superman returns review

I watched most of the World Cup soccer game today. I was looking for Germany to win but I wasn't disappointed at all in the way it ended. With the second overtime almost over, it was a relief to see a goal finally made. And then it was two. And neither some cheap screw-up either. I hope tomorrow's game between Portugal and France has as much good play in it.

As I mentioned yesterday, I went to see the movie Superman Returns on Sunday with my girlfriend and her older son. Neither of them liked the movie much but I certainly did.

There's some spoilers below but nothing terrible. Don't read past the next paragraph unless you want to get hints about the plot. Okay?

I guessed their objection to the movie before they said a thing. Too slow. I can see their point but don't share it. While watching the movie, I noticed a number of places in the movie where there was a lot of dialog or other types of character development and thought that they might be losing some of the audience. After all, this is a Summer Blockbuster and they're supposed to be full of action and drama. Well, this is a action heavy movie but it's also setting the stage for several sequels and at times that does slow the action. Get over it! LOL

I really liked the occasional nods to the first two Christopher Reeve Superman movies. They have a flying scene that was in this film mostly to repeat the concept used in the first movie, and even used music that was almost the same as the love theme in the first movie. Nice. And the casting in this movie is so much better. Kevin Spacey is probably slightly better as Lex Luthor but the big difference is Lois Lane. Kate Bosworth is wonderful--whereas Margot Kidder just sucked. She was painful to watch at times. Hell, at all times! The one good thing you can say about Superman 3 was that Annette O'Toole was brought in to supplement Kidder (and what a relief it was (a nod there to Alka-Selzer)) as Lana Lang, a highschool classmate of Clark Kent's. As for Superman, Brandon Routh is quite good and a worthy successor to Christopher Reeves. James Marsden is also very good in his role--and that role illustrates the higher than usual level of the writing in this movie. His role could have been just a cardboard cutout but it isn't. This has sequel written all over it--especially the role of the child.

The special effects were much better in this movie than the Christopher Reeves' films, reflecting the changes in technology available, and it was nice to see that they didn't over do the special effects either. The characters hold the stage here, not the effects. I highly recommend this film--but don't go see it if you want nonstop action. They do talk to each other in this version of Superman.