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[Tacofiend]

Saw it today. On a scale from 1 to 10, I'd give it a 6. It was cool to see the Man of Steel flying around and what not, plus the special effects were awesome (Superman picks up a frickin' island!), but the story was really bland. It was almost like a gigantic preview. You knew what Lex was up to almost the entire movie but Superman didn't find out until like 2/3 of the way through.
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[Cyberpumpkin]

I saw this one (finally) last weekend, and I'm only now getting online to say anything about it. So here goes:

I thought it was a really fun movie. Routh looked and sounded just like the Reeves Superman, classic radio-announcer voice and all. I liked how they had little touches that made things that much cooler, like the Daily Planet ball getting knocked down (Lex was always doing that), the Editor in Chief saying "great Ceasar's ghost!", and a mention of Gotham during a newscast.

The montage that showed some classic moments was a nice addition, even if I was the only person in the entire freaking theater that caught the moment from Smallville that they stuck in there. Kinda funny that I'm the only one who noticed because everyone who watched the WB network around 2001 saw that exact shot at least a dozen times per evening: You know the one, where Clark crashes down through the roof of the barn, and he's about to hit the hay-strewn ground inside, he throws one flannelly arm in front of his face, and he stops in midair. I also liked how his heat-vision looked more like invisible waves but sounded like a pod-racer. Much better than lazer-beams and some lame "weeeeeeeeee!" noise.

I even found the "movie version" of Lex Luthor tolerable, purely because I like Kevin Spacey and he managed to portray being exhaspirated by Kitty without ever actually rolling his eyes. My not minding this version is saying a lot, since I hated Gene Hackman for his portrayal of Luthor (granted, I was a kid at the time, but come on, he wasn't even bald), and Royal Tennanbaums only slightly made up for it.

For some reason, moviemakers have decided that Lex Luthor must be neither a super genius nor a super-savvy businessman in order to take on the Man of Steel. Apparently, they decided that Luthor should be just smart enough and just heartless enough to get himself written into a very lucrative will, and then try and create a big new continent that he can sell and make lots of money, and he's just really vain and makes himself feel like a super genius by surrounding himself with morons who will be impressed when he quotes famous sayings as if they were his own. This leaves me scratching my head and wondering "The arch-nemesis of Superman is this dipsh1t? WTF?"

Even if you step lightly past the villain who should've been named Evil Real-Estate Man, the "super strength vs. proximity-based-telekenesis" debate (which tries to explain why Superman can pick up cars by their bumpers without ripping their bumpers off, etc), the fact that Supes didn't notice all the Kryptonite in the new island (or, if you prefer, Lex's mad-scientist tofu crystals that taste like whatever you cook them with), the way they seemed to work hard to make you notice the size of Kate Bosworth's forehead, and the fact that they couldn't have been more heavy-handed with the Superman=Jesus schtick without giving him a freaking beard and the fact that Superman was out of the picture for 5 years and came home to a 7-year-old son, you still have to wonder whatever happened to the old "I'm Superman and I never kill anybody never ever ever".

Yeah, you know what I mean. Supes plunges into the suboceanic rock to lift the big new island into space and chuck it into the sun. But he knows that Lex and Kitty and Kumar and the rest are still up there on the surface, and he probably knows that even Kumar can't even breathe in space, let alone survive re-entry or the uncomfortable heat of the sun. It makes even less sense that Luthor's lackeys get squished by some incidental rock-tumbling while Luthor escapes. Yeah, Superman isn't traditionally a real complicated ethicist, but you'd think that if he was going to let the Real-Estate Man get away, he'd lend a hand to the hired chumps. To me, this seems like a greivous case of Faramir-ing.

Perhaps it's the simplicity of Superman's character that made it okay in the minds of the writers for him to intrude into Lois Lane's new family life. Even with Superman doing it, spying on a happy family of several years that just happens to contain a little of your genetic material, as well as having the closest thing possible to a conjugal reunion with Mommy is still a supremely white-trash move. Call me kooky and old-fashioned, but destabilizing families doesn't seem like something Superman the Role-Model should be doing. Leave that to some "realistic" broken hero like one of the X-Men or something.

But for all my ranting, I still can't not like this movie. Maybe it's my dissilusionment with whiny, angsty heroes who are always battling with their own selfishness. I don't need a hero who's like me. How am I supposed to look up to a reflection of myself? The "all too human" hero is nifty enough, but there is still a place for ideal heroes in our modern mythology, if not an outright need for them. For all the twisting and bending and rewrighting he's been through, Superman continues to represent the ideal hero.

WATCH IT IF:
- You like superhero blockbuster flicks
- You've already seen X-Men 3 this summer and didn't hate it
- You like Superman

SKIP IT IF:
- You think comic-book superhero stuff is for kids only
- You can't watch a superhero movie without bringing your comic-book history baggage along
- You can't suspend your disbelief about a heterosexual doing his job in primary-colored tights and a cape
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[Christo]

I'm just glad they put Jimmy Olsen in it.
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You're a nut! You're crazy in the coconut!

[Needle Dog]

I saw it in 3D imax at the zoo. I liked it. Lex Luthor was great!
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[Empy]

I've never liked superman
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beep beep I'm a jeep

[Needle Dog]

Then you should probably skip this one.
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[Tacofiend]

I never liked him either but I still thought the movie was okay.
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[Cyberpumpkin]

Well Empy, if you don't like Superman, then you might want to check out this site.

I do like Superman and it's still a riot!
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[RockmanWilliam]

Would it be out of line to call Super Man the original God Moder?

Also; loved the movie.
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[the bunk]

the movie was pretty meh. some cool shots and special effects, and spacey was great...but i didnt leave thinking it was a great movie, or anything id see again.
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[Cyberpumpkin]

It wouldn't be out of line to call him the Original God-Moder, although he wasn't originally conceived that way.

But back in the day, they were kind-of hurting for new stories, so they'd have an artist draw up the weirdest comic-book cover possible, and then it was up to the rest of the guys to write and illustrate a story to go with it. They came up with some weird shiz.