The Forbidden Planet International Blog Log

I was lucky enough to see a press screening of Superman Returns at the weekend and should be reviewing it for this Friday’s Radio Café show on BBC Radio Scotland. Right from the start I had a good feeling, as an interpretation of John Williams’ classic theme comes up and after a brief prologue what do we see but titles presented just like the 70s movie, those big, blocky, 3-D letter swooping out of the screen to that music. Big smile spreads across my face. Big smile is still there for hours after the movie finishes. Yes, it is that good.

After astronomers identify the remains of the planet Krypton Superman feels compelled to leave Earth and investigate, returning some five years later, crash-landing in a field in his adoptive parent’s farm in Kansas in a scene very reminiscent of his original arrival on Earth as a baby. Somewhat like the graphic novel Kingdom Come, Superman finds that the world has moved on in his absence. Lois Lane has certainly moved on, now married with a five-year old son and a Pulitzer Prize for her article “Why the World Doesn’t Need Superman.” Needless to say both Superman and his mild-mannered alter-ego Clark Kent are more than a little put out by this. He is even more put out to discover that Lex Luthor (Spacey, brilliant as always) has been released from jail, largely because Superman failed to turn up for a subpoena at the parole hearing (a nice little touch).

And being Luthor he has a diabolical scheme, this time involving stolen Kryptonian technology, taken from the Fortress of Solitude during Superman’s absence (poor Supes, he can’t have any time to himself without the world getting into a mess). As he plunders the treasures of the Fortress, explaining his plans to use alien technology, thousands of years more advanced than anyone else’s his moll comments it is like magic. A grinning Luthor happily quotes Clarke’s Law to her, that any sufficiently advanced technology would indeed appear as magic. In his hands, of course, it is a rather dark magic, the type which will wreak havoc on the environment and kill millions. It will also allow him to settle a score with the Man of Steel for putting him in jail in the first place.

And that there is one of the great things about Bryan Singer’s Superman – it isn’t a total reboot or re-imagining; this movie, while not exactly a sequel, does include the first two Chris Reeve movies. It makes mention of events in those earlier films as part of the established history: one stooge comments to Luthor in the Fortress of Solitude “you act like you’ve been here before”, Lois is ignorant of Clark’s true identity after the special kiss at the end of Superman II, but hints are dropped about the timing of the birth of her child and events in that film. There is a very good attempt at continuity.
Singer also references those movies in many shots and scenes – Superman soaring over the arc of the Earth, the flight over Metropolis with Lois – and also draws on the comics – readers will recognise several scenes drawn from the comics (I won’t name one of the most obvious because it would give the game away, but you’ll know it when you see it). And just as Sam Raimi’s Spider-Man used poses fans would recognise from the comics (swinging through the buildings like a Ditko picture come to life) so Singer draws on that DC  iconography, especially the painted artwork of Alex Ross; we’re in the hands of a fellow fan boy here, someone who knows the material and loves it.

However, this is not just a fan boy fantasy of comic and movie references with a few action set-pieces; this movie has something else the original 70s movie had: it has heart. Unusually for a huge summer blockbuster Superman Returns takes time to build a real emotional level between the characters and the audience. While I thought Lois Lane seemed a little softer than you would expect for a hard-edged, star investigative reporter, I did totally buy her emotional link with Superman and the turmoil this causes her. Brandon Routh is convincing as Superman, but his Clark Kent is brilliant, clearly drawing on Chris Reeve’s performance but without being a slavish copy (a hard trick to pull off, but he manages it in m opinion). Singer even throws in scenes with Martha Kent, worried terribly for her boy and unable to articulate that worry to anyone because no-one else knows he is her adopted son.

Routh’s Superman is also satisfying: this is the iconic hero we all know; he may not be as layered as Batman or Spider-Man, but we all know how he should be, and Routh delivers. This is a real hero who will struggle through all the odds and carry the weight of the world (almost literally in one scene) to save lives. In one beautiful shot we see him hovering over the world, his super-hearing picking up sounds of distress and cries for help all across the world; as he explains to Lois during their flight, she hears nothing up in the sky, but he hears everything, he hears everyone who needs his help. You know this is the real Superman when he says this – he’s not doing this just because he has his vast powers, he is doing this because it is the right thing to do.

The film looks magnificent (as well it should given the astronomical budget!), the big action scenes contain the spectacle and thrills we expect from summer blockbusters (the shuttle rescue is brilliant, you want to cheer at the end with the crowd) – even the Daily Planet looks good, with the huge, motorized globe turning on the roof. But this has far more than that; this film has emotional depth and warmth, romance and nobility; you’re going to become emotionally involved, you are going to care about these characters. It pays homage to the Superman mythos, from the comics to the films, yet is also perfectly accessible to the viewer not familiar with the character’s history (not an easy balancing act to pull off). Singer has managed to do what Russell T Davies has with the new Doctor Who and what Lucas failed so badly at with the newer Star Wars films: he has made a movie which satisfies the ten year old in me who saw that first movie years ago, but he has also made a movie which satisfies the grown-up (relatively!) me. I’m going to be going back to see this again.