Superman Returns: Has Superman Returned? or is it an Impostor?
Just what kind of Superman is this, I wondered. (Apparently, the director wondered, too. I’m reminded that Superman tries to be Atlas via a moment when he holds the ‘earth’ which has just fallen from atop the Daily Planet news building. No one knows what god he’s supposed to be.)
He’s been away from Earth for five years. He left to find his home planet; at least, the pieces that remained. Now, maybe I’m a little slow, but I thought pieces of his planet were fairly dangerous to him. Okay, I realize orphans need to find the place they came from. I suppose Superman needed, as they say, closure. It seems ridiculous to me that this super man, this ideal person, this hero would just leave without saying anything, however. No note, no email, no wondrous signs in the heavens. When Christ left Earth to go home, as it were, he notified certain individuals.
Not finding what he wanted, Superman decides to return to Earth. Unfortunately, he doesn’t find the faith alive and well. Most especially, Lois Lane, his Mary Magdelene, has pursued a life without him. She’s got a man, a child, and a Pulitizer (which she received for a super article called “Why the World Doesn’t Need Superman”). Superman must rekindle the need for him. He does so with his fancy heat ray vision and by floating around above the atmosphere and saving an aircraft from crashing (no, not into the World Trade Center, just a ball park). After the miraculous save, he does a typical Superman thing. He leaves the wrecked plane in the middle of a baseball stadium. I’d want my money back if I was at that game.
The baseball park was an appropriate setting for his first miracle after getting back. It’s the American pastime (even though Superman is supposed to be a world savior and has ditched the “American way” phrase from his famous tagline), and baseball is immersed in the whole steroid scandal. Is Superman on steroids? Whatever. I bet those boots are.
I found some situations in the film perplexing. For example, I did not think it appropriate that Superman eavesdropped on them. He’s supposed to be this ideal person, right? Isn’t eavesdropping rude? Don’t we teach our kids to avoid this? Don’t we all secretly want to do that but hold ourselves back? But he doesn’t have to? After he is rescued by his friends, he really doesn’t display much gratitude.
They did what they were supposed to do, he seemed to say. And the child, too, presented an odd situation. Superman is supposed to be the ideal person, correct? So, if he has a family it should be the ideal family. After watching the movie, then, the ideal family is presented as one in which Mom lies to baby about Dad and they live with the Other Guy. Super dysfunction, I guess. Or perhaps this was just a jab at the Da Vinci Code.
Director Singer’s many allusions to the savior motif got tedious after a dozen or more. The other irritating factor was the many tributes to the Superman movies of the late 70s and early 80s. Not that I mind tribute; in fact, I really enjoyed the opening credits and the resurrected John Williams score. But, it began to feel like I’d seen this movie before. It became a remake instead of a tribute. The effects were, by the way, well handled and sophisticated. Except for the boots – they were disturbing. Have I mentioned that?
In the remaking of the Superman movies, a vital part of the story was lost. The previous movies had a crisis for Superman that was much closer to his heart. He had to reverse time to save Lois Lane, he sacrificed his powers for love (although it can be argued that that was a really stupid thing to do). Like Superman, we are part of the whole world, but we can’t save everything and everyone.
But we can try to save a little part of it. Those feelings can be identified with. That could have been done with Superman Returns. The romantic triangle should have been explored further and brought to resolution. There are some tense moments between Lois and Superman and Richard and Superman. However, these moments go nowhere and become pointless, as does so much of the movie.
Superman Returns is too long, too melodramatic and has far too many savior overtones. It all comes back to the boots. They could have been cool, but they became disturbing and forced the question, “Why?” Brandon Routh, I will say, does have the potential to be a decent Superman. There are times when he looks and sounds just like Christopher Reeve and yet he adds his own character as well.
Unfortunately, we don’t see much of his character. His dialogue is borrowed and miniscule. Perhaps Bryan Singer is saving his efforts for the inevitable Superman Returns Again sequel. Perhaps then we will see Routh make Superman his own. Only if the story is better and – get rid of the boots!
