the inevitable review
well, i saw superman returns with humpstar on wednesday night. i should probably preface this with the fact that i've been collecting comics for almost 10 years now, and the one constant in my collecting has always been the myriad superman titles. my superman collection is complete back to 1986 (crisis on infinite earths, for you fellow geeks). so it's safe to say i'm a pretty big superman fan.
that being said, i didn't want to set my sights too high for the film, in fear i'd be dissappointed. i know bryan singer's had a good track record with comic book movies, so i was pretty sure i was going to be pleasantly surprised, but the casting of brendan routh as big blue didn't do much to instill confidence. he simply didn't look the part; weak shoulders, no square jaw, and an overall lack of muscles. he just didn't strike me as superman. kevin spacey, on the other hand, had me excited... i knew he'd make a great lex luthor.
we were there over an hour ahead of time, expecting a big opening night crowd (even though we were at the latest show). we did get perfect seats, but the show didn't even appear to be sold out! i suppose that's what happens with a midweek release. unfortunately, a side effect of our being there early was that we were sitting in a sea of geeks. normally, i wouldn't have a problem with this... i'd just be in my element. but these were the live-in-my-mom's-basement, non-bathing, non-deodorizing brand of geeks. so, unfortunately, i spent an hour of waiting in the theatre, plus the almost three hours of the film in a theatre permeated by the stench of geek. if there are any stinky geeks out there, then please, i beg of you, when you're going to be out in a public place, TAKE A SHOWER! or at least use some deodorant. you can be as stinky as you want during your marathon D&D sessions in the comfort of your own home... or your mother's.
their was no spider-man 3 trailer, which my compatriot was a little peeved about, but it made little difference to me. i'd already seen it online anyways, and it meant that i got to see superman that much sooner! :D
the movie started, and the geekasm began. the opening credits were great, using the same style as the old donner films. appropriate, and very reassuring that singer was going to be true to the legacy of those films... films that had hooked an entire generation on superman, and sparked a new wave of comic book films that continues to this day.
i won't go much into detail on the film, but i liked it. i was, indeed, pleasantly surprised. it was a quality story, the dialogue was well-written (read: not forced like many comic films), the characterizations were spot-on and believable, and the effects were great. there were a few things that i took issue with, but overall, i enjoyed the movie very much. if i had to rate it, i'd probably say 8 or 8.5/10.
some observations, in point form:
- as i suspected, brandon routh can't act for shit. fortunately, the film didn't rely too heavily on his acting.
- why was superman's costume dark blue and blood red? you don't tug on superman's cape, and you don't mess with it's shade of red, either. superman's uniform is supposed to be royal blue and a bright red. it's iconic. if this was an attempt to make superman "darker" in order to appeal to a broader audience, i don't like it. superman shouldn't be broody and emo... that's batman's territory.
- what was up with the S-shield? i preferred it when it was just made out of cloth, not some fancy stippled plasticy crap.
- also relating to costuming, why was lex wearing 20 year old suits? brown courduroy?? i'd like to think old lexy has a slightly better fashion sense than that.
- superman looked a little too plastic at points, almost like a ken doll, and not just in the cgi scenes. the second to last scene was particularly noticeable... it reminded me of the courtyard scene in matrix: reloaded, where the difference between "real" and cgi neo was glaringly obvious. christopher reeves was just a more physically believable superman.
- james marsden (richard white): where the hell was all that half-decent acting when he was playing cyclops in the x-men movies??
- i was surprised by kate bosworth. she was a better lois lane than i expected her to be, but still not *quite* as hard-boiled and strong-willed as i think lois lane should be.
- just how much kryptonite does it take to kill superman?? he was stuck on an island of kryptonite, and then had a 4 inch chunk of it embedded in his back for something along the lines of 5-10 minutes. but he still didn't die!
- when supes was on the verge of death, why didn't they just put him out in the sun?
there's one other issue that surprised me, not just relating to the comics, but to the entire superman mythos as it exists today. there seems to be some kind of cross-media synergy going on with superman right now, where wb/dc is attempting to streamline the comic continuity with all of its motion picture superman enterprises (ie, television, live action/animated films).
for example, the final issue of kurt busiek's recent story arc, which was released the same day as superman returns, saw the creation of a new crystalline fortress of solitude at the north pole. sound familiar, movie-goers? what if i told you that, in the same storyline, the comic version of lex luthor had a plan to reshape earth using kryptonian crystals? until i saw the film, i thought busiek's storyline was a great return to classic superman stories. now i wonder if he was just rehashing the screenplay for returns.
and the similarities don't just connect the film and comics! the most recent superman animated film, braniac attacks, released just a week before returns featured--what else--a crystalline fortress of solitude at the north pole! and so did the last season of smallville. also relating to smallville, the 2003 comic miniseries superman: birthright retconned the history of superman to include elements of smallville storylines. the most obvious pandering to smallville fans? a new friendship between teenage clark kent and lex luthor.
personally, i enjoyed that the comics, films, and television series all featured different versions of the superman mythos; all inspired by the archetype of superman we know and love, but all unique in their own ways. i'll give it time to see if this is just some freak convergence or coincidence, a one-time marketing experiment to highlight the first live-action superman film in almost twenty years, or a trend that's going to continue in all superman media, in an effort to appeal to the lowest common denominator. if the latter turns out to be true, i will not be a happy superman fan.
x-posted to fiduch, dc_universe, and comicbooklovers
that being said, i didn't want to set my sights too high for the film, in fear i'd be dissappointed. i know bryan singer's had a good track record with comic book movies, so i was pretty sure i was going to be pleasantly surprised, but the casting of brendan routh as big blue didn't do much to instill confidence. he simply didn't look the part; weak shoulders, no square jaw, and an overall lack of muscles. he just didn't strike me as superman. kevin spacey, on the other hand, had me excited... i knew he'd make a great lex luthor.
we were there over an hour ahead of time, expecting a big opening night crowd (even though we were at the latest show). we did get perfect seats, but the show didn't even appear to be sold out! i suppose that's what happens with a midweek release. unfortunately, a side effect of our being there early was that we were sitting in a sea of geeks. normally, i wouldn't have a problem with this... i'd just be in my element. but these were the live-in-my-mom's-basement, non-bathing, non-deodorizing brand of geeks. so, unfortunately, i spent an hour of waiting in the theatre, plus the almost three hours of the film in a theatre permeated by the stench of geek. if there are any stinky geeks out there, then please, i beg of you, when you're going to be out in a public place, TAKE A SHOWER! or at least use some deodorant. you can be as stinky as you want during your marathon D&D sessions in the comfort of your own home... or your mother's.
their was no spider-man 3 trailer, which my compatriot was a little peeved about, but it made little difference to me. i'd already seen it online anyways, and it meant that i got to see superman that much sooner! :D
the movie started, and the geekasm began. the opening credits were great, using the same style as the old donner films. appropriate, and very reassuring that singer was going to be true to the legacy of those films... films that had hooked an entire generation on superman, and sparked a new wave of comic book films that continues to this day.
i won't go much into detail on the film, but i liked it. i was, indeed, pleasantly surprised. it was a quality story, the dialogue was well-written (read: not forced like many comic films), the characterizations were spot-on and believable, and the effects were great. there were a few things that i took issue with, but overall, i enjoyed the movie very much. if i had to rate it, i'd probably say 8 or 8.5/10.
some observations, in point form:
- as i suspected, brandon routh can't act for shit. fortunately, the film didn't rely too heavily on his acting.
- why was superman's costume dark blue and blood red? you don't tug on superman's cape, and you don't mess with it's shade of red, either. superman's uniform is supposed to be royal blue and a bright red. it's iconic. if this was an attempt to make superman "darker" in order to appeal to a broader audience, i don't like it. superman shouldn't be broody and emo... that's batman's territory.
- what was up with the S-shield? i preferred it when it was just made out of cloth, not some fancy stippled plasticy crap.
- also relating to costuming, why was lex wearing 20 year old suits? brown courduroy?? i'd like to think old lexy has a slightly better fashion sense than that.
- superman looked a little too plastic at points, almost like a ken doll, and not just in the cgi scenes. the second to last scene was particularly noticeable... it reminded me of the courtyard scene in matrix: reloaded, where the difference between "real" and cgi neo was glaringly obvious. christopher reeves was just a more physically believable superman.
- james marsden (richard white): where the hell was all that half-decent acting when he was playing cyclops in the x-men movies??
- i was surprised by kate bosworth. she was a better lois lane than i expected her to be, but still not *quite* as hard-boiled and strong-willed as i think lois lane should be.
- just how much kryptonite does it take to kill superman?? he was stuck on an island of kryptonite, and then had a 4 inch chunk of it embedded in his back for something along the lines of 5-10 minutes. but he still didn't die!
- when supes was on the verge of death, why didn't they just put him out in the sun?
there's one other issue that surprised me, not just relating to the comics, but to the entire superman mythos as it exists today. there seems to be some kind of cross-media synergy going on with superman right now, where wb/dc is attempting to streamline the comic continuity with all of its motion picture superman enterprises (ie, television, live action/animated films).
for example, the final issue of kurt busiek's recent story arc, which was released the same day as superman returns, saw the creation of a new crystalline fortress of solitude at the north pole. sound familiar, movie-goers? what if i told you that, in the same storyline, the comic version of lex luthor had a plan to reshape earth using kryptonian crystals? until i saw the film, i thought busiek's storyline was a great return to classic superman stories. now i wonder if he was just rehashing the screenplay for returns.
and the similarities don't just connect the film and comics! the most recent superman animated film, braniac attacks, released just a week before returns featured--what else--a crystalline fortress of solitude at the north pole! and so did the last season of smallville. also relating to smallville, the 2003 comic miniseries superman: birthright retconned the history of superman to include elements of smallville storylines. the most obvious pandering to smallville fans? a new friendship between teenage clark kent and lex luthor.
personally, i enjoyed that the comics, films, and television series all featured different versions of the superman mythos; all inspired by the archetype of superman we know and love, but all unique in their own ways. i'll give it time to see if this is just some freak convergence or coincidence, a one-time marketing experiment to highlight the first live-action superman film in almost twenty years, or a trend that's going to continue in all superman media, in an effort to appeal to the lowest common denominator. if the latter turns out to be true, i will not be a happy superman fan.
x-posted to fiduch, dc_universe, and comicbooklovers