Look! Up in the Sky!

Been a while, I know, but I've been preoccupied with other things. Besides, I haven't been up to much worth blogging about, so nyaah.

Went to see Superman Returns today. I wasn't too keen on a "new" Superman, what with all the different incarnations out there. To see someone other than Christopher Reeve on the big screen in the red and blue tights... well, it seemed wrong somehow.

Mixed reviews didn't propel me into opening night showings either. But, being a superhero blockbuster film, I decided I just had to see it on the silver screen, as it was meant ot be shown. Fortunately, going in with low expectations, I wasn't too disappointed. In fact, I was pleasantly surprised by the nostalgia I didn't realize I could feel for this particular series.

I was a bit too young to remember the first few Superman films, but as soon as the opening credits came on, I was all "Woo hoo!" and getting prickly goosebumpies all over. (I blame John Williams).

This flick does an admirable job of bring Big Blue back to the screen, picking up from where it left off after the Christopher Reeve flicks. It is well-casted, the effects are eye-popping, and I can't help but do a little sitting bum dance in my chair anytime Superman goes flying to the rescue to the loudly blaring theme song. PVP's Scott Kurtz aptly portrays the feeling here.

Where the film is really lacking is in the dialogue, and specifically in Lex Luthor's evil plot. Don't get me wrong: there are some great moments and a few inside-joke-type exchanges, but overall, it just wasn't dense enough to detail any of the reasons why things happened. Compared to director Bryan Singer's X-Men, which does a phenomenal job of explaining the whole mutant universe, Superman Returns left an empty feeling in me, both emotionally and logically. Of course, that only means there's room for sequels.

The other problem with the movie comes from an overall problem I've always had with Superman: Lex Luthor sucks.

Lex has never been my favourite villain. It's hard to make him into an appropriate nemesis for the Man of Steel because he's a very complex character, one who can't be explained away in one film, or even five films. Few portrayals have him as someone you can sympathize with: he is almost always the billionaire genius businessman megolamaniac with designs on world domination, and has no appropriate character foils that we can appreciate. I can name two good Lexes, though: The Justice League animated series (WB), which sees Lex "reform" after a near-death illness, and who seems to genuinely have the world's interests at heart*; and in Red Son, an alternative universe series where the infant Supe lands in the former Soviet Union, where Lex ends up as the hero of the piece.

*An oversimplification. I'd have to explain six seasons of the show in order to to Lex any justice.

No such luck with Superman Returns. Sadly, Spacey's portrayal of the bald billionaire genius is somewhat lackluster, if only because Lex himself wasn't written terribly well. His evil plot is just... weird. He's on the more mad side of genius, his plan neither vengeful or entrepeneuring or logical or profitable. Dude's been snorting kryptonite, or something.

Despite its flaws, Superman Returns was fun, and worth the afternoon matinee; from here, we can only hope that future Superman flicks will present us with more interesting villains and challenges for the Man of Steel.