9/20/2007 - Superman Reborn

WARNING: Spoilers for "Superman Returns" below:

I'm probably one of the few people out there that really liked Superman Returns. It definitely has its flaws in it, but I could see what Bryan Singer was trying to do with the movie. I mean, the concept alone of it being a sequel to the first two Superman movies was brilliant. It got us past another origin retelling and it put is back in a universe we were familiar with. As a bonus, the great John Williams score did not seem out of place as it would have been if it had been a complete reboot of the series.

There were some things I would have changed, though. Probably the most glaring disappointment was that Supes didn't fight a super-powered enemy. In fact, he didn't even throw a punch. Second, the pacing was a bit off. I would have preferred a slower opening like the original Superman. We didn't need to see him go back to Metropolis right away. I wanted to see a little more of Smallville and more interaction with Ma Kent. While the beginning was too fast, the end was definitely too slow. I mean, right after Superman threw the Kryponite island into space, the movie slowed to a crawl. I was checking my watch at that point. Really, movies DON'T need to be over two and a half hours. I mean, I appreciate getting my money's worth, I guess... but if it's too long, it becomes tedious.

I do think they might have painted themselves into a corner with potential sequels by having Superman have a son, though. What can they do next with that? I did like the metaphor of Jason having an adoptive father in Richard though. Even though Jason is biologically Superman's son, Richard will raise Jason just as Jonathan Kent raised young Clark Kent. This would not be the case, of course, if Richard wasn't a good man, but the movie made it clear that he was.

While I think Brandon Routh did well as Clark Kent/Superman (he looks so much like Cristopher Reeve), he was just a bit too young for me. I mean, I think if they were going for a younger Superman, they might have just went with Smallville's Clark Kent, Tom Welling. I'm sure eventually we'll see him in the red and blue tights, but probably not until the series ends. He does a pretty good job on the TV show, but we don't really see him in the Clark Kent "disguise". Here's a fan trailer for what a Superman movie would be like with Tom Welling in the title role. It's probably the best Photoshop job I've seen that's put into motion. The even painted the Hulk to look like Darkseid and Doomsday. Nice!