I got to see Superman Returns with one of those nice, free passes that came with the Season 3 DVD of Lois and Clark. Always nice to see a movie for free, especially now that they've gone up to almost $10 a ticket. Even if we did have to try two theatres and several showtimes before we found one open.
I enjoyed the movie, but not for the reasons I usually enjoy movies. I found the action sequences the best part, especially the plane in the beginning. Although I did have to wonder--why exactly are they taking this special spaceship-launching plane out on its maiden voyage with a planeload of journalists on board? Could have told them something was going to happen. Oh, I'm sure they tested it plenty before then, but maiden voyages still have a way of going wrong unexpectedly. Nonetheless--landing it in the baseball stadium was just *cool*. Although, why couldn't he let the passengers out, then take the plane to the landpad for them? Not hard to figure out that he's just killed the baseball game, and that they're going to have a tough time getting it out of the stadium.
Brandon Routh did well as Superman. He was not unlike I'd imagine the comic book hero coming out on-screen. He did look a lot like Christopher Reeve, but I didn't remember the movies enough to really notice or care about similar gestures and such. As Superman, he was fine. As Clark Kent... well, he was cute. But boring. I suppose that this storyline was more about Superman than Clark, but it still seems to lose something when you don't use the secret identity aspect. Though, when he's rushing off to change into his costume to rescue the plane--that was fun.
I thought Kate Bosworth did a pretty lousy job, honestly. She's certainly pretty, but she was too young to make sense as Lois Lane, at least to me. Partly because of the "gone five years" thing, as I'd thought that Superman had been in Metropolis for a while, maybe several years, before he left. And hadn't she been an established reporter before then? I would have expected her to be around 30 at the youngest. It wasn't just her youth, though. She was far too bland, too passive. There was no *reason* for Superman to be as enthralled with her, as far as I could see. Sure, she was dogged in arguing with her editor about that power outage story, but it didn't seem to fit with the rest of her behavior. And the smoking!
I had a real problem with her smoking--when she has an asthmatic kid! Sure, she does seem to go outside to smoke, and she seems to do it rarely (times of stress?), but she's still got a kid who suffers from asthma, enough that he takes his medication quite a few times over the course of the movie. It made me worry that she might have *contributed* to his asthma by smoking during pregnancy (at least, it made sense to me that she would have taken up the habit after Superman left--unless she already had the habit, which I don't remember, but in which case she still would have continued smoking during pregnancy).
The little boy was cute (although, is it just me, or was he *way* too big and mature for a 4- or 5-year-old?). I liked his parts, and I thought he acted fairly well. I'd thought that perhaps he was Superman's son before then, but when he pushed the piano--wow. That was really great. In fact, I think that was my absolute favorite scene in the movie.
Like a lot of previous commentors, though, I didn't like the plot that caused the little boy. Somehow I must have missed the fact that Superman slept with Lois during Superman II (I remember the movie quite well, but I don't remember realizing *that*--but then, I was a pretty innocent kid). When he'd sucked out her memory, I thought he was just making her forget what they *could* have had together, not what they *did*, which seemed forgiveable and perhaps kind, in my opinion. But not so anymore.
For one thing, I dislike the idea of Superman sleeping with Lois before they're married. Both because I think it's wrong in general, but I think it's particularly difficult in their situation, and the little boy that resulted is exactly why. If they sleep together without being married and Lois gets pregnant, but later decides she doesn't want to marry Superman (or Clark), then how does he make sure that his child is raised with an understanding of how his powers work and the responsibility that he incurs? Superman *has* to be involved with his child, and marrying Lois is the only sure way to make that happen.
So in this movie, we get exactly that situation. It's a little uncertain about whether Lois really knew that Superman was the father--she'd have to have started sleeping with Richard really soon, within a month, and unless she was on the rebound because Superman had abandoned her, I don't see that happening. But, then, there's always the possibility that it was sort of out of spite. "Fine, Superman, you wanna leave, I'm going to get involved with the next cute guy I see. Oh, *hi*, Richard." Or maybe they started dating much later, and Richard knew it wasn't his son--but then did Lois think it was a miracle?
But now that she knows her son is not only Superman's child but has also inherited his superpowers, she's got some choices to make. She could stay with Richard, who the boy knows as his father, a man who loves her. But she's gotta let Superman share Jason's upbringing, at least a little. That was the implication that I got at the end of the movie; she was going to stay with Richard and raise Jason with him, and Superman would sort of watch from above and impart useful advice at crucial times, as Jor-El did for Kal-El while the Kents raised him as a human. Or, Lois could leave Richard and end up with Superman, which makes sense in some ways. It might explain why she's lived with Richard for five years without marrying him--she hadn't given up hope for Superman. Of course, plenty of people live together for years anyway, so that might not be the reason.
I think my main overall impression was that I enjoyed it while I watched it, but I probably wouldn't go to see it again. But, I might enjoy seeing it on DVD. Wouldn't it be nice, though, if for buying Superman Returns on DVD, you got a free coupon for Lois and Clark Season 4? *happy thoughts*
