Superman Returns

The revolution was not meant to be.

Jeland tells me that I should defer writing this review until I actually have the time to write it. He seems to be under the impression that I take eons to finish a single entry. Well... he's right. But that doesn't mean I can't start, anyway! One of the things I missed while I was on hiatus were my movie reviews, and now that I'm back blogging, I think it's just about time to get my thumbs dirty once again (I sincerely hope someone got that lame reference.).

Superman Returns. It's not a fact everyone knows, but I love DC more than Marvel. Marvel is but a spin-off of the once great DC. Unfortunately, the Marvel superheroes, with all their glitter and glamour and garb, managed to snatch the limelight away from the more classic features of the DC "supermen." With the recent success of Batman Begins, however, I thought that the tides were going to turn once again. DC was finally going to give Marvel a run for its money the way it used to, back in those days when the battle was fought by ink and pen and waged on glossy paper.

The revolution was not meant to be. If ever anything remotely revolutionary happened, I did not witness it, for I fell asleep three quarters of the way.

The main problem with the recent Superman was not so much as failing to give the series a fresh twist (which it also failed to do, by the way), but failing to justify its title. Yes, its title. The focus was supposed to be Superman and his return. The movie simply was not able to provide this. Of course, Superman did return, but the story did not revolve around his return. It's more like, "Superman's back. So what?" Save for a few weak scenes involving a still lovestruck Lois Lane (which wasn't all that obvious) and a still crazy Lex Luthor (which was all that pathetic), the whole movie felt like an exposition all over again. Nothing connected; everything was disjuncted.

This is not to say that the movie tanked terribly. The choice of Brandon Routh as Superman, instead of some currently famous Hollywood actor, was a fine, fine choice. Choosing an unknown actor as the Man of Steel allowed the viewers to put a face on Superman anew-- something that Christopher Reeve achieved perfectly before. The problem with this (well, it's not really not our problem but Brandon Routh's) is that, just like what happened with Christopher Reeve, the viewers will always attach Superman to the actor who plays him. Let's just say that it will be quite difficult for Brandon Routh to get a decent non-Superman-related offer after this.

Kate Bosworth as Lois Lane and Kevin Spacey as Lex Luthor did their best to make their characters work, but in the end, the faulty characterization by the writers outweighed the actors' best efforts. Lois Lane was silly and Lex Luthor was weak. How pathetic was that scene where Lex was stranded in an island with his little mistress Kitty? In the TV show Smallville, and in the comic books that I've read, Lex Luthor was never, ever that helpless. He always had something up his sleeve. Depicting him as such was nothing short of a slap in the face of Superman's makers, and nothing short of an insult to those who liked Lex Luthor more than Superman (guilty as charged). And Lois Lane was silly.

I think I could say that there's really no harm in watching this movie, especially if you're a fan of the series. It's one feather in your cap to be able to say that you read all the comic magazines, collected all the toys, and watched all the movies. And not to worry-- the part about sleeping 3/4 of the way? It was true, but I did wake up 5 minutes after that little sleep spell happened. If that's any consolation.