Get ready for basically a blowjob aimed at Bryan Singer.
This movie is so excellent, my words can’t adequately sum it up. The acting, direction, effects, lighting, writing, music, and everything else is top notch. It’s a shame it won’t get nominated for any important awards, but hopefully I’m wrong.
One actor I want to point out is Frank Langella who plays Perry White, the editor of the Daily Planet. He also plays a great devil worshiper in The Ninth Gate. Langella doesn’t have that much face time in Returns, but he does a great job.
Musically, I couldn’t have been more satisfied. The use of the classic Superman theme was key, and the rest of the score was just as excellent. If a new Superman theme song had been created, it just wouldn’t have been the same (think of trying to redo the peanut and jelly sandwich without peanut butter or jelly).
There are some interesting new stories introduced that I won’t go into, but I don’t think they have been dealt with in the comics, classic movies, or cartoons and TV series. This isn’t a remake or recycling of some tired old plots either…well it kind of is, but you really won’t care. Lex Luthor attempts to take over the world; Superman tries his hardest to stop him. So it’s pretty much the same old storyline, but it’s still great.
You will notice more than a couple cinematic similarities to X-Men and X2, but that doesn’t crowd the movie’s style. When I noticed these similarities, I thought to myself that Singer was just using the X-Men series as practice for the comic movie he really wanted to do.
Just before I saw Superman Returns I was lucky enough to catch the original Superman with Christopher Reeve on HBO, and it made me appreciate Returns so much more. There are tons of subtle nods to the original Superman (Lois’ smoking and not being able to spell, Kent’s clumsiness, along with a few well placed quotes).
As great as Superman Returns was, I hate having to give it a rating of 4.75 / 5 stars. There were a couple things that just got under my skin that I won’t get into yet; I’ll give everyone some time to see it. And when you do, make sure you see it in IMAX, the 3D scenes are so cool.
7 comments:
Great movie, with 2 major problems:
1. In all of the Donner/Singer Superman movies, Superman is made too powerful, to the point where he is literally a god. Superman should be really, really powerful, but he shouldn't be able to go back in time and lift contintents and such.
2. The 'going back to krypton' thing was never explained in any legitimate sense. What did he find? And if nothing was there, why did astronomers think there was something there?
Firstly, looks like I'm way off on my prediction for the movie making $120 mil it's opening weekend.
I have no real response to your #1 Fitz, it's more or less a very valid point. But the idea that S'man is has almost limitless strength and speed is based from the comics. And I think we all agree that going back in time in the original S'man is just too much, but physicall speaking it is possible. Theoretically, if a person could travel in a circular motion at a fast enough rate, they could slow time down, stop time, or travel back in time (from their perspective). Don't ask me how I know this, just trust that I'm not bullshitting. I heard it on the Discovery Channel once.
Re:#2, What I took from the movie is astronomers found the point in space where Krypton would be located, but when S'man traveled there he found nothing but debris. There's 15 minutes of deleted scenes, including a part where S'man travels to Krypton and back, but Singer was pressured to cut it by the studio.
I may be wrong again about the opening weekend gross. Since S'man Returns opened on July 4th weekend, it has a longer weekend than normal. I'll post figures later on as they are available, but the current predictions are $112 mil.
I only liked Superman Returns. 7/10.
The ending seemed to drag, like the final LOTR movie, and I expected something different, rather than the same old campy Superman stuff.
Maybe I am just a hater
UPDATE: Superman Returns currently has an estimated domestic gross of $106 million, and an estimated international gross of $20 million. (July 4, 2006).
Opening weekend was $52+ million, and it opened in 4000+ theaters.
I know I'm behind on this, but considering the last movie I saw was probably Batman Begins, I practical ran to the theater.
I liked Superman Returns. Like Bill, I thought the use of the original theme and titles was key. It kind of felt half like a remake and half like a sequel. Flyno is right about the end draging, but I could have sat for another hour of Superman...the character is just really cool when executed well.
I'll be posting a review of the new Pirates very soon.
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