Superman Returns: Spoilers!
I thought I'd go into depth about Superman Returns.
As I said before, I consider it a fun movie that was faithful to the first two Superman movies (for better and for worse). So keep in mind as I write up my criticisms that I still enjoyed the movie.
Kevin Spacy did an excellent job as Luthor. He took Gene Hackman's version of Luthor and made it his own. He managed to be surrounded by comic relief without becoming comic relief. I consider it no small feat that he managed to remain dangerous when surrounded by characters like Parker Posey's Kitty Kowalski.
When I first heard of Luthor's plan, I thought it was impressive. He's growing a new continent that will destroy the bulk of North America. But when he goes on to talk about the technology he'll possess the plan seemed to have a flaw. At no point do we see any of this technology. All we see are shards of crystal that grow into large, apparently pre-programmed structures.
I really wish that when Luthor asked Jor-El to learn everything, that he'd gotten an upgrade. I wish that the entire database of kryptonian technology (not to mention language, literature, etc.) had been downloaded into his brain. This would have turn Luthor into a scientific genius overnight.
I wanted to see some kryptonian weaponry. The Fortress didn't have a defense system. It didn't even have a locked door. Moreover, we saw nothing that would indicate that Luthor had access to this fabled kryptonian technology. It would have been nice to show Luthor and his henchmen using kryptonian tech when they stole the kryptonite. It would have been nice to show Luthor's henchmen building some sort of device that could shoot down missiles and planes mobilized against his position. After the brief power outage that the East Coast would have had, there's nothing preventing the US and Canadian military forces from attacking Luthor.
Speaking of kryptonian tech: why did Superman's spaceship have to crash land? This is a godlike being in a ship built from the technology of his homeworld. Why couldn't he leave it in orbit (or parked on the dark side of the Moon for that matter)? He's fully capable of flying down to the surface. I'm also curious why Superman fainted when his mother found him.
Green kryptonite was nerfed a bit in the film. I don't mind this too much. It was nice seeing Superman do truly godlike things. He lifted a continent laced with kryptonite-after being stabbed in the back with a shard of green kryptonite! A piece of the green k knife remained inside the wound. Yet he managed to lift an island/proto continent into space. Also impressive was how he survived reentry.
The hospital scene was nice. It reminded me a bit of the Spider-man franchise. Raimi likes to show how the citizens of New York support Spidey. It makes sense to show how the citizens of Metropolis support their super hero.
Bosworth was okay as Lois. I think she was much better than, say, Katie Holmes in Batman Begins. But I'm generaly dissatisfied with every actress I've seen play Lois. Gwyneth Paltrow's character in Sky Captain was the best depiction of Lois Lane I have ever seen.
Richard White was awesome. Marsden is a much better actor than I thought after seeing X-Men 1.
In keeping with Stone Gold's attempt at something viral, I will be referring to the child as BSOS: Bastard Son of Superman.
I don't personally feel that Superman comes off as a scumbag for being an absentee father. He simply didn't know. I was a little surprised that BSOS killed that henchmen by throwing the piano at him. For that matter, I was surprised that Superman killed those henchmen when he picked up the proto continent. I don't see that he had much choice, but I'm still surprised that they had him killing people in the movie.
I do wish the costume had been a lighter shade of red. It's a minor gripe, but I didn't really like the maroon color.
As I've said before, I do hope that they have a "new" super villain from Superman's rogue's gallery in the next film. I don't want Luthor again. I don't want to see Zod. I want Darkseid, Brainiac or Mxyzptlk.
As I said before, I consider it a fun movie that was faithful to the first two Superman movies (for better and for worse). So keep in mind as I write up my criticisms that I still enjoyed the movie.
Kevin Spacy did an excellent job as Luthor. He took Gene Hackman's version of Luthor and made it his own. He managed to be surrounded by comic relief without becoming comic relief. I consider it no small feat that he managed to remain dangerous when surrounded by characters like Parker Posey's Kitty Kowalski.
When I first heard of Luthor's plan, I thought it was impressive. He's growing a new continent that will destroy the bulk of North America. But when he goes on to talk about the technology he'll possess the plan seemed to have a flaw. At no point do we see any of this technology. All we see are shards of crystal that grow into large, apparently pre-programmed structures.
I really wish that when Luthor asked Jor-El to learn everything, that he'd gotten an upgrade. I wish that the entire database of kryptonian technology (not to mention language, literature, etc.) had been downloaded into his brain. This would have turn Luthor into a scientific genius overnight.
I wanted to see some kryptonian weaponry. The Fortress didn't have a defense system. It didn't even have a locked door. Moreover, we saw nothing that would indicate that Luthor had access to this fabled kryptonian technology. It would have been nice to show Luthor and his henchmen using kryptonian tech when they stole the kryptonite. It would have been nice to show Luthor's henchmen building some sort of device that could shoot down missiles and planes mobilized against his position. After the brief power outage that the East Coast would have had, there's nothing preventing the US and Canadian military forces from attacking Luthor.
Speaking of kryptonian tech: why did Superman's spaceship have to crash land? This is a godlike being in a ship built from the technology of his homeworld. Why couldn't he leave it in orbit (or parked on the dark side of the Moon for that matter)? He's fully capable of flying down to the surface. I'm also curious why Superman fainted when his mother found him.
Green kryptonite was nerfed a bit in the film. I don't mind this too much. It was nice seeing Superman do truly godlike things. He lifted a continent laced with kryptonite-after being stabbed in the back with a shard of green kryptonite! A piece of the green k knife remained inside the wound. Yet he managed to lift an island/proto continent into space. Also impressive was how he survived reentry.
The hospital scene was nice. It reminded me a bit of the Spider-man franchise. Raimi likes to show how the citizens of New York support Spidey. It makes sense to show how the citizens of Metropolis support their super hero.
Bosworth was okay as Lois. I think she was much better than, say, Katie Holmes in Batman Begins. But I'm generaly dissatisfied with every actress I've seen play Lois. Gwyneth Paltrow's character in Sky Captain was the best depiction of Lois Lane I have ever seen.
Richard White was awesome. Marsden is a much better actor than I thought after seeing X-Men 1.
In keeping with Stone Gold's attempt at something viral, I will be referring to the child as BSOS: Bastard Son of Superman.
I don't personally feel that Superman comes off as a scumbag for being an absentee father. He simply didn't know. I was a little surprised that BSOS killed that henchmen by throwing the piano at him. For that matter, I was surprised that Superman killed those henchmen when he picked up the proto continent. I don't see that he had much choice, but I'm still surprised that they had him killing people in the movie.
I do wish the costume had been a lighter shade of red. It's a minor gripe, but I didn't really like the maroon color.
As I've said before, I do hope that they have a "new" super villain from Superman's rogue's gallery in the next film. I don't want Luthor again. I don't want to see Zod. I want Darkseid, Brainiac or Mxyzptlk.