Superman Returns of the King
Ok, someone pointed out to me that after weeks of blathering on about Superman Returns, I haven't actually reviewed it. So, I'll do this as spoiler-free as possible.
I hated it. Then I enjoyed it. It was too long. But it wasn't long enough.
How's that for bi-polar?
When I walked out of the theater, I thought "man, that was way too long". It reminded me of the multiple endings of "The Lord of the Rings: The Return of the King". It just didn't stop. Further, it was really similar to Smallville whereas the weekly plot ends about :45 minutes into the hour and the remaining :15 minutes furthers the serial plot. I knew where they were trying to go but it took a long time to get there.
Good:
- The plane sequence
- The piano scene
- Lois. Finally, a love interest that is...interesting. Much better than the fluff piece in Batman Begins
- Perry White, Richard White and Jimmy Olsen. These guys were great.
- Brandon Routh did a fine job as Superman
- The ending speech ("the son becomes the father and the father, the son")
Bad:
- Metropolis never felt like more than a set
- Parker Posey (when will Lex learn? "Miss Tesmacher!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!")
- Three shots of dog cannibalism (we're not stupid Singer, we got it the first time)
- Tell the "Death of Superman" story in it's own movie
- In fact, stop trying to be Spider-man and stringing together a dozen comic book stories in one movie. (I'll list them out if you wish.)
- The music. You use John Williams' opening theme and then ruin it with stupid sound effects? WTF Singer?
- The bank robbery. There was NO action in that scene. And the effects were no better than what they did on Lois and Clark. The entire scene was a waste of film.
Neutral:
- I was SOOOOOOOOO hoping they would avoid the camera smirk at the end but they did it anyway. Man, that pissed me off. That was Christopher Reeve's trademark. There was no reason for Routh and Singer to do that. Do something original next time.
So that's it. I'm probably seeing it again tomorrow at work. Now that the expectations are off, I'll probably like it more.
I hated it. Then I enjoyed it. It was too long. But it wasn't long enough.
How's that for bi-polar?
When I walked out of the theater, I thought "man, that was way too long". It reminded me of the multiple endings of "The Lord of the Rings: The Return of the King". It just didn't stop. Further, it was really similar to Smallville whereas the weekly plot ends about :45 minutes into the hour and the remaining :15 minutes furthers the serial plot. I knew where they were trying to go but it took a long time to get there.
Good:
- The plane sequence
- The piano scene
- Lois. Finally, a love interest that is...interesting. Much better than the fluff piece in Batman Begins
- Perry White, Richard White and Jimmy Olsen. These guys were great.
- Brandon Routh did a fine job as Superman
- The ending speech ("the son becomes the father and the father, the son")
Bad:
- Metropolis never felt like more than a set
- Parker Posey (when will Lex learn? "Miss Tesmacher!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!")
- Three shots of dog cannibalism (we're not stupid Singer, we got it the first time)
- Tell the "Death of Superman" story in it's own movie
- In fact, stop trying to be Spider-man and stringing together a dozen comic book stories in one movie. (I'll list them out if you wish.)
- The music. You use John Williams' opening theme and then ruin it with stupid sound effects? WTF Singer?
- The bank robbery. There was NO action in that scene. And the effects were no better than what they did on Lois and Clark. The entire scene was a waste of film.
Neutral:
- I was SOOOOOOOOO hoping they would avoid the camera smirk at the end but they did it anyway. Man, that pissed me off. That was Christopher Reeve's trademark. There was no reason for Routh and Singer to do that. Do something original next time.
So that's it. I'm probably seeing it again tomorrow at work. Now that the expectations are off, I'll probably like it more.
posted by Mkae at
10:52 PM
4 Comments:
If you were trying to avoid being spoiler-y, I think you kinda blew it when you mentioned the "Death of Superman" plot. ;-) Though I agree with you putting it in the "bad" column.
However, I completely DISagree with you putting the "son becomes the father and the father becomes the son" dialogue in the "good" column. I literally almost laughed out loud. Only the "good theater manners" I wish other patrons would display kept me from losing it. To me, it just sounded like bad soap opera writing, or the kind of cliche "realization" you'd expect a character in a bad comedy to make when they're stoned out of their mind.
By
DrHeimlich, at 11:08 PM
I suspect it does, but I didn't want to give anything away. I have a young son and it raised a lump in my throat. :)
By
Mkae, at 9:08 PM
i haven't seen it yet. i think i will always think of christopher reeve as superman.
By
Max and Me, at 3:29 PM
I liked it as well, as did my 10 year old daughter...who went out and rented the original and watched it for the first time to get the background story......good stuff....I acutally got to sit and watch a movie I liked with my daughter!
By
Roycer, at 8:09 PM
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