Review - Superman Returns

Last night I saw Superman Returns with some friends at the "local" IMAX theater. I say "local" because it was about 45 minutes to get to Grand Rapids where the theatre lies. It's at the Celebration Cinema in GR, and while there is a Celebration in Portage about ten minutes from my house, they opted not to put one there. Why? Because there's one in GR and one in Lansing.

Now, if you ask me, this is a bunch of crap. There is such a market for IMAX around the greater Kalamazoo, Portage area including but not limited to Galesburg, Battle Creek, Vicksburg, Marshall, South Haven...the list goes on! But this post isn't about IMAX's lack of vision, it's about Superman Returns.

So first off, as I saw Superman in 3-D, I suppose I ought to get that out of the way. What was it that makes Superman in the third dimension so very good? Nothing. Don't get me wrong...it was a cool novelty...it was really cool in its own right. I liked seeing Superman flying across the screen on one 'plane' of vision and being able to distinctly see the cityscape on an equally seprate plane of vision. Supes literally 'popped out' at you. This was cool.

So the problem? Well the glasses they give you sort of...darken the picture a bit. Imagine wearing some sunglasses to the cinema. Not really dark ones...but dark enough that it sort of makes things look a bit mirky. It's not cool. On top of that, I'm convinced we were just a bit too close to get the best effect from the 3-D. I'm sure if we'd been back a few more rows it would have looked better. So if IMAX 3-D is the way you want to see your Superman, make sure you sit in the back half of the theater as we were just shy of the mid-point, more towards the front. All that having been said, an enormous screen like IMAX is a fantastic way to see Superman speeding across the world saving our butts.

Now...onto the movie itself. Brian Singer had a big job to do. We're not talking mutants with narly powers and bits of metal protruding from their bodies. We're not talking a head-strong kid that got bitten by a radio-active bug. We're talking Superman here. The most iconic name in comics cannont be handled with kid gloves. If you're going to do it...you have to do it right.

I'm pleased to say that Singer did an admirable job of bringing Superman back to the big screen in a very big way. He worked fairly well with what he had and he kept me entertained for more than 2.5 hours. As you know if you've read my reviews before, all I ask is to be entertained by a movie. This I was.

From this point on, I'd quit reading the coloured text if you don't want any spoilers.

The movie takes place about 5 years after the events of Superman II. We come into the movie on a small farm and find Martha Kent washing dishes in her kitchen. It's exactly what you'd expect a farmhouse kitchen to look like if it were something like 1959. The Kent farm in Kansas looks as it must have for the last several decades. Ma's a bit older...but otherwise things seem not to change around here.

The radio, playing a country twang, suddenly goes to static. The house starts shaking and if you didn't know any better you'd wonder if it were an earthquake. But we know the premise of this movie. Martha herself has a look on her face that says she knows what's happening and, as if on cue, a large, flaming mass comes into view, falling from the sky into the field behind the Kent farm. This was shot in an interesting way, I think. Because rather than shoot it from up-close which would certainly have been more exciting, it was shot so that the majority of the 'action' of this sequence was nothing more than a reflection in the kitchen window.

So Ma drives out to the flaming field to find a large, long trench dug in her field with a massive, spikey rock of sorts sitting at the end of the trench, all in flames. Obviously expecting to find her son as she did so many years ago when another meteorite of sorts crashed in her field, Martha cautiously approaches...looks around...and is touched on the shoulder from behind. Superman has returned.

So the premise of this movie? Apparently astronomers discovered what were believed to be the remains of Krypton 5 years ago. Hearing this, the Man of Steel had to see for himself. (Wouldn't you?) Leaving family, friends, his love, his life as he's known it, Superman flew into space leaving his adopted home behind to discover the unknown. He has returned with what we can only assume is a piece of what was left of his home planet.

Clark has returned too, and needs his job back. Fortunately for him, someone at the Daily Planet has died, and so Perry was willing to let him back in the doors. No great fanfare for one of the planet's best reporters, except perhaps by Jimmy Olsen. Everyone else seems to take little notice. But where's Lois? Knowing Clark, that's all he wants...to see the love of his life again after so long.

But will Lois want to see him? She has a fiance and a child. What's more, she's written an article called "Why the World Doesn't Need Superman" for which she is receiving the Pulitzer. Apparently she's moved on without him. Has the rest of the world moved on too?

So Lois is apparently covering a new shuttle launch. This new launch is unique in that the shuttle itself is carried to 40,000 feet by a Boeing 777 and launches from there. (Meant to save on fuel costs) There's a problem with the launch (you knew there would be) and Superman is called back into official action again. I have to say I was at least slightly concerned at this point, as Superman found out about the problem while drinking in a bar with Jimmy. Great...just what we need...a tipsy super hero. ;-)

Right...at this point I have to mention that Ma Kent has an amazing talent for doing laundry. When Supes crash landed with an asteroid in the back 40, his suit was so grey and charred and dirty, you'd think it would never come clean again. But hey...maybe she uses Oxiclean or something...because his suit is brighter and bluer than we ever remember seeing it before.

Of course Superman saves the day...but he takes long enough to do it! I mean...there's some inconsistancies here. Superman seems to almost struggle at times to catch up to the ailing aircraft, yet later in the film reporters are quoted as claiming Big Blue may be traveling close to the speed of light.

Whatever...we needed drama. So the plane is saved in spectacular style and, of course, at the last possible second. I'll just say...imagine being the pilot in the cockpit when you see it...at that last moment when its saved...that was cool.

Immediate roars from the onlooking crowd for the return of their long-lost saviour. They may have thought that they moved on without Superman...but seeing him back in action has made them immediate supporters again. And you can tell that Superman finally feels a bit more at home again. He knows that these people are his people...all he has left. Krypton is gone...and the people of Earth are the ones he loves. It was a good moment.

So Superman is back. We see several acts of heorism by the man in blazing blue tights, and are reminded why we loved him. Meanwhile, Lois & Clark slowly get reaquainted after Clarks 'vacation'...which we never hear anything more of. Clark needn't explain his and Superman's uniquely timed departures and returns. Never mind. That's what Superman is often all about...hiding in plain view.

So the crisis? Lex has figured out how to create land...literally. He's going to make himself a new continent just off the coast of Metropolis which would, of course, displace countless amounts of water, effectively drowning the majority of the United States, killing billions of people.

Lex is nuts as ever.

Superman has to stop Lex before its too late and comes very near to death along the way, even ending up in the hospital.

The problem with this movie? The kid. The kid was unneeded. He was added as a way to add drama...which is good!...but it could have been done admirable with Lois's new love interest. I have to agree with Garth at Dark Horizons when he says that all the child serves now is a problem. They'll have to encorporate him into future sequels...and he'll just get in the way. Bad move, Mr. Singer. Tut-tut.

Overall? A very good film, I think. Not nearly as hokey as the originals, and the acting is very good. Brandon Routh does an amazing job of chanelling Reeves in his take on Superman and even Clark, and at times you think you're even listening to Reeves' voice when Routh speaks. It's incredible.

Lois is likeable, not nearly as annoying as she might have been if someone else did it...and Lex is amazing.

I give this film a 4 out of 5.