The sense of disappointment most people felt watching Catwoman a while back is likely to deepen with this fifth installment in the Superman series, which now lands in theatres with a resounding artistic thud. After the fun and freshness of the originalwhich treated its fun, if rather silly, premise with a sort of tongue-in-cheek quality as well as considerable energythis follow up proved far too bloated and self-important, suggesting that the writers/director took themselves much too seriously. Worse, they took that tongue-in-cheek original film too seriously. What's really sad is the fact that the movie borders on a parody of the original Superman without realizing it. DIRECT lines from the original movie are used. "Statistically, flying
" "You shouldn't smoke Miss Lane." "You know what my father said to me
Get out." This wasn't homage, it was a retread.
I guess you could live with the nostalgia if the cheese wasn't so very excessive AND it wasn't so very unoriginal AND most of the film wasn't so very dull. Everything screamed "cheesy comic book movie" right from the start. From the extremely fake CGI jumps of young Clark to the touch down of the plane inside of a baseball stadium to Lex's over-the-top ham job, it just reeked of cheese. I honestly can't name another film or even a remake that was this unoriginal. They didn't continue the story, they just rehashed it. All they did was replace nuclear warheads with stolen Krypotian crystals, switched out the bimbo eye candy with a conscience and added a love interest for Lois. During the rare action sequences, there was no sense of awe or danger. The scene that best illustrates this was the giant gun sequence. Forgetting the fact that there was no need for these criminals to erect a giant gun on the top of a building, what was the point? What hurts the character (and thus any director's efforts) is the fact that Superman is just too mighty. Watching high caliber bullets bounce off Superman is old hat. Watching a bullet bounce off his eyeball may be new but it creates an instant disconnect with the viewer. Ultimately, you have to wonder why Superman strains to lift half a yacht but can fling an island in to space with Kryptonite wedged in his side. The character is too uneven and this movie suffered for it.
Also, you have the ultimate Boy Scout wrestling with things that would qualify this movie as a chick flick. Honestly, besides a few flying sequences, where's the action and where's the drama? Superman Returns will probably make enough money to merit a sequel. I can only hope that they try to advance and humanize the character and for God sake hold the cheese in the next one.
I guess you could live with the nostalgia if the cheese wasn't so very excessive AND it wasn't so very unoriginal AND most of the film wasn't so very dull. Everything screamed "cheesy comic book movie" right from the start. From the extremely fake CGI jumps of young Clark to the touch down of the plane inside of a baseball stadium to Lex's over-the-top ham job, it just reeked of cheese. I honestly can't name another film or even a remake that was this unoriginal. They didn't continue the story, they just rehashed it. All they did was replace nuclear warheads with stolen Krypotian crystals, switched out the bimbo eye candy with a conscience and added a love interest for Lois. During the rare action sequences, there was no sense of awe or danger. The scene that best illustrates this was the giant gun sequence. Forgetting the fact that there was no need for these criminals to erect a giant gun on the top of a building, what was the point? What hurts the character (and thus any director's efforts) is the fact that Superman is just too mighty. Watching high caliber bullets bounce off Superman is old hat. Watching a bullet bounce off his eyeball may be new but it creates an instant disconnect with the viewer. Ultimately, you have to wonder why Superman strains to lift half a yacht but can fling an island in to space with Kryptonite wedged in his side. The character is too uneven and this movie suffered for it.
Also, you have the ultimate Boy Scout wrestling with things that would qualify this movie as a chick flick. Honestly, besides a few flying sequences, where's the action and where's the drama? Superman Returns will probably make enough money to merit a sequel. I can only hope that they try to advance and humanize the character and for God sake hold the cheese in the next one.