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Superman Returns

More like, Okayman.

The movie did a good job on the dramatic side of things, but fell short on the action and excitement side. Classic action flicks have always balanced these two.

• Casting

Brandon Routh did a good job as Clark Kent, but was boyish as Superman, age-wise and toughness-wise. I don’t read the comic books, but I’ve seen covers and Superman always looks much more muscular.

• Character, Structure/Plot

Everything Superman did was a reaction. While that was fine early on, as with the space shuttle, a hero like him should’ve eventually acted with his own plan to save the day.

When Clark Kent learned that Lex Luthor got out of jail, that should have been the moment for him to become pro-active. He tried to mentally connect the pieces (Luthor, the blackout…) and then flew to his Fortress and saw the missing crystals, but did not act until Gotham started to rattle from the new land mass forming. Supermistake.

It took too long for Luthor’s plan to become a tangible and major threat. Part of that problem is that he didn’t know what could happen with the crystals once he found them. The solution would’ve been for him to start with the correct theory about the crystals (not a stretch considering he knew something about them, had been to the Fortress before and had time in jail to analyze all possibilities).

The movie failed to strike a balance with Luthor. It needed the comic relief from his cohorts, but it often didn’t mesh with Luthor’s madness and he himself wavered between evil and silliness. It also downplayed Luthor’s level of villainy; he didn’t seem that bad considering the company he kept.

(I’m wondering if this was an issue- the millions of people threatened by Luthor’s plan did not know about it. Is that a common thread in sub-par actioneers and thrillers? Do the potential victims realizing their situation add to the suspense and our rooting for the hero to save the day?)

The movie was repetitive. Three times a scene started by showing objects on tables rattling. Most of Superman’s heroics were in the form of him lifting/holding things- the space shuttle, the car (nice homage to his first comic appearance), the Daily Planet globe and the new land mass. And by the end, I couldn’t help but be bothered that Superman seemed to use the same degree of effort in lifting an entire continent as guiding the space shuttle.

• Little Thing

While it was admirable for the movie to honor the Christopher Reeves originals, I feel it was a mistake to use the exact same opening credit graphics. I mean, I wasn’t exactly thrilled seeing the look of the 1980s to start a 2006 potential blockbuster. Besides, how many people remembered or cared about the graphics? As a compromise, didn’t someone think of taking that look and modernizing it?

Cool trailer for make-believe new Superman movie.

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