Superman Returns
The Superman Movie Franchise that starred Christopher Reeve was a groundbreaking phenomenon that set an impossibly high bar for a type of film during an era in which there was nothing else like it (and long before they became a fast food flavored, no big deal type of âeventâ film like they are today). As directed by Richard Donner, the first film and the much later seen version of his Part 2 brought all of the right components together, most notably the aura of seriousness and respect that such a project required. After Donnerâs production of Part 2 was âhijackedâ (so to speak) by Richard Lester, the British journeyman infused into his version of 2 along with Part 3 a fatal dose of ironic humor that killed its future prospects before finally grinding to a halt with Sidney Furieâs Part 4, featuring a low budget veneer that was more apt to the corny TV show and serials that had come before it, effectively killing Reeveâs legacy in the part and burying Superman as a movie character for 20 years. Any potential for a comeback by Reeve in the part was scuttled by his 1995 horse riding accident that had left him paralyzed and Tim Burtonâs fiasco of an attempt in the late 90s that had unwisely used a script by Kevin Smith while even more unwisely casting (and preemptively paying $20 million to) Nicolas Cage in the role of The Man Of Steel before the whole project was scrapped due to fear of failure (and following the disastrous reception of Batman And Robin didnât help either). Finally in 2006, it fell into the hands of Bryan Singer, a guy who had already made two successful X-Men flicks (and who had turned down doing the third one in order to do Superman). Speculation was rampant as to how it would be done, including the idea of casting Tom Welling (who had honorably played Clark Kent for years on the TV show Smallville which was still going at the time) to have him step up to finally having the torch passed to him by playing Superman in the movies, but Welling himself wanted no part of it. Singer ultimately decided (in rather ironic fashion) that the Donner films were truly untouchable in terms of their execution and that his own Superman film would be both an updated tribute to Donnerâs vision AND a literal sequel to the Reeve films with complete and total recasting across the board save for one role: Marlon Brando (already dead for 2 years at this point) would reprise his role here as Supermanâs father Jor-El through both the use of digital enhancement and excessive use of several choice sound bites of his original performance as being either recordings in The Fortress Of Solitude or as Supermanâs own memories of interacting with his father, and it IS quite a surprise in just how much of Brandoâs old material was used here. In addition, a good amount of John Williamsâ original, iconic score was recomposed and reused in this film (most notably during the opening credits), thus establishing this film firmly in the Reeve / Donner realm (with Singer reportedly ignoring the events of Parts 3 and 4 where among other things, it was said there that Clarkâs Earth mother had died while here Martha Kent remains alive and well and played by Eva Marie Saint) with several references to key events and even dialogue in those previous films. It must be said that Singer took several major story risks here nonetheless, with the first one being that Superman had just abruptly disappeared without explanation five years earlier and had just now returned to Earth after spending that time in his own custom made spaceship exploring the ruins of his home planet Krypton hoping to find some semblance of life but instead finding nothing (although it seemed that Jor-El had made it pretty clear that nothing remained of his home planet) leading to him crash landing in Marthaâs cornfield and getting himself ready to return to Metropolis as Clark Kent (where his friends there believe that Clark had traveled the world to see new sights and of course nobody thinks that his return had anything to do with Supermanâs). The problem of course with Singer sequelizing the Reeve / Donner films while doing a complete overhaul of the cast except for Brando is that it means that every recast actor and actress is going to be directly compared to the original performer for better or worse and most likely wilt under the comparison, starting with Brandon Routh taking on the monster lead role of Clark Kent / Superman. Whereas Reeve played the nerdy Kent in a perfectly nerdy way all while dripping pure testosterone as Superman, Routh even when heâs playing Superman comes across as being slightly nerdy (and a bit too boyish as well rather than masculine) but he does commendably project Reeveâs persona and goofy grin without being too wrong for the part. Likewise for Kate Bosworthâs Lois Lane, who easily bests Margot Kidder in the looks department just as we so easily forget that Kidder nailed the part so well mainly because of her ACTING TALENT, something that Bosworth falters at here with her mostly blank stares. And those who always enjoyed Marc McClureâs stylings as Jimmy Olsen (easily the most overrated nothing character of all time) will find little to savor at Sam Huntingtonâs red mouthed, borderline creepy interpretation of Olsen. The one surprising shift into the win column here is with Frank Langellaâs acerbic, hilariously biting Perry White, though admittedly Langella (while not quite bringing a new level to this standard role like Oldman brought to Gordon) is given much better dialogue here than Jackie Cooper ever had to work with (even using the tried and true White catchphrase âGreat Caesarâs Ghostâ which Cooper never got to). Of course the big head to head matchup (moreso than Superman even) is in the casting of Lex Luthor, with Gene Hackmanâs devilishly sly turn being equal parts chilling and funny, whereas here we get Kevin Spacey (certainly not a lightweight) not only mostly playing Luthor as being bald (unlike Hackman) but also playing him in a somewhat more serious tone, making it clear that Luthor resents Superman for withholding what he feels are beneficial secrets from the human race (namely himself) while also not consorting too much with mindless idiots (like Ned Beattyâs Otis) and engaging in banter instead with his girlfriend played by Parker Posey (whose name here is âKitty Kowalskiâ even as she is an obvious stand in for Valerie Perrineâs Miss Teschmacher) and even more unusual is the featured billing of Kal Penn (from the Harold and Kumar films) as one of Luthorâs henchmen who doesnât even get one word of dialogue out and instead just settles for a handful of close ups. Luthorâs plot is once again land / real estate related as he gets ahold of some of Supermanâs Krypton crystals (the same ones that created The Fortress Of Solitude in Part 1) with the intention of using them to create new land masses (tinged with Kryptonite which he has seemingly stocked up a large supply of) that will effectively crush and destroy the existing (populated) continents and basically allow him to corner the real estate market on those lucky few who survive the aftermath. Itâs not a bad plan really, just a bit too similar to Hackmanâs Luthor using a couple of well placed nukes in Part 1 to do the same thing. On top of that we get James Marsden in the out of left field role of Perry Whiteâs nephew who is now engaged to Lois and the father of her child, a shocking development in the Superman universe but not as shocking as her having written an award winning piece on âWhy The World Doesnât Need Supermanâ (which it turns out she did more out of bitterness and anger that the love of her life had disappeared for so long without telling her). There are also cameos by original Jimmy Olsen Jack Larson (as a bartender) and original Lois Lane Noel Neill (in a truly disturbing bit) as a dying old rich woman whom it turns out had bought Luthor his way out of prison and then married him before leaving everything to him in her will. Overall the sweeping epic spectacle of Donnerâs oldschool approach still plays well here even as the actual freshness of the material can be called into question, although nothing can ever touch the feeling of John Williamsâ chords and seeing some of the impressive FX here that Donner never had the chance to showcase way back thenâŚ
8/10