I love the character of Superman, particularly the Christopher Reeve incarnation that we first saw in 1978 in

Superman: The Movie.

As a little boy, during my time in Okinawa, my dad would go to the local movie store and rent Beta tapes of the movies we had most likely missed being overseas and all. It was during 1985-1987 that I first remember seeing all three original Star Wars films, and the first Superman movies. These movies had come out in 1977, 1978, 1980, and 1983. By 1985, I was only three.

The impact of Reeve’s first Superman film has stuck with me my entire life. One of my dad’s friends in Okinawa had purchased the soundtrack on vinyl, and during a visit to his home, played the record for us. I remember my excitement, so much that I spread my arms and did the proverbial run-around-the-room as fast as I safely could with my arms spread wide… so much so, that later in life I too purchased the original soundtrack two-disc special edition.

Superman Returns (2006) was essentially a replacement of the third and fourth films starring Christopher

Reeve, that did poorly and for all intents and purposes are pretty much forgotten and not included in the preferred memories of fans. Richard Donner, the original director of the first film, left the franchise after disagreements with producers but had however already shot most of the second film, which was then edited by another director. You can buy the Donner cut of the second film separately… I recommend it.

The 2006 film was probably the most anticipated (and expensive) superhero film in history, yielded a hefty profit, and now has pretty much disappeared into obscurity in the shadow of the Richard Donner films. The flying special effects, even the costume, did much to recapture the magic of the 1978 film that “made you believe a man can fly”. However, Superman II (1980) is a really hard act to follow. In Superman’s second film outing, we saw him battle one arch-villain, and his two super-villain subordinates. We saw Superman withstand getting a bus thrown at him, and managing to save the people inside said bus. We saw the ground shake in an unseen, underground battle sending sewer lids into the air, capped off by a villain exiting from underneath the ground having been punched by Superman and then proceeding to continue through several buildings…

It was an epic fight. This was a level of violence and conflict that put Superman’s abilities to the test, and ultimately had to be won by cunning. We saw the brute strength of the Man of Steel along with his more cerebral, intelligent side. Given the patriotic undertones of Superman’s devotion to America, we saw in his character what Americans want from their national identity. To be the most powerful nation in the world capable of untold destruction, yet we exercise an enormous amount of restraint that is driven by a sense of truth, justice, and the American way.

Bryan Singer’s 2006 interpretation of the character left out much of what fans of the original movies (a very large segment of the audience) remembered of our iconic superhero. There was even a dumbing down of Superman’s intelligence, and for me this is very disappointing. This was during the end of the film when Superman unexplainably landed on that perverted Kryptonite-laden island and did not immediately realize, “Wow, this place is full of kryptonite.” and did not alter his non-existent strategy. Granted, there needed to be Lex vs. Superman confrontation, but Lex would have done better to have created a bullet made of/or laced with kryptonite (something Superman would honestly have missed), negating Superman’s strength and forcing both of them to adapt to the lopsided rules of the fight. Put the strength in Lex’s hands and the smarts in Superman… it would have made for a classic change of playing field forcing these two arch-enemies to really face off against each other. Instead, Superman manages to ambush himself, and then Lex (in my opinion brilliantly executed by Kevin Spacey) stabs him in the side with a kryptonite shard. Honestly, the kryptonite shard was an excellent idea.

Let me bring this all back together and provide my points of contention with the 2006 film:

  • Superman has a son. This was a ludicrous subplot to me.
  • At the conclusion of the airplane-in-a-baseball stadium event, Superman’s dramatic pause at the door to the aircraft while everyone cheered was unnecessary. In hindsight, I wish that the scene cut straight to him getting into the cabin as quickly as possible to check on everyone, see that they are okay, and then immediately fly off with a wave.
  • What precipitated Superman leaving Earth for five years? The video game suggested that Superman, trying to find the remains of Krypton, was captured by a villain named Mongul, and forced to fight in a gladiatorial deathmatch against other powered super-villains. This galactic villain provided climactic bookends to the game, which told what happened before and after the movie. Included, was the reveal of Metallo as a giant kryptonite powered robot. This obviously would have been too expensive to do in one movie… but to see Superman punch someone again, live action, reminiscent of Superman’s fight with Darkseid in the animated series… wow.
  • Kate Bosworth as Lois Lane. It’s not that she’s a bad actress. She’s just not a believable strong-woman type actress. I would have picked Angie Harmon (see Law & Order), or another actress not in her mid-twenties that is supposed to portray someone with a 5+ year history with Superman.
  • The film tried to have comedic moments like the originals, but lacked the subtle blink-and-you-will-miss it execution of them. (ex. Jimmy Olson)
  • The Kryptonian Island and Lex’s real estate scheme… the only benefit of this idea was that it made the original movie’s Luthor land-grab idea regarding the San Andreas fault not-so-ridiculous of an idea.
  • The portrayal of Clark Kent. Reeve’s interpretation of Kent as a bumbling reporter provided us with an ability to believe that people really could not tell the difference between Clark Kent and Superman because their personalities were so far apart that to connect the two was just too ridiculous to seriously consider. While the 2006 film stated this ridiculous idea, Brandon Routh’s Clark Kent did not sell it to us the viewer. It beats the idea that Superman vibrated his face around cameras so that no clear shot could be taken of him.
  • I like Brandon Routh. I honestly believe he can still do the role, especially now that he’s matured both as an actor, AND in his appearance.
  • In the iconic throwback to Clark Kent running into the camera, tearing his shirt open to reveal the costume… it was a bit weird to me that Brandon Routh’s facial expression indicated that jogging was a laborious task vs. Reeve’s game face and tight-lipped “un”-laborious execution of the same scene.

Overall, Superman Returns is a good film, and I do enjoy watching it. My only real issue with it is that it could have been so much better than it already is. It is like the film produced a great reacquainting experience with Superman, but in the end we realize that it did not need all of the subject matter it had, in order to accomplish that. The film should/would have been way shorter, and easier to love had Bryan Singer skipped the Superman/Lois love triangle, and the love child with severe allergies. Lex Luthor’s crystal thievery and kryptonite island idea was also an under-developed plot idea, and like I mentioned above, there should have been more thought put into Superman and Lex Luthor’s confrontation. We needed to see them battle it out with their brains, with a viable threat to Superman being his handicap giving Lex Luthor the needed respect to be viewed as a legitimately formidable foe to our hero.

In conclusion, making a Superman film is difficult. My venture into this foray of opinion is only a small representation of the many that exist regarding our favorite superhero. Producers/Directors of these films face a lot of opinions, and with that the decision on how to make the movie, who to cast, how to portray, etc. is a weighty and stressful task. Bryan Singer gave it an admirable shot, and I think this should have been able to give him the confidence to make an even better sequel to Superman Returns, and really show us what modern film technology can do to bring to live action the greatness of Superman.

However, four years later we have hope. Christopher Nolan is in charge of a Superman project, although he will probably not direct it. David Goyer and Jonathan Nolan are rumored to be co-writers.

The future looks awesome. Check out www.superherohype.com for more details.