Another Look at Superman Returns

Since the last post was a deeply personal look at the way Superman Returns impacted me on a literary, existential, and healing way, I decided to follow up with a more traditional film buff's review.

CAST:

Brandon Routh - First of all, let me preface this by saying right off the bat that when I first saw this guy in promotional stills, I became so depressed it wasn't even funny. For some reason, when I saw that first image of him standing hands on hips in the revamped costume, I thought "This is not Superman. Fuck."

But when I first saw him fly in the film... I said. "Oh my fucking god. He is... HE IS SUPERMAN!"

And so he is. Routh, as a newbie and an unknown, had a remarkably large cape to fill. Not only would he have to replace the irreplaceable Christopher Reeve, not only would he have to erase the preconceived image of Superman that lives in everyone's minds...

He would have to make us forget that he was even trying.

His job was to make us believe that this wasn't some actor trying to be Christopher Reeve's Superman. His job was to make people believe a man could fly. His job was to become Superman himself.

And believe me, he did.

I do not have the time to analyze his whole performance, so let me focus on one, little bit of his performance: In the scene on the roof of the Daily Planet, Superman surprises Lois Lane by landing on a raised portion of the roof. Ashe speaks to her, he steps down onto her level. This is a reprise of that scene in the original movie where Superman first speaks to Lois on her terrace. In the original, Chris Reeve appears on the roof, his arms crossed lightly, and says his greeting. Then, he uncrosses his arms and steps down, lightly and confidently.

In Superman Returns, Routh does the same thing... but not.

Superman lands on the roof and says his greeting, arms crossed lightly. He speaks a bit, unfolds his arms...

and floats down.

He takes a small step forward...

and floats down.

Floats.

You have to see it. In that one moment, he captures who Superman is. A being, a man, with powers and abilities far beyond those of mortal men. The power to fly, to freeze, to burn, to carry, to punch, to stop bullets...

And he's so attuned to his power, so attuned to who he is, that instead of stepping off a balcony, he floats down. Like a god.

And it's no big deal for him.

That's Superman.

Of course here are inumerable instances of Routh BEING Superman - the gattling gun scene, the plane rescue, the earthquake scene- But that was a key moment of him LIVING the character of Superman.

He also captures Superman's humanity quite well. One of my many favorite scenes happens right before the rooftop meeting. Lois has just left Clark in teh newsroom of the Daily Planet, ostensibly to go downstairs for something. She walks into the elevator and the door shuts. But we are watching her through Clark's eyes, which just happen to be x-ray eyes. So as the doors close, we see her as Clark sees her. The camera goes gauzy to replicate his X-ray vision, and we see her riding the elevator up instead of down. Of course, the gauze makes the scene romantic, and the music softens to match. And when we turn back to look at Clark, he has a look on his face that I cannot describe.

This is a man in love.

And I believe it as much as I believe he can fly.

Brandon Routh is Superman.

KATE BOSWORTH – Well, she’s much prettier than Margot Kidder. Sorry, I had to say it. My biggest peeve about the original films was that Lois Lane looked like a character from a stop smoking campaign. Not exactly Superman’s girlfriend material.

As for the acting, I have to say I was impressed. I was never a fan of Kate Bosworth, but she made me one the minute she said: “How many ‘F’s are there in ‘Catastrophe’?”

Kate Bosworth’s performance will spark many a debate over her worthiness. Some will say she was to namby-pamby. Others will say she was too leaden. I say she was the best Lois Lane so far.

Margot Kidder’s Lois was too shrewish and too nagging. She was a strong character, no doubt about it, but too much. Too aggressive. Too annoying. Erica Durance (Smallvile) was much better. Strong without being shrewish. Sarcastic and sardonic without being too annoying. Ballsy. Just like Lois of the comics.

But Kate Bosworth had something more. It was subtle and not obvious, but it was there if you were looking for it. She had Erica’s strength and none of Margot’s shrew. She had Margot’s wryness and none of Erica’s (Occasional) awkwardness. But she also had heart. She had an emotional core that was carefully covered… a seering pain hiding behind an unnaturally large forehead. Margot and Erica gave strong performances but neither could pull of Lois’ heart. Their Loises showed their emotions too much. It as too plain… too obvious. Not so with Bosworth.

You could see she was angry with the Man of Steel. You could see she was hurt. You could see she still wanted him.

But you had to dig to see more… which she had. Look into her eyes when you watch the film and you will see so much more lingering in them. Her need. Her fear. Her confusion. Her love. Her conflict. None of it obvious… all of it there.

Kate Bosworth is Lois Lane.

Kevin Spacey – He just nailed Lex. Just nailed him. Not much to say about his performance except that it was brilliant. It was a good mix of Gene Hackman and Michael Rosenbaum. He had the comic timing and sharpness of Hackman, but he also had Rosenbaum’s Darkness.

Spacey’s Lex was everything he should have been: Brilliant and sadistic in equal measures. Less camp, more danger. This was one of my favorite villain portrayals of all time from any film.

I want more!

And with that, due to time constraints, I’ll stop for now. More tomorrow!