up up and away

I was one of the first in line on Thursday to see the opening screenings of Superman Returns. I brought with it high expectations and a deep affection for the character. My mother had taken me to Superman 1 when I was 7 years old. She had wanted to share the Man of Steel that she had loved since childhood – her Superman was George Reeves not Christopher. We still rate it as one of our fondest memories of my childhood and every now and then we reminisce at how amazing those opening credits were as we hum John Williams' iconic theme.

27 years later we both took my 11 year old daughter to a rerun of the film at ACMI last year. She’s a pretty sophisticated kid having watched enough television to make up the quotas of several class mates who are forbidden such a luxury. Even she was still moved by this classic comic book tale. So it was with enormous anxiety and hope that the three of us stood in line tonight for one of the first screenings of Superman returns.

I wasn’t too worried. I’d been following its progress online through Bryan Singers video diaries. I had read countless interviews with him and I knew that his heart was really in it. I think Bryan Singer, who would have been 13 years old when he first saw Superman, has not really made a film. He’s made a lovely sweeping homage to a film, one that he clearly loves and respects. There were so many references to what had gone before, even down to lines of dialogue, what the characters wore. You see Clark and Lois get stuck in a revolving door, sunrise over the Kent farm, Lex Luthor even says “so long Superman’ and yes those opening credits are the same.

To be honest with you I don’t think Singer had much choice. Deviate too far from the original material and the movie tanks. Be respectful enough so fans will be happy, and give a couple of added bonuses to keep them guessing. I’ll be much more interested to see what he does with the second film. Because we’ll trust him enough to let him do what he wants. It’s a tried and true formula. Singer gave us pure XMen in the first film, the Singer Xmen for the second. I think many would argue that the second is a better film.

And what of Brandon Routh? He had big boots to fill and he did an admiral job. He filled the suit physically there is no denying that. A man that can make Kate Bosworth look plain is really quite a specimen. But I was most struck by his voice. So full of kindness and sadness, perfect. It’s hard to believe he was just working in a bar in LA. Do people who look like that really just have ordinary lives? Again, as with so many details in the film I felt that his casting was not so much about filling Supermans shoes but filling Reeves.

Problem is Christopher Reeve turned out to really be a Superman. There is no filling those shoes.

Kate Bosworth is not half as bad as I was expecting her to be. Kidder always seemed to old, too cynical to ever be a likable Lois Lane. And poor old James Marsden gets cast as the man who comes second yet again. He’s now got a trifecta as the loser boyfriend (The Notebook, XMen and now SR) what is it about this guy that he keeps getting cast in these roles? He’s nice to look at, great teeth, full head of hair. I’m tired of seeing him not get the girl, somebody throw him a bone.

Kevin Spacey? You know Kevin Spacey gives me the creeps. There is something not quite right about him. That’s why he is so good as Lex Luthor. So much harder, genuinely threatening, really really insane. Parker Posey is way too much as his mole. She's no Miss Teschmacher that’s for sure. I normally like Posey but she’s too arch next to Spaceys more sinister take on the character. And when she finally comes through for the team it's a little unbelievable.

It’s a tad long at nearly 2.5 hours and the cgi gets pushed to its limits. If you don’t bring with it a whole lot of emotional ties you may be disappointed, I don’t know. It’s one film I cannot be subjective about. Like Star Wars it’s a film that changed my life, changed my relationship to cinema (they made me fall in love, and I’ve been swooning ever since). I don’t think it will change my daughters life but she thought Superman Returns was fantastic. My mother made us stay through half an hour of end credits (respect!) and I, well I came home and sat down at midnight to write this blog entry. Three generations of movie geek left the cinema happy.