Superman Returns

I cared about the movie Superman Returns enough to see it in a regular theater last night, so it only seems fitting that I ought to comment on it somehow.

The question is what to say without giving spoilers. Especially when I made the mistake of reading a review ahead of time and walking into the movie already knowing how certain things would turn out... things I might have guessed anyway, but which, for the sake of enjoying the movie a bit more, might have been better left unrevealed the first time through.

I might also have been better off rewatching the first two Superman movies again instead of relying on a many-year-old memory to fill in the details, for while I always loved those movies, that hasn't led to my watching them since my mid-teenage years or earlier. Let's just say there are things you're expected to remember.

A definitely safe and not particularly enlightening note: the opening credits deserve an IMAX theater and 3D glasses. Not a huge part of the movie, but those were fun.

The first section of the movie - I don't know whether it was the whole first half timing-wise, but the first part - seemed awkward. Not because the situation was but because the movie itself was. This could possibly be because they had to, or at least were, trying to establish a movie based off of something that came out over twenty years ago, and had to jump a bit in order to show all that's happening now. It could be the different take on the movie - but more on that some other time. Or it could even be that I didn't remember as much as I was expected to and it would have seemed less jumpy if I had seen the others more recently.

As much as Superman might be one of my favorite superheros of all time, he succumbed to a typical superhero problem. In other words, I found myself angry at him over his treatment of Lois Lane. He made a decision, and maybe it's because of who he is or "what he's called to do," use the powers he has to protect others, but it's done. The chance is over and she's done her best to move on... so now he's going to walk in and say "I'm back, love me!" And play with her feelings as though she wasn't having enough trouble controlling them without his help, and do so when he couldn't be with her anyway. All it will accomplish is to make him feel good because she still loves him and make her feel rotten because she can't do anything about it. Though to be fair to him, any hero story where there's a love interest encounters the same problem. If there's love, it has to be tragic because it can never be realized. I liked the Incredibles for having a family.

Rant over. Luther makes an excellent bad guy. He's human, in the sense that he actually had certain qualities that could have been endearing, if they weren't all focused on extreme evil. As is, he's frightening, and it works. To an extent. He often seems far too much like a child with a new and exciting toy rather than an adult with an understanding of what he's doing.

There are many more things I enjoyed about the later parts of the movie, including the fact that the relationship cleared up, certain themes were brought out more, and it overall became much more coherent and enjoyable.

Sometime when the movie's been out longer and I've had more time to think about it, I'll go into some of those "certain themes." Just to see what I come up with. Theology major (and almost lit. minor), after all.