Superman returns

We went to see Superman Returns the other night.


*nb probably spoilers to follow*


It should have been a fabulous film given the director, the cast and the fact that special effects have moved on so dramatically since the last Superman films.

Unfortunately it was a disappointment - the casting turned out to be awful, the script sounded like it had been patched together and the special effects and action sequences were just sprinkled in almost randomly.

The worst element of the whole film had to be Lois - Kate Bosworth was awful - she was too young for the part.

This Lois would have 17 when she gave birth and yet supposedly a high powered news reporter at the peak of her career. The actress had zero rapport with her screen child and seemed to forget he was holding her hand and knock him into a wall and other people on a couple of occasions.
Kate Bosworth couldn't even act unconsious without looking like a child pretending to be asleep and smiling with the eyes tightly shut.

Lex Luthor/Kevin Spacey seemed to be going through the motions. His mad plan was boring and although Lex worked out that the boy was Superman's son he wasn't really very interested.

Superman/Brandon Routh could have been good if he's had better lines and direction
It was anticlimactic when the start of the movie showed Superman almost depressed over the folly of Man's wars etc, his father talking about Superman showing Man the way forward to a new way of living in harmony and Superman doing nothing globally constructive.

Superman spent most of the time catching people and some heavy things .This is the guy that turned back time to save the one he loved being reduced to doing good deeds and making no attempt to lead the world or improve things-no wonder he was a bit down, he was actually failing to do what he was sent to earth to do.

When Superman turned up to foil the bank robbery there seemed absolutely no point to the scene except to show the cool effects of bullets bouncing off Superman and that now they could appear to fire a bullet into Superman's eye and it would bounce back. I've heard since seeing the film that this scene was filmed after the rest was completed and added in later to add to spice up the action.

The Clark Kent character was an afterthought in this film - the fact that he couldn't find an apartment and noone cared summed up his impact on the other characters.

Lois' kid - he was so poorly used in the film, I can't remember his name. However, he was just used to save his mum once and then he was back to being pretty much sidelined- around a lot but not doing much.

Parker Posey was wasted in her part- she would have been a better Lois-then again just about anyone could have been a better Lois.

The film tried to comment on Superman's loneliness and separation from humanity attitude to being humanity's saviour and also show his human qualities and failed relationship with Lois.
However, this Superman moped around being a flying stalker when he wasn't catching people -which didn't quite reveal the things the director presumably intended.

The supporting characters were far from being believable characters. Its more important in a super hero film that characters have real motivation and personality, even if that motivation and personality makes them super evil. In this case the characters were flat- despite the characters having well known personalities from other films [apart from superkid and Lois' boyfriend].

Apart from dealing with difficult themes badly , the film tried to be an action movie -with stunts and scenes that seemed to have been written as really cool things to film rather than anything to do with plot or character.
Many of the special effects and action sequences were well done- they just didn't quite seem to work in the context of the film.

Overall I suppose the film passed some time, but i wish we had seen it on a rented DVD

Technorati Tags:
movie review
superman returns