Superhero movies
Continuing our movie marathon weekend, Grumpus and I saw Superman Returns today. Grumpus was looking forward to it with almost as much intensity as for Batman Begins. And we know that Batman is Grumpus’ favorite character of all time (some might even say that Grumpus is Batman). I tried to avoid the hoopla because I wanted to come in with a clean mind and no expectations. I wanted to like the movie.
The trailer was a good start. I got goosebumps many times - when the original John Williams score came on, when Superman first zipped by the screen, when an adolescent Clark Kent first discovered his powers, when Brandon Routh fills the screen with that gorgeous mug. I like my superhero movies to take their superheroes seriously. And I like my superheroes to kick ass. I like my pulse rate to increase when they’re discovering their powers/ flying/ webslinging/ hanging upside down and scaring the shit out of bad guys/ punching bad guys/ walking through walls/ extending adamantium claws/ moving things with their mind/ saving innocent bystanders/ saving the world. I like to get goosebumps when the narrative goes into their background stories and reasons for putting on the mask/ cape/ costume.
Anyway, back to Supes. I kinda liked the movie. I liked the Superman bits. I liked Brandon Routh. I liked that he disappeared for 5 years and then reappeared, a little bit unsure of his role in a world that seems to have moved on. I liked the airplane/ space shuttle routine and the landing in the ballpark. I liked all the “saving the innocent civilians” stuff. I liked the scenes with Martha Kent. I did not like Kate Bosworth as Lois Lane — too uptight, snappy and bitter, although if Superman got me pregnant and disappeared for 5 years I’d be a mega-bitch too. I did not like the “Superman’s son” storyline. I never read the comic books so I don’t know if he actually had a son in any of the story arcs, or if that is a liberty taken by the screenwriters, but it was a gratuitous, manipulative insert that did nothing to further the plot. In the end, I didn’t get that emotional satisfaction that I was looking for.
I’m not sure what they could have done differently. The elements were all there, but somehow they didn’t mesh.
So how does it rank in the pantheon of recent superhero movies? Mickey says, not as good as Spiderman 1 but better than Spiderman 2. Definitely far below Batman Begins. He doesn’t like mutants so we’re not even going into the X-Men movies. And he says that The Hulk was just a big mess. And of course you understand that F4 and DD do not belong on the same movie list.
In my mind, Batman Begins and Spiderman 1 were in the same class. I liked Spiderman 2 almost as much. Because I really really did love Spidey back in the day, and because they treated him right in the movies. And I did like the X-Men movies, because I always liked the mutants and loved seeing them in action (Wolverine especially, but the Beast was a hoot, and seeing Kitty Pryde phase through walls and floors made me smile), and because of the brilliant casting of Patrick Stewart and Ian McKellen. I’d have to go with somewhere in between S2 and the X-Men movies. In other words, pretty good but not classic.
Is this a movie they should have spent $250m making? Probably not, especially since Pirates of the Carribean 2 is running rings around it at the box office. All I want is for it to make money so they’ll make a sequel and get it right the second time around.