I should be in bed right now and I'm going to regret it tomorrow morning when S-Boogie wakes me at 7:30, but I couldn't go to bed without blogging about Superman Returns. Foxy and I saw it this afternoon, and I was blown away. And not just because the volume in the theater was turned up ridiculously high--the movie is amazing on a lot of levels. The action sequences and SFX are incredible. To quote the tagline to the 1978 version of Superman, you will believe a man can fly. Sure, Superman does lots of cool stuff, but nothing as cool as flying, and the flying scenes are... wow.
At any rate, my favorite part of the movie is not the flying or the action or Kevin Spacey's superb performance as Lex Luthor or even Brandon Routh in tights. My favorite part is the love story. I like fiction that represents love in a way I find realistic and responsible, and Superman Returns does just that. I won't give too much away, but there's a weird sort of love triangle that results from the fact that Superman has been gone for five years and has come back unexpectedly, and all three parties involved in the triangle act realistically, responsibly, and maturely--like adults, not teenagers, which is how adults in most romantic movies tend to act. In the real world, or at least in any part of the real world that involves any kind of lasting happiness, love is not some raging passionate force that takes complete control of you, but rather it is a raging passionate force that takes complete control of you, balanced by rational decisions of whom and how to love. All three parties in the love triangle in Superman Returns portray both sides of this equation: the passion and the ration (which would be more clever if "ration" meant what I want it to mean here). I've long been a fan of Superman, but now Bryan Singer has made me a fan of Lois Lane.
11 comments:
I'm with you - give me a reasonable, realistic love scene over schmaltz and sex any day.
Which explains why I have such a bizarre love life...
I was all excited about seeing this, and suggested to Daltonboy that for our date tonight, we go see "Batman Returns." He asked me if it was at the dollar movie. I said, "No, silly, it just came out."
Then I was painfully reminded of the guy I dated who didn't know the difference between Star Wars and Star Trek.
Pray for me that my husband won't reject me as thoroughly as I rejected that guy.
I hated Lois Lane in the first two movies, so you're right, I really did like her in this one. I also didn't hate the movie either. It was just hard to concentrate with the sound turned up so high and with my brain so fried from sleep deprivation.
'I like fiction that represents love in a way I find realistic and responsible ...'
I like how you worded that. I haven't seen the movie, but I'm assuming the word 'responsible' refers to a recognition of consequences, since in real life, you can't just walk out of the theater when the ['good part' of the] story ends (though that's what Hollywood implies in their 'happily ever after' stories that all too many people try to imitate, and then wonder how their life got so messed up!) 'Course maybe I'm making the wrong assumption, which might make this an irresponsible comment. :)
I'm anxious to see it (but will probably wait til the library gets the video).
What a great description of realistic love. Not love that is sensationalized, but true and enduring love.
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Great. Now I want to see it.
I like Superman, but never liked the Reeves movies, so a new Superman movie didn't hold any appeal for me.
But the buzz has been good.
But here's a question: what's with worth-it popcorn movies becoming 2.5+hrs of a sudden? What the heck kind of trend is this?
I can't say that I agree with you here. I saw the movie last wednesday and was horribly disappointed. I thought the special effects (especially the flying) were laughable, that Kevin Spacey was a horrible Lex Luthor and that Lois Lane was just plain annoying.
I do agree, however, with your point about the love story being more realistic than most movies. It was interesting to see it portrayed that way.
What I liked about the last Batman movie was that it felt like they updated the Batman story to be more modern and more real instead of a decades old campy, cheesy comic book story. I just don't feel like Superman Returns pulled this off... it still felt like old-school campy superman.
You're welcome to have that opinion, Svoid, but just don't expect me to ever talk to you again while you have it.
I saw it tonight, and you're right - superman does act like an adult, and so do the others - I agree withs your descriptions.
However, I think my favorite character was Spacey's Lex Luther -his performance was excellent!
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I was totally up for that Lex role too, but I didn't want to shave my head.
Pride always gets you in the end.
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Sometimes I wonder if everything I say is a lie....
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