Monday, July 17, 2006
Supermovie!
** SPOILER ALERT!! Do not read if you have not seen Superman Returns yet. This is a serious spoiler, I'm not kidding around here!! **
Sure, lots of others are raving about how cool it would be to be able to stop a bullet with your eye, just like the new Superman did. But what really made the movie for me was the moment when the little kid kills the badguy with a piano. A little kid. Kills a badguy. With a PIANO. I think that may very well be the best killing-of-a-badguy that I've ever seen in a movie, ever. Do NOT mess with Superman's girlfriend, much less the mother of his child!
Otherwise, it was an interesting approach at an iconic American figure. After having suddenly disappeared for years, the symbolization of "truth, justice and the American way" has returned to Metropolis (unabashedly played by New York City) to inspire, save and lead humanity. This is quite telling in the moment when the newly-returned Clark Kent flips through TV channels and sees disaster around the world. Yet even in the face of finding out his girlfriend had left him, he still tirelessly goes out to "get" the bad guys. This could have been a very moving theme for our current times, though I feel that potentially pertinent messages were rather glossed over.
I have a few fundamental problems with this movie, above and beyond the fact that Supe's CLOTHES seem also to come from Krypton (ie, they're bulletproof, what's up with that?). Despite one shamelessly montaged evening of worldwide activity, the Man of Steel focuses rather exclusively on the good old U.S. of A. He's not spending as much time stopping missiles in the Middle East as he is stopping convenience store robberies in Brooklyn. This helps the movie avoid some of the more pressing problems in the world today. I'm not sure the word "terrorism" was even in the movie.
Next, of course, is the suggestion that only Superman can solve so many of the problems that plague us. Lois Lane's Why the world doesn't need Superman is put in a negative light, a brainchild of darker thoughts and times. Rather, the movie says, yup, we need Superman. No sense in empowering people to save themselves - let Supe do it.
The movie also ignores the fact that all of the more serious problems he faced in it were caused by his own planet's intervention on Earth. No Krypton intervention = no crystals, no blackout, no plane falling from the sky, no island sprouting up in the Atlantic, no alien technology for Lex Luthor ... you get the picture. Even the Simpsons got that message, if you remember the end of the Australia episode. Superman seems to spend the most time dealing with problems that his very existence causes. Perhaps his vacation wasn't such a bad idea after all.
Criticisms aside, though, I loved the movie and I still love Superman. He is an American icon and you can bet I had a Superman lunchbox as a kid.
Sure, lots of others are raving about how cool it would be to be able to stop a bullet with your eye, just like the new Superman did. But what really made the movie for me was the moment when the little kid kills the badguy with a piano. A little kid. Kills a badguy. With a PIANO. I think that may very well be the best killing-of-a-badguy that I've ever seen in a movie, ever. Do NOT mess with Superman's girlfriend, much less the mother of his child!
Otherwise, it was an interesting approach at an iconic American figure. After having suddenly disappeared for years, the symbolization of "truth, justice and the American way" has returned to Metropolis (unabashedly played by New York City) to inspire, save and lead humanity. This is quite telling in the moment when the newly-returned Clark Kent flips through TV channels and sees disaster around the world. Yet even in the face of finding out his girlfriend had left him, he still tirelessly goes out to "get" the bad guys. This could have been a very moving theme for our current times, though I feel that potentially pertinent messages were rather glossed over.
I have a few fundamental problems with this movie, above and beyond the fact that Supe's CLOTHES seem also to come from Krypton (ie, they're bulletproof, what's up with that?). Despite one shamelessly montaged evening of worldwide activity, the Man of Steel focuses rather exclusively on the good old U.S. of A. He's not spending as much time stopping missiles in the Middle East as he is stopping convenience store robberies in Brooklyn. This helps the movie avoid some of the more pressing problems in the world today. I'm not sure the word "terrorism" was even in the movie.
Next, of course, is the suggestion that only Superman can solve so many of the problems that plague us. Lois Lane's Why the world doesn't need Superman is put in a negative light, a brainchild of darker thoughts and times. Rather, the movie says, yup, we need Superman. No sense in empowering people to save themselves - let Supe do it.
The movie also ignores the fact that all of the more serious problems he faced in it were caused by his own planet's intervention on Earth. No Krypton intervention = no crystals, no blackout, no plane falling from the sky, no island sprouting up in the Atlantic, no alien technology for Lex Luthor ... you get the picture. Even the Simpsons got that message, if you remember the end of the Australia episode. Superman seems to spend the most time dealing with problems that his very existence causes. Perhaps his vacation wasn't such a bad idea after all.
Criticisms aside, though, I loved the movie and I still love Superman. He is an American icon and you can bet I had a Superman lunchbox as a kid.
