It’s not a good sign when Darin and I walk out of a theater rewriting the script.
I really wanted this to be good. I’ve wanted a fun popcorn movie that I could totally enjoy for a while, and I come away sorely disappointed all the time. That this film has gotten so many plaudits says more about the competition out there than about its own qualities, unfortunately.
This movie is ostensibly a sequel to Superman II, and it attempts to bash our heads in with that fact by quoting the original Superman. Repeatedly. Literally quoting them—Darin listed several lines that were straight out of that film (and, I guess, Superman II). And the story’s just not particularly interesting—Lex Luthor’s dastardly plan has to do with real estate… which is, of course, also right out of the first film.
To give you an idea of how weird this film is in terms of plot and characters, there’s a scene where Lois Lane, her cute little tot in tow, stumbles into Lex Luthor’s hideout. In the midst of Lois interviewing Lex about his secret plan, a Major Plot Revelation dawns on Lex about his captees. (If you haven’t figured out this particular plot element by this point in the movie, there’s no hope for you.) Imagine the hold over Superman this would give him! So what does Lex do?
He leaves Lois and company on the boat, ostensibly to drown. Not that he makes sure of that, mind you; he just assumes it. Or something.
Huh. Isn’t that in the List of Things an Evil Overlord Should Avoid Doing?
The movie is also hella along: they could have and should have trimmed at least a half hour from this flick. It has, as Darin put it, three endings.
Brandon Routh: never really appealed to me in all the pre-publicity, but he’s okay in this film. Also: cute.
Kevin Spacey: good in the few scenes he has, but he doesn’t really have all that much to do.
Kate Bosworth: oh, was she in this movie too? I didn’t think she was as bad as some reviewers have made out, but Pulitzer-prize winning journalist, I think not. (Of course, if Judy Miller can get one…)
There are definitely some good things in the movie—the sequence with the airplane and space shuttle is very exciting. (Although that’s our introduction to Lois, and it’s not a very mythic introduction.) But on the whole…I have no desire to see this flick again, and, not that I have the time or anything, but I really, really want a flick that I’d at least be tempted to see twice.