Screenplay by Michael Dougherty & Dan Harris
Story by Bryan Singer & Michael Dougherty & Dan Harris
Directed by Bryan Singer
“And even if you are the last…you’re not alone.”
In the lead up to the final scene of Superman Returns, Lois Lane sits in front of her computer, at a loss for words. She has just won her long-desired Pulitzer Prize for writing an editorial, titled “Why the World Doesn’t Need Superman”. But…after all she has experienced over the previous two-and-a-half hours of film adventure — the passion, the heartache, the suffering, the buried longing & enormous joy — she types out a new title:
“Why the World Needs Superman”
Let’s take it from there…because the sentiment perfectly encapsulates this movie.
The world needs Superman for his lack of cynicism — his heroism, his decency, his kindness, and his innocence. In a world full of darkness and selfishness, violence and despair, we desperately need the last man capable of being such a true champion — and we have found its new embodiment in Brandon Routh. Most people have remarked on his eerie resemblance to the late, great Christopher Reeve, but to simply say he imitates the greatest Superman of all would be an insult. Having returned from a half-decade absence, Routh’s Superman is a quieter, steelier soul — still full of the warmth and sparkle that Reeve bequeathed to the role, but adding a deep sense of personal melancholy. He’s lost in a world that has moved on without him…even the love of his life — and the worry that he won’t find his place is written all over his gentle features. Routh stamps quiet, dignified elegance onto the role, and makes it his with much grace.
The world needs Superman because his return heralds a movie that is all about relationships and emotion. It eschews the hard-edged creepiness of Batman Begins and the whiz-bang effects porn that was X-Men 3, and traces its own path of character exploration. The effects sequences are breathtaking — but they’re secondary to the journey each of the main characters travel. Some, like Superman, literally fly out of the darkness and into the refreshing, cleansing light of the sun. Others, notably Luthor, dive into the murky depths of greed and revenge.
The world needs Superman because, without his return, we would never come to terms with how magnificent an actor Kevin Spacey is…and how disgusting, debased, and utterly brilliant he is as Lex Luthor. A veneer of civilization masks a putrid, black core of hate…and Spacey brings it to horrifying life, as if he did this sort of thing every single day.
The world needs Superman because, as we watch him beaten and humiliated, our stomachs turn, and our eyes struggle to shut of their own accord. It’s a incredibly brutal, stunning scene — our hero’s blackest moment — and this movie makes us feel for him so deeply, our hearts ache to comfort him. There were many in the audience of the screening I attended who openly wept during this scene; it’s not for the timid, but it emphasizes just how much we care about this god among mortals, and how much joy he brings to our lives.
The world needs Superman because his world is a place of great beauty, amazing thrills, and a story that is uplifting, terrifying, achingly sad, and filled with immense hope. Bryan Singer played with these themes in the first two X-Men films, but Superman Returns gives him a scope of mythic proportions. If anything, the final ten minutes of the film encapsulate EVERYTHING that is wonderful and heart-warming and touching about having Superman in our world — and Singer directs it with a touch as graceful as the flying scenes in the movie.
It’s not perfect. Cuts were made for timing reasons, and I can feel far too many of them (no doubt, the DVD release will solve this problem). I’m also not sure about Kate Bosworth as Lois Lane. Too young? Too tightly self-contained? She adds an ambiguous element to this movie, and make you long for the vulnerable spunk and sexiness of Margot Kidder on many occasions.
But these are quibbles I can live with, and I left the theatre trembling with happiness and contentment.
Superman Returns with a deft touch, with artistry, with power, with actors at the height of their powers, with music and story nods that take us right back to Richard Donner’s 1978 opus. It’s the start of a brave new world…and that’s more than enough reason as to why the world needs Superman…and should welcome his return.
A 9 for the movie on its own merits — but 10 for the feeling I left with as I headed home from the theatre.
