My turn! My turn!
Had a date with my husband last night and went to see SR. We both enjoyed it, were completely entertained, and had fun discussing it afterwards, but of course, it's the things that bugged that are fun to discuss.
The biggie is that we both
hated Kate Bosworth as Lois. She just did NOT work for me. In the first place, she's way too young. I'd read that they tried to make her look older for this role, but sorry - she looked about 20 to me, which means that kid was conceived when she was about 15. And she didn't look old enough to be out of college yet, let alone winning a Pulitzer. She also didn't have a shred of maternal instinct - which was probably OK, since the kid playing her son wasn't given much of an opportunity to be a real kid. Her entire maternal repertoire seemed to consist of shoving the kid's hair out of his eyes (which, granted,
really needed to be done - I wanted to cut that kid's hair so bad that my hand was twitching...) and clutching him protectively during the boat scenes.
The only time the kid seemed like a kid was when he was careening around the newsroom with the trashcan on his head. The rest of the time, he was either staring into space or plinking out Heart and Soul on the piano. Where do you get kids like that? Lois says, "Why don't you go play the piano?" and the kid slides out of her lap and trots obediently to the piano to play a heartwarming duet with ScaryTattoo!Man.
In real life, Lois would say, "Why don't you go play the piano?" and the kid would say, "My music teacher said I didn't
have to practice during kidnappings." Or "I want my GameBoy instead." Or "I'm hungry! I want a Happy Meal first." But maybe that's just my kids.
Anyway, I'm off track. The biggest problem with Kate Bosworth as Lois was that she just didn't have that spark, that sass, that energy that Lois Lane is supposed to have. Maybe she was supposed to seem beaten down by life in the five years since Superman left, but she just came off as blah to me.
Routh, on the other hand, I thought did a fine job. He makes a lovely Superman, and I didn't mind his Clark Kent either, what little we saw of him. I liked his quiet pain when he realized that Lois had not only moved on with her life but had turned against Superman. I liked everything about him, really.
Some other random thoughts:
1. Time: At first, I thought this movie was going to be set back in time some years because of the ancient truck and radio at the Kent farmhouse, and then Jimmy's bowtie ensemble seemed to clinch it. It wasn't until the kid pulled out the cell phone to take a picture that I realized that wasn't the case. Then the radio and the truck seemed a little over the top. The bowtie thing was just plain silly.
2. Superkid: The only way this movie works is if there's some other scenario for the kid's conception besides the one given to us in Superman II. There
has to be. It's reallly squicky otherwise.
3. Loose ends: I hope Superman rounded up Luthor and Kitty before they ate the Pomeranian. I also hope he went to see his mother.
4. Music: Loved.
5. My husband was annoyed by the plot holes and all the loose ends - the obvious setting-up-of-the-sequel. The plot holes didn't bother me in the slightest because I don't look for the A-plot to make much sense anyway. Spacey was a wonderful villain, and that was kind of all that mattered to me.
6. The dark red cape was a little distracting at first, but it grew on me. It certainly flared dramatically at all the right times. The flying scenes were just gorgeous.
OK, I'll shut up now. My daughter is clamoring for attention. I tried to suggest that she go play the piano, but she just gave me a strange look and said (I swear), "I never practice on Sunday." I had a feeling that would only work in the movies
Caroline
