I like movies and I like comic books. So naturally, when you put these two things together it gets me all mixed up in a strange mixture of anticipation and trepidition. On one hand, its always cool to be able to see comic books brought to life on the big screen with the eye-popping effects and some creative re-imagination, but on the other, you just hope the people behind don't mess up big time. Don't get me wrong though, I'm not some die-hard fanboy who goes on and on about organic web shooters and Hugh Jackman being too tall to be Wolverine, I just want to see an honest to goodness movie adaptation that hits all the high notes.
Safe to say, its been a good ride the past few years. Wesley Snipes as Blade kicked vampire ass in the Blade series. Hellboy was an excellent introduction to somewhat obscure character. Bryan Singer went against the odds and brought our merry mutants to the big screen with X-Men. While creating a world that's wildly different from the comics, he's managed to ground the X-Men in its core essense which make them what they are. Ditto Sam Raimi with Spider-Man, his Spider-Man series is probably (in my opinion) the best series in this genre by far. Chris Nolan did a pretty good job with his Batman: Year One-esque Batman Begins, which went a long way to exorcise the horrible memory that is Batman & Robin. Heck, I even thought Daredevil and The Punisher weren't too bad. Which brings me to Bryan Singer's Superman.
Now, I'm not a huge Superman fan, but then this is Superman, the precursor of all spandex-clad superheroes. And it's Bryan Singer, the hip director who dished out The Usual Suspects and the first two X-Men movies. So it's got to be good right? Unfortunately, it was not to be.
I can't exactly put my finger on it, but Superman Returns just didn't click for me. I'm not sure whether it's because Supes spent three-quarters of the movie looking like a sad, lost puppy or Kevin Spacey was totally wasted in a flat role as Lex Luthor. It just. didn't. work. I think Bryan Singer's idea of making this a sequel of sorts to the first two Superman movies didn't help things either. Start with a clean slate, making it a sort-of sequel probably weighs down the movie unnecessarily.
And make Superman smart! Like genius smart, after all this is Super-friggin'-man we're talking about! This is supposedly a Superman with years of experience under his belt, who's faced down Lex Luthor numerous times, but yet he allows himself to fly into yet another trap! And worse, gets an ass kicking from Luthor's goons. Potray him as a boy scout but don't make him a dumb schmoe, dammit! On that note, make Clark less dopey too. Maybe I'm used to how Clark was potrayed in Lois & Clark and SmallVille, but dopey-Clark just doesn't cut it.
And Luthor's plot...oh where do I begin?! All this fancy, new fangled, Kryptonian tech at his disposal and he chooses to do what?! A real-estate scheme?! Get a real scheme, Luthor. Oh and by the way, when you pick a girlfriend, look for some stone-cold, hard as nails bitch not some soft, poodle-lovin' bimbo. Someone get him Magneto's number!
OK, rant over...sort of. Guess I felt that they could have done a better job at reviving this series. As it is, it's not terrible but it ain't terrific either. Hopefully the sequel's better...way better.
Edit: OK, there is one thing I really like in the movie. The score. That iconic Superman theme by John Williams is simply awesome.
