SUPERMAN RETURNS       

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                                    D-CH/D start: 17th August             I-CH/I start: 1st September

preview-review by Matthew "Newbreed99" Haumschild___

Like most other people, everyone I know grew up watching the Superman movies of the late 70’s and early 80’s. Being said, the expectations were pretty high. With movies like this one, where a character was played originally by a different actor from a different era, people tend to scrutinize newer versions and write harsher opinions and criticisms because people tend to compare new to the old such as comparing the Star Wars trilogies. Which in my view are two very different sets of movies made in two different time periods with completely different technology with completely different actors. Same thing goes for Superman Returns.

            I thought Brandon Routh’s version of Superman’s character was performed very well. I felt that he sat down and watched all the previous Superman movies before filming this one and did the best he could with his character. His Superman was very similar to Christopher Reeve’s Superman. It was similar in vocal delivery and various other hand jesters. The man who stole the show for me was Kevin Spacey. His rendition of Lex Luther was incredible and went along more with the comic book version than Gene Hackman’s version. Not to mention that I think Kevin Spacey fit that character better than Hackman did. Spacey was methodical in his approach with smooth delivery and was able to convey an array of emotions of a villain with the greatest of ease. Bosworth’s Lois Lane was completely different from Margot Kidder’s version. It was different because Bosworth plays as a younger version with a different personality; she almost plays a different character all together. The two versions are completely different, where Kidder’s character plays a more vain character Bosworth plays Lois Lane as a more of an independent woman character.

            In the movie, Lois Lane writes an article, for which she wins the Pulitzer for, called, “The World Doesn’t Need Superman.” Now, Kidder’s character would never have written that even if Superman would have left her for five years. I feel that, that version of Lois Lane would be waiting for him no matter what.

            There is a flaw in the Superman character and I do not know if it is portrayed in the comic or not, but Superman doesn’t show enough emotion. When he sees the woman he loves with another man and sees that they have a child, he feels nothing for the most part. There was a scene in the movie where a little bit of rivalry shows up but that’s it, one part. There wasn’t jealousy or paranoia or anything. Even when he discovers what had become of Lex Luther.  I could dive more into this but I won’t spoil the movie.

Quality:

The special effects were as expected for a Hollywood block buster. Top notch, although I wish the theater I went to was a little louder just to add effect. Although I felt that the panning could have been slightly better but it was just a spectacular movie to watch from an effects point of view.

Overall:

The acting was good, the effects were good, the story was entertaining but it lacked continuity with the past Superman movies. So, go, watch this movie. You will not be disappointed.

Matthew Haumschild  31.07.2006

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