot be able to have anything for himself. It seems Superman found great comfort and achievement knowing that he's leaving a legacy in having a child, but is still lonely and unable to have an intimate connection. This concept of unrewarded selfless service serves as the emotional heart of the film, but as stated earlier, is not fully developed to its full potential.
In fact, that is my only real gripe with the film. It seems completely competant, but doesn't seem to have any real vision or direction. It's entertaining and has a complete story, but the important subtleties are too-far hidden.
That being said, flawed as it may be, it has better delivery of the unrequited love theme than the Spider-Man movies because the obstacles are more idealogical than circumstantial or practical.
On a side-note, I'm disappointed Parker Posey and Kal Penn weren't more thoroughly utilized.
Primary reason to see this movie? Total over-the-top visual spectacle. Otherwise, not strong enough for me to scream, "see this movie!"
I'll admit it, the emotional presentation pulled tears out of me. The epic-ness of this movie didn't seem at all as forced or annoying as Lord of the Rings or Harry Potter.
Great special effects in this movie. I was floored by how natural the flying segments looked, whether created by CG or green-screen.
Pacing. Ah, this is tricky. I felt that individual scenes were paced well, but as a whole the movie was a bit slow.
So it's no big secret that Lois' kid's father is Superman, right? Fortunately, they never exploit the kid's developing powers in the movie, even keeping his paternity pretty vague, even during the "revelation" scene. This whole love-triangle with a kid thing should have been the primary focus of the movie or at least the biggest sub-plot, but it unfortunately doesn't pay off as you'd hope. Sure, we all know that superheros are doomed to a life of solitude. This is even worse for Supes since Lois is with James Marsden, who seems to be type-cast as the guy who the girl gets engaged to when the main love interest leaves and has nothing wrong with him, so why would the girl leave him. That should all have been hyphenated as one long descriptor. His selflessness means he has to give himself to the world and cannot be able to have anything for himself. It seems Superman found great comfort and achievement knowing that he's leaving a legacy in having a child, but is still lonely and unable to have an intimate connection. This concept of unrewarded selfless service serves as the emotional heart of the film, but as stated earlier, is not fully developed to its full potential.
In fact, that is my only real gripe with the film. It seems completely competant, but doesn't seem to have any real vision or direction. It's entertaining and has a complete story, but the important subtleties are too-far hidden.
That being said, flawed as it may be, it has better delivery of the unrequited love theme than the Spider-Man movies because the obstacles are more idealogical than circumstantial or practical.
On a side-note, I'm disappointed Parker Posey and Kal Penn weren't more thoroughly utilized.
Primary reason to see this movie? Total over-the-top visual spectacle. Otherwise, not strong enough for me to scream, "see this movie!"