Runester

So, the gf and I went to see Superman Returns, in IMAX no less (with several 3D scenes!) Monday evening. I’d really, really, really been looking forward to it. She was eager, but not nearly as geeked out as I was. All the reviews were (generally) favorable, and the previews were great.

My opinion? Disappointing. It’s not that the acting wasn’t great, or that the special effects weren’t great, or that this wasn’t a faithful and well done homage to the 1978 classic - it totally was! The primary problem was that the Superman-Lois relationship stuff was very slow and didn’t forward the plot, hardly at all; plus, the villain wasn’t nearly as villainous as I’d hoped.

Lex Luthor is a great villain! Kevin Spacey is a great Lex Luthor! The plot was rediculous … yet another real estate scheme to make him rich (ala the first Superman movie)? Give me a break! In the comics and in the TV series, Lex Luthor is a billionaire, to no small part due to his genius and ruthlessness. In the first movie (and redone here) he is a scheming, conman, broke or hustling money from aging widows, or trying to purpetrate a far fetched real estate scam. If this was really the Lex Luthor of the comics, no 12 year old boy would have bothered to read it. I mean, come on! Why not insider trading or junk bonds? Ooooooh, how villainous!

As has been proven time and again, superhero movies rely heavily on the villain. The hero’s just aren’t that interesting unless they’re fighting a really interesting, and powerful villain. Spiderman has done that very well, X-Men have done this very well, Superman has not. In fact, the better Superman movie was the second one, in which he had to fight three (3) Kryptonian villains - that was awesome!
Here’s “Stephen’s Superhero Movie Formulae” - Create a complex, conflicted hero who has an extreme motive for purforming their extreme acts. Add a really powerful, and fascinating villain, either driven to their path in desperation or madness or grief. And stir in a complex world that could conceivably contain both of them. This is how you tell a good superhero story!

I’d give Superman Returns a B-.