Supermzzzz

[sigma7]

Finally got around to watching Superman Returns. Wow. Acting decent (I don't buy Bosworth at all, but Marsden was depressingly earnest), effects interesting, but God, what an awful script, and they managed to make it...boring. Bad premises, uninspired execution...no, won't be watching that again. Hell, it's making me miss the last two Reeve movies, and those were...not good.

It doesn't help that I dug out my copy of Whatever Happened to the Man of Tomorrow? last night. For the non-comic-geeks, before Superman's history got "rebooted" in 1986, they wrote one last "imaginary story" using his continuity which spanned back to 1935, a two-issue story drawn by consummate Superman artist Curt Swan and written by some guy called Alan Moore. It's the perfect coda to the old Superman, really -- bittersweet but apropos, many long-time characters meeting their ends, but never losing track of what makes Superman what he is. Certainly didn't get that from Superman Returns -- too much focus on the soap opera, on chemistry I couldn't find anywhere on the screen. Disappointing.

Comments

[paradisacorbasi.livejournal.com]

I thought Spacey was worth the price of admission himself. And while we don't know if Routh is a good actor, we do know he's a servicable Christopher Reeve impersonator.

[sigma7.livejournal.com]

I was actually pretty disappointed in that they didn't give Spacey enough to play with. Hackman had much, much better and biting dialogue -- it could just be that he had Ned Beatty's Otis to riff off of -- and I was waiting for Spacey to just tear up the screen like we know he can. I blame the script there.

As for Routh, amen -- the film's tether to the first two movies seems to be at times its greatest strength and at others its worst flaw. Everyone seemed to be acting like the previous actors and not the characters (except for Bosworth; it could be that I despised Lois as being irrelevant except as a foil to Superman, even when winning the Pulitzer).

I liked Posey and Marsden most, I think, which is interesting; it could be just that they were new roles and not aping previous performances and had freer reign. Maybe because I didn't enjoy it as much, it's more interesting a movie to ruminate on than to watch.

[paradisacorbasi.livejournal.com]

It was, IMO, partly the script and partly that Kevin Spacey was straddling portrayals.

Hackman was kind of buffoonish in the old 70s movies. But the Luthor from the animated series, voiced by Clancy Brown, is full of elegant menace wrapped up in a neat package.

So Spacey went for "one from column A and one from column B" and it worked because he's Spacey, but it felt lacking because the script did have its flaws. I still loved it because I had the vibe of "we adore the feeling of 'you will believe a man can fly' we got from the first one, and are trying to recapture it here," and FX wise, they got it.

I do agree whatserface [this is how memorable she was to me] as Lois was really not too exiting; and she was mostly annoying with her whole "how dare you leave me, I still love you, I've moved on and I made sure the whole world moved on too" schtick.

Posey was a bit too cheesy for me.

[darksidebluezz.livejournal.com]

Superman Returns was Gawd Awful. It was one of the seldom few times that I really just wanted to walk out. I was so excited for it, too, but man, it stunk the joint up. Boring, no action save the first scene where he stops the jet, and I really didnt like anyone in the movie. And I normally enjoy comic movies.

This movie was one of my all time letdowns.

[motteditor.livejournal.com]

Huh. Maybe it's because I'm not actually a big Superman fan, but I enjoyed it. There were certainly slow moments, but the big ones -- especially his actual comeback and saving Lois for the first time -- really made up for it for me.