MOVIE REVIEW FOR "SUPERMAN RETURNS"
MOVIE REVIEW FOR "SUPERMAN RETURNS"
Starring: Brandon Routh, Kate Bosworth, James Marsden, Kevin Spacey, Parker Posey
Directed by: Bryan Singer Produced by: Chris Lee, Thomas Tull, Scott Mednick (II)
I saw the movie six times so I can do this review,and I saw it because I'm a fanboy.
Anyway, one has to look at the situation in Hollywood to understand the basis for this new "Superman" movie.
In the 70's, it was a new thing to bring the "Man of Steel" from the Max Fleisher version (the best overall "Superman" put to motion and dimension) to the realism of the movie screen.
Back in the day,"Superman" came to life in the form of Christopher Reeve.So, many of us fell in love, and had a mental and emotional stamp, on the Richard Donner version of "Big Blue".
Fast forward an entire generation, and we get "Superman Returns".A very good movie, in and of itself, but it is still just "another version".
I've always had the argument that "Superman" should be done with full photorealistic CGI.
Superman just does shit that cannot be defined in this universe of physics.
Let me explain.
"Superman Returns" suffers from, ironically, what the early "Superman" shorts suffered from.In a recent documentary on, of all places,The Discovery Channel, it was mentioned that fans in the day (the DAY day) got a little pissed when the live actor "Superman" would turn into a cartoon "Superman" to fly.
And that is the case with this new treatment.The CGI version of "Superman" used in the movie was excellent.You really could suspend belief that that was only pixels doing all the
super shit "Superman" does.
So, they should have used CGI for the whole movie.It would have been a better movie, because we would have seen "Superman" be, well, "super."
But let me be fair to the movie. The scene where he is lifting the island of Kryptonite DID send chills thru this OLD (and I do emphasize"Silver Age of Comics" old) fanboy's body.To see some shit Superman could do.
Like literally pick up and fly away with an entire island.
That was cool,as well as the other "CGI" scenes of" Superman "doing his thing.
But I still got the "I'm watching a fake Superman" vibe.
The acting was alright, but I was surprised that James Marsden can actually ACT.
The kid of Lois Lane was fucked up, case closed.You have to see the movie to understand why they really should not give Prozac to kids.
In the context of the movie and the kid's role in the plot, the kid was WAY too laid back, and zombie like, to be what the plot of the movie made him out to ultimately be.
I wondered if Singer worked the boy like a Hebrew slave, reducing the child to a veggie like state from sheer exhaustion after take after take.The kid literally looked and acted like a zombie.
I surmise that ,since the kid is a LOT older than the five year old kid he was supposed to be playing, that by making him act like a zombie was to make him appear YOUNGER?
Hollywood is trying to create a franchise, because they need movies to CONTINUE to pimp us out of our money to escape and be entertained. So they hire Bryan Singer and get this movie out on the street.Make two more "Superman" movies for a trilogy,and let's get paid.
Keep the working men, women,animated cars and people,computer geeks, and trained monkeys in Tinseltown working!
Okay, I can get with that.
The upcoming second "Superman" movie may be the better movie, as the special effects and CGI just gets better and better.
And maybe, one day soon, I can look up at the screen, and REALLY "believe that a man can fly".
THE SEAHORN MOVIEMETER:"B-"
posted by PHILLIP SEAHORN @ 7:33 PM
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