Superman Returns

So, despite it being smack in the middle of the week, my roomate and I, caught the A train to the AMC on 34th street on Tuesday night to watch the 10 PM show of Superman Returns. I have to admit, I was pretty excited. I first saw the trailer about a year ago, when it first released either on Apple trailers or some other site and I have been eagerly waiting for this movie ever since. I mean it's Superman !!!

Also, interestingly enough, I noticed Kal Penn's name featuring in the cast.

Allright, so as expected all the screens showing the movie were sold out and the lines to enter the hall were insanely long, with people lining up over an hour before the movie even started. Also as expected, every second person was wearing a blue and red superman shirt, but what really got me, was the handful of people who were actually wearing full superman outfits. Complete, to the red exterior underwear. I must admit, I was wearing my superman shirt as well, but it was black and silver. I like to believe it is cooler than the red and blue, but that is debatable.

Eventually the trailers came on, one of them being the Spidey 3 trailer ..... so gooooood. Now I have to wait another freakin' year ! Did I mention recently I almost managed to get into one of the scenes during the shooting of Spidey 3. Well, thats for another post.

Before I begin, a caveat. I have only seen the first Superman, out of the previous 4 (reminder : head over to blockbuster and pick them up tonight). Additionally, Superman has never been one of my favorite super hero's. I mean, I liked him, but I never worshipped him. I have my favorites.

So back to the post. To me, watching Superman Returns, was like watching Brazil play this worldcup, good, but kinda unsatisfying. I'm sure most of you will go out, watch it and absolutely adore it. But I don't know.... I liked it, but it did leave me craving for more.

Superman Returns starts off in a world sans Superman for over five years now. The world seems to have forgotten him and Lois Lane has won a pulitzer for her article - "Why the World Doesn't Need Superman" (a Pulitzer ?? the girl can't even spell....maybe she used MS Word Spell Check). Additionally, Lex is out of jail and plotting away to glory with Kal Penn as one of his sidekicks.

Our beloved hero's entry is quite literally with a bang. He crash lands into the Kent's farm (again ??). You would have imagined, he would have learnt to fly his space-craft by now. Seriously Clark, weren't you paying attention to Jor-El's lessons ?

Mother unites with adopted son and all is well. Heck, Clark even manages to get his old job back, but realizes that his lady love is now engaged and is a mommy. Superman's comeback though, was pretty impressive. A thrilling scene where a space shuttle fails to seperate from it's launchpad 777 aircraft, with both going out of control, and the passengers (well only Lois, because she didn't fasten her seatbelt in time) flying around the cabin, brings our hero in blue and red to the rescue.

Bradon, though he does possess an uncanny resemblance to Christopher Reeves and a fairly enviable physique, was quite boring. The story itself was pretty shaky and the movie didn't flow too well. But two people really stood out - Bryan Singer and Kevin Spacey

Kevin was absolutely fabulous as Superman's nemesis. I have my doubts about Brandon, but Spacey was perfect !!! His brilliance in exhibiting his delusional fantasies of omnipotence and the smooth dialogues were delightful !

And Bryan Singer is simply amazing. With The Usual Suspects, X1 and X2 on his resume, I had no doubt that this movie would be good. But what was unusual, was that for the first time, this movie focussed more on the emotional undertones than anything else. It wasn't just about Superman preventing Lex from succeeding in his dastardly plan of killing off "billions not millions" just to venture into real-estate, but Singer spent too much time studying and focussing in on the emotional aspects of each character. And that's what put me off slightly. The chemistry between Clark and Lois was very ordinary. I definitely preferred what Lex and Kitty shared. Too much time was spent on the romantic angle, and that prevented the story from flowing smothly. Now, it is true, that the subtle romance between Superman and Lois Lane is pivotal to the story, but in this case, I didn't see any sparks flying anywhere.

On the bright side, a lot of time was clearly spent studying the physics of flight. And that shows, as the special effects definitely impress. I really believed I could fly. A titanic-like scene, continents being created and consequently moved, bullets bouncing off our man's eye, the way his hair and cloak responded to the wind and speed - fantastic.

On a different note, I never understood why one could never figure out that Clark was Superman. Even in this movie, a few contemplate the possibility but then disregard it. Lois Lane's son seems to be the only sharp one who seems to have figured it out. Oh and yes, speaking of the little munchkin, he definitely surprises in more ways than one.

So here is my final take on it. A really great superhero flick, a little disappointing for me personally, but definitely a must watch. The story could definitely have been more convincing and a few more thrilling rescues could have been thrown in. And for goodness sake, they could have given Kal a word or two to say before killing him off (oops)!! The dialogues were witty and chuckle inducing and they even managed to get the whole "It's a bird...no, it's a plane, no..it's ..." routine in there. I give it a thumbs up.

I want to go watch it again in IMAX. That should be an experience.

Oh and yes, did I mention there is definitely a sequel in the works !