SUPERMAN RETURNS
MOVIE REVIEW
***
SUPERMAN LIVES ...
As composer John Williams' familiar orchestrations pump up the opening credits of "Superman Returns", we hurtle through CG galaxies culminating in a fiery crash-landing on Earth, where widow 'Ma Kent' (Eva Marie Saint), grateful for the second coming of alien 'Kal-El', wraps the last son of Krypton in her arms, striking the pose of Michelangelo's ''The Pieta', while the higher-powered focus of the 5th film in Warners "Superman" movie franchise, based on the 1938 DC Comics character, suddenly becomes crystal-clear.
But when former AWOL 'Clark Kent' punches in at the 'Metropolis' newspaper 'Daily Planet', this isn't the tough and scrappy beat-reporter voiced by actor Budd Collyer in the 1940's "Superman" radio shows, subsequently animated by director Dave Fleischer in a series of defining "Superman" cartoons.
Neither is Singer's Kent the dependable, no-nonsense columnist embodied by actor George Reeves in the 1950's TV series "The Adventures of Superman".
No, this Clark Kent is the sweaty, clumsy clod from writer Harvey Kurtzman/artist Wally Wood's 1950's EC Mad Magazine comic book parody "Superduperman", a snivelling satiric interpretation enshrined by the 1978 Salkind feature "Superman" from director Richard Donner and actor Christopher Reeve.
When the film nails feisty 'Lois Lane' (Kate Bosworth), there is no Margot Kidder's dizzy take, now glossed-over as a responsible single parent with the juiciest lips this side of mermaid 'Lori Lemaris'.
Other good performances include sober Frank "Dracula" Langella as newspaper editor 'Perry White', prim Kevin Spacey as psycho 'Lex Luthor' (with demonic ears backlit for illuminati-effect) and a star-making turn from beefed-up Brandon Routh as the 'Man of Steel'.
Routh's Superman lives with impressive action sequences, including Supes cutting through high-velocity winds to save a doomed aircraft; Supes getting some heavy (artillery) issues off his chest; a surreal moment when he keeps his eye on a speeding bullet; and the graceful rejuvenation of his other-worldly super-powers courtesy Earth's yellow sun.
There are also some disturbingly 'Mxyzptlk' type scenes in the film, including a vulnerable Supes getting viciously gang-bashed, then skewered up the backside by a shard-like Kryptonite shiv; a shadowy scene recalling the "Boys Of St. Vincent" with a perspiring Supes talking to himself in the bedroom of Lois' sleeping young boy; and a frustrated Supes hovering Nosferatu-like in front of Lois' home, using X-ray vision to spy on his former squeeze before wrapping himself up in his cape to swirl away into the gloom.
Despite the odd lapses in 'moral' judgement "Superman Returns" is positively redeemed with 'spiritual' resolve, as a spaced-out Supes drifts aimlessly above the Earth, the deafening cries of a troubled humanity reminding us of his legacy as the first comic book superhero...
Up, up and away ...
Michael StevensSNEAK PEEK
MOVIE REVIEW
***
SUPERMAN LIVES ...
As composer John Williams' familiar orchestrations pump up the opening credits of "Superman Returns", we hurtle through CG galaxies culminating in a fiery crash-landing on Earth, where widow 'Ma Kent' (Eva Marie Saint), grateful for the second coming of alien 'Kal-El', wraps the last son of Krypton in her arms, striking the pose of Michelangelo's ''The Pieta', while the higher-powered focus of the 5th film in Warners "Superman" movie franchise, based on the 1938 DC Comics character, suddenly becomes crystal-clear.
But when former AWOL 'Clark Kent' punches in at the 'Metropolis' newspaper 'Daily Planet', this isn't the tough and scrappy beat-reporter voiced by actor Budd Collyer in the 1940's "Superman" radio shows, subsequently animated by director Dave Fleischer in a series of defining "Superman" cartoons.
Neither is Singer's Kent the dependable, no-nonsense columnist embodied by actor George Reeves in the 1950's TV series "The Adventures of Superman".
No, this Clark Kent is the sweaty, clumsy clod from writer Harvey Kurtzman/artist Wally Wood's 1950's EC Mad Magazine comic book parody "Superduperman", a snivelling satiric interpretation enshrined by the 1978 Salkind feature "Superman" from director Richard Donner and actor Christopher Reeve.
When the film nails feisty 'Lois Lane' (Kate Bosworth), there is no Margot Kidder's dizzy take, now glossed-over as a responsible single parent with the juiciest lips this side of mermaid 'Lori Lemaris'.
Other good performances include sober Frank "Dracula" Langella as newspaper editor 'Perry White', prim Kevin Spacey as psycho 'Lex Luthor' (with demonic ears backlit for illuminati-effect) and a star-making turn from beefed-up Brandon Routh as the 'Man of Steel'.
Routh's Superman lives with impressive action sequences, including Supes cutting through high-velocity winds to save a doomed aircraft; Supes getting some heavy (artillery) issues off his chest; a surreal moment when he keeps his eye on a speeding bullet; and the graceful rejuvenation of his other-worldly super-powers courtesy Earth's yellow sun.
There are also some disturbingly 'Mxyzptlk' type scenes in the film, including a vulnerable Supes getting viciously gang-bashed, then skewered up the backside by a shard-like Kryptonite shiv; a shadowy scene recalling the "Boys Of St. Vincent" with a perspiring Supes talking to himself in the bedroom of Lois' sleeping young boy; and a frustrated Supes hovering Nosferatu-like in front of Lois' home, using X-ray vision to spy on his former squeeze before wrapping himself up in his cape to swirl away into the gloom.
Despite the odd lapses in 'moral' judgement "Superman Returns" is positively redeemed with 'spiritual' resolve, as a spaced-out Supes drifts aimlessly above the Earth, the deafening cries of a troubled humanity reminding us of his legacy as the first comic book superhero...
Up, up and away ...
Michael StevensSNEAK PEEK
