The Passion of the Superman

Superman Returns. 7/1/06.

Superman Returns isn't a bad movie, but it could have been better. It was a decent summer action flick, but not a great one. It was too long. The special effects were beautiful, but not always necessary. From what I hear, this is a fairly faithful sequel to Christopher Reeve's Superman movies from the late '70s and early '80s. What I was hoping for was a Superman for a new generation. After what Bryan Singer did with X-Men and X2, I was expecting an intelligent recreation of the old story. I was expecting Singer to reinvent Superman for a new generation and to tell me why I should care. I was expecting a sensitive portrayal of the subtext of Superman as queer, as an outsider, and as a savior. Instead, this film was about as heavy-handed with the Jesus iconography as you could get. The gay subtext was reduced to a harmless Jimmy Olsen with a crush on Clark Kent, while Superman's relationship with Lois Lane was unnuanced and practically untroubled throughout the movie (OK, she had an ostensible common-law husband, but all he really did was follow her around being a pilot when convenient). Superman himself was too perfect, not necessarily in looks because that's too be expected, but in character and emotion. There was very little character arc for anyone in the film, as a matter of fact. And things blew up, but only bad people died onscreen.

In fact, the only really great thing about the whole film was Kevin Spacey as Lex Luthor. He makes a fabulous villian - a little campy, a little impractical, and a truly excellent actor with a real understanding of what it means to be playing a comic book character. Luthor was a sensitive genius with brains to counter Routh's Man of Steel brawn. And yes, he planned to drown millions of people, but all he really seemed to want is a little beachfront property. Plus, he appreciates the value of (alien) libraries. Is this really such a bad guy? Much more loveable than SuperJesus if you ask me.