Mansur Ahmed

When I watched Superman Returns back in 2006, I kind of liked it. I thought Brandon Routh was perfect, able to maintain the essence of Christopher Reeve, but he wasn’t given too much to do. I liked Superman Returns, I felt it did a lot more right than it did wrong, but there were two major issues I had with the movie. One was the screenplay. A close second was Kate Bosworth as Lois Lane, but primarily the screenplay. Everything else was okay to me. Bryan Singer’s direction very closely followed the style which was established by Richard Donner in the 1978 original, which added a warm welcomed dimension of nostalgia. Kevin Spacey’s performance as Lex Luthor paid tribute to Gene Hackman while staying unique itself. Like I said, the main flaw is the narrative ambitions of the screenwriters, which were a bit overreaching. While maintaining the philosophy of verisimilitude as emphasized by Donner, I felt maybe they took the material too seriously, thereby detracting from the magic of the first film. Towards the end, it began to adopt soap-operatic elements, introducing a paternity dispute to the whole mix. There’s nothing wrong with Superman having a son, but the Man of Steel is about a lot more than being envious of another person filling his gap with Lois Lane. The quiet romance between the two in the original was refreshing in its simplicity. The direction it took in the second film was only to show what would happen should Superman give into the banality of blind devotion to a single person over the rest of humanity. He has certain responsibilities to those weaker than him. Something else I thought the new script did wrong was emphasize a kind of Christ-like quality of Superman. Obviously Superman’s attributes naturally procures that sort of comparison, but it’s not supposed to be that serious, nor does Superman ever allow himself to recognize he is above everybody else because of his powers. He knows that he is special, but he strives to never place one human being over another. One of his conflicts does stem from his feelings for Lois Lane, but Superman Returns strays away from that discussion in place of melodrama. I didn’t think it was real interesting, or fun.

My opinion of the film is obviously a shared one as Warner Bros. has announced it plans to reboot the franchise again. I hope they keep Brandon Routh because his filling the shoes of Christopher Reeve is practically seamless. They should definitely give him more lines though. The quality of the films in the original series waned with each progressive entry, but I really don’t think it’s necessary to completely reboot this new series. There can be good follow-ups with the world that has been established, or reestablished you can say, in Superman Returns. The filmmakers need to go back to the roots of the Superman mythos. Superman II was a good sequel because it introduced General Zod as the villain. It began to go wrong in the third one when the villain was some computer hacker played by Richard Pryor. Now Richard Pryor is a legend and a genius, but what the hell is he doing in a Superman movie? The one saving grace of the third film is the battle which takes place between the two Supermans. That was actually quite powerful and the rest of the film should have been built more so around it. I’m not even going to waste time discussing the fourth film, though I will say it had an intriguing premise. Unfortunately the poor quality of the production destroyed any chances of it being good.

The best of all the movies is of course the original, which is why Superman Returns inherently follows the exact structure of it. It literally has the same pacing, but for some reason feels the need to elevate the material to a level of pretentious complexity, especially the romance as I mentioned before. Christopher Reeve and Margot Kidder had real chemistry. It’s not there between Routh and Bosworth. It’s not Routh’s fault because he’s barely given any dialogue, but Bosworth delivers her lines and despite her talent, she’s unable to convey the same depth of the Lois Lane we remember. Margot Kidder had more fun with the role and there was a sweetness to the way Superman made an impression on her. It felt pure and magical. Bosworth regards him like he got her pregnant and ran away, which I guess he did, but that’s beside the point because this isn’t supposed to be a domestic drama. Then you introduce some arbitrary fiance of hers and that creates this love triangle. Superman films aren’t supposed to have love triangles, at least ones that are so illicit. Perhaps the filmmakers were trying to appeal to mature audiences. I don’t know, I mean Superman is supposed to be a wholesome dude, not a home-wrecker. At some point Lois’ husband is going to notice his kid can throw pianos across the room and it won’t be a pretty scene when she has to tell him he’s not the father. This isn’t the stuff of Superman movies. Instead of all these histrionic bonds of Superman fathering Lois’ kid, their feelings for each other is perfectly, and in a simple gesture, exemplified in the original when Superman spins the world backwards to save her. We cared more about the mutual affection they shared.

From what I’ve been reading, it is inevitable that Superman will once again return, as he should. The series doesn’t need a complete makeover though. I would suggest replacing Bosworth, but I gather that really isn’t necessary either. I think the filmmakers just need to tone down all the maudlin, Emily Bronte like plot lines and go back to Superman’s sci-fi examination of heroes and humanity. It’s supposed to be fun and appeal to the innocent quality within all of us that constantly struggles to retain our childlike sensibilities. People felt The Dark Knight was too dark, but it sure was an earnest film. It discussed real themes and examined them with intelligence while affirming the integrity of the human spirit. I don’t know what I’m supposed to feel at the end of Superman Returns. What is the movie really about? Or is it about anything that has any relevance? The end of the original may have been corny, but it left me satisfied.