ARTICLE CONTAINS MULTIPLE SPOILERS
It seems like most of the conversations I had regarding Man of Steel were followed by the other party remarking how it righted the wrongs of Superman Returns, a statement I find quite baffling. I found Zack Snyder's film to have a handful of nice moments before it turned into a symphony of wall-to-wall noise and explosions, and the trailer for his follow-up, Batman v Superman: Dawn of Justice, suggests more of the same. Superman Returns was on my ten best list of 2006. I remember it being well received by critics...so why all the hate? I decided it was time to go back and see if I still held the same feelings that I had seven years ago. Since I've been defending it so much lately, thankfully I did.
It's obvious from the first moment that director Bryan Singer deeply respects the character of Superman. The picture opens showing Krypton with voice over narration by Jor-El (audio of Marlon Brando, who played the character in the 1978 movie), who tells his son, "Make my life your own," and "The son becomes the father, the father becomes the son." The scene transitions into the iconic score by John Williams, with the credit font mirroring that of the earlier pictures. Superman Returns is soaked in nostalgia, but not just for the sake of it. This early dialogue beautifully sets up the key themes of the movie: a son wracked with sadness over the father he never knew, and taking on a role he can never fully understand. It's the reason why Superman (Brandon Routh) is absent at the movie's start; he got word that his home planet may still be out there, so he had to find out if it was true. Five years have passed. Many viewers complained that it doesn't make sense that he would be gone that long after discovering Krypton was really destroyed. Why wouldn't he be? The sobering fact that you are the last of your kind, therefore leaving you with no one to identify with, is about as painful as it gets (being assured "Even if you're the last, you're not alone" doesn't seem comforting enough). I'd like to think Superman's been wandering every inch of the universe, alone with his thoughts and pondering if Earth is really a place worth saving.
His return to Earth is the first of many awe aspiring visual moments in the picture. Martha Kent's (Eva Marie Saint) house begins to rumble, and we get a quick shot of a Scrabble board with the word "Alienation" (which is coming apart). She runs outside to find a ship similar to the one Superman arrived in as a baby. It's a wonderful moment, seeing him enter the world as an adult the same way he did as a child. Just as lovely is a following scene where he remembers first discovering his powers. There was a true sense of joy in this kid learning what he was capable of and how to control it. The grown-up Superman wears an expression that longs for those days, when his true responsibility had not been revealed yet. Another dimension is added to his worries as he flips channels on television, and sees how chaotic planet Earth has become in his absence.
Superman decides to go back to the life he had before, which means posing as Clark Kent and working at The Daily Planet. Routh, who is basically channeling Christopher Reeve here (and resembles him fairly well, expect that he's a little too glossy looking), does a nice job showing how bad Superman is at "pretending" to be an average human (a scene midway through the movie of him eating a sandwich is priceless). Stopping by Lois Lane's (Kate Bosworth) desk teaches him that she's found a man, had a son, and written a Pulitzer Prize winning article about "Why the World Doesn't Need Superman." This creates a deeper sense of loneliness for Superman; he is so awkward at connecting with others personally, and she was the closest thing he had to a real relationship (aside from his parents). One of the saddest elements of Superman Returns is how bleakly it shows how this character is destined to always be alone. It's why at one point, his arctic home is described as a "fortress of solitude." There isn't a person on Earth who will be able to truly connect with him; rescuing the people of Earth is all he has left to live for.
Saving people is an act that seems to bring him some amount of happiness, since they are grateful to have him there. After intercepting a crashing plane, he lands it on a baseball field and is met by a wave of applause (this action sequence, the first in the picture, is breathlessly staged). This is the first moment Superman and Lois see each other again, but it's as Clark that he meets her boyfriend, Richard (James Marsden). It's refreshing that he's a genuinely nice guy and a good father to Jason (Tristan Lake Leabu), who we will learn later is Superman's son. There's a nice unspoken tension between Richard and Superman that the movie presents in several fascinating scenes. One is a moment late in the picture where Superman saves Richard, Lois, and Jason from a sinking ship. He asks Richard, "Have you got them?," before letting the ship, which he is holding in one hand, go crashing to the water below. Another is when Richard watches as Superman scans an unconscious Lois for injuries. There's a lot of weight here, as we sense a mutual respect even though there is also jealousy. Even more than that, these events just remind Richard that he can't protect his family the way Superman can (as Richard and his loved ones peer through a round window as the ship sinks, there's look of helplessness on his face that breaks my heart).
Superman is envious that Richard can live a normal life and give Lois what she deserves. A sense of melancholy floats over a scene in which he spies on her house, listening and peeking through the walls. This leads to one of the movie's best moments. Superman flies to space, closes his eyes, and takes in all the suffering of the world below him. He hears the words of his father, who said it was his duty to save these people from themselves, the ultimate gift and curse. He describes it to Lois soon after as they float above the Earth ("I hear everything"). And in regards to being a savior, he solemnly states that everyday, he hears "people crying for one." As we see late in the movie, when he lifts a mass of land out of the ocean to throw it into space, the weight of the world is literally on his shoulders.
I like the chemistry between Superman and Lois in the movie. Some complained that Kate Bosworth was too young to play the role, but I was convinced (it might help that I never liked Margot Kidder...I felt like she was always overacting). Singer recreates the famous scene from the original movie where Superman surprises Lois on the roof and shows her the world from his perspective. This time, though, there's more tension, as this is the first moment they've spoken since Superman left without saying goodbye. Instead of simply showing Lois how the world looks from the sky, he shares, as I referenced above, the torment of having to listen to a planet covered in agony. The setup to the scene is stunningly romantic. Superman invites Lois to go with him, so she kicks her shoes off, stands on his feet, and puts her arms around him. They go up into the air slowly, circling in front of The Daily Planet Globe on top of the building, their eyes never leaving each other. It's one of many moments in Superman Returns that brings tears to my eyes. I mentioned Singer's nostalgia before, and here is another case where he does it with a skill and respect that we rarely witness.
So, during Jason's introduction, we question right away if he could be Superman's son. Singer has fun toying with us, having Richard say Jason is going to "grow up big and strong, just like his dad" and that he's "an 'A' in Science, but a 'D' in gym." We also see Jason using an inhaler, and at one point Lois lists off a fair number of medications that he's on. It's a clever touch, since Superman mating with a regular human would likely cause some chemical imbalance in their offspring. The first big clue we get that Jason is Superman's son comes in the same scene. It's a POV as Jason looks up at Clark and sees Superman on the television right above him, instantly realizing they are the same person. The scene where it is finally revealed is a masterpiece of slow building suspense. Lois and Jason are trapped on a yacht and being guarded. She tells him to go play the piano, and as he begins, a henchman takes off his hat to reveal a grotesque clown face tattooed to the back of his head. He goes and sits down next to Jason and joins him in playing "Chopsticks." It's a hell of a sequence, staged and edited with splendid gravitas. The henchman discovers Lois is trying to call for help and gets violent with her. That's when he gets creamed by the piano and Lois looks back to see Jason, still parked in the same spot. Interesting that Jason learns about his strength by killing someone, since Superman represents a sense of justice that does not involve taking a life. It's a shame we will never get a sequel to Superman Returns, largely because of the possibility of seeing Jason being taught about the responsibility his powers bring. That was a luxury Superman never had, so it fascinates to wonder how it would be explored.
One of the biggest surprises of Superman Returns, and it's not a bad one, is how incredibly serious it is in tone. Less visible are the lighter moments and banter that were sprinkled throughout the earlier pictures, especially in context to Superman's arch enemy, Lex Luthor (Kevin Spacey, the best he's ever been). Gene Hackman's Luthor often felt like a devious prankster (as does Jesse Eisenberg's portrayal in the upcoming Batman v Superman...he comes off more like The Joker than Lex Luthor), while Spacey's is just a vile son of a bitch. Look at how he's introduced in the first scene of the movie, hovering over the bed of a wealthy old woman. She's about to die, and as they hold hands (we see a close up of their wedding rings), she thanks him for providing "pleasure I've never known." This immediately clues us in to how patiently evil Luthor is and the lengths he'll go to get what he desires. She dies signing her will, leaving him everything, and after she dies, he leaves the room, takes a wig off, and throws it to a little girl, who screams in terror (is it because it's fake hair, or that now she knows he was a fraud? Maybe both?). Luthor's plan is to take the crystals from Superman's home and use them to create new continents, thus sinking the existing ones and leaving the survivors no choice but to populate this dark, dreary looking land (basically huge, black rocks). As Luthor sees it, "whoever controls technology rules the world." He loathes Superman for the power he possesses, and thinks that stealing it and using it to his advantage will make him more "godlike." There's a strangely unsettling scene where Luthor tests the crystal's power by using it on a model town, and we see in close up as a tiny train crashes into the residents below (this moment effectively conveys that Luthor's concern for the deaths of real people is about as deep as it is for these action figures). Fitting that as the demonstration is underway, the single ray of light coming into the room is shining right down on Luthor.
A lot of criticism was thrown at the absurdity of Luthor's plan, but given the level of how power hungry he's become and how desperate he is to prove it, I believed it. It is appropriate, then, that he brings up Prometheus, who seems to have been heavily influential to him. And just like Prometheus, Luthor is hungry to learn about science and his plan is one that overreaches its boundaries. The only difference is, instead of trying to better human kind, Luthor is only out to better himself. In the movie's most uncomfortable and ugly scene (and I mean that as a compliment), Luthor stabs Superman in the back with a piece of kryptonite (and breaks it off inside of him) and then lets his goons beat the now vulnerable Man of Steel to a pulp. It's the first time we've ever seen him this helpless, almost like a child, and it is here that Superman gets to experience the physical pain of the people he feels responsible for. And it's here too, as Superman is trying to crawl away from his attackers, that we see him at his most lonely. That this scene exists in a summer blockbuster is pretty ballsy. After being rescued by Richard and Lois, Superman flies up to the sun to restore his energy (and film critic Walter Chaw has commented on the brilliant "sun" and "son" allegory loaded into this image), only to risk his life by exposing himself to even more kryponite. Singer has Superman in the Christ pose as he falls from the sky. It could have played as a cheap shot, but it doesn't because it happens at a point in the picture where the movie has earned it. We have a full understanding (more so than we've ever had in another movie about this character) of who Superman is and why he deserves the godlike comparison.
There seemed to be a lot of disappointment about the fact that Superman and Luthor only share one scene in the movie together (and that they never have a climactic showdown). What would that have accomplished? Superman Returns has a lot more on its mind than just charting good against evil; this is a movie interested in spending time digging into the complex nature of these characters, giving them real purpose and identities and issues. It wants us to realize it's as difficult to be a villain as it is to be a hero, and sometimes just as difficult to be somewhere between the two. There aren't a lot of happy moments here. Not to say that the movie isn't fun, though. The action sequences are tremendously exciting, beginning with the plane rescue referenced earlier, followed by a badass encounter Superman has with a gatling gun, and a ship that is cut in half by one of Luthor's new continents. Singer is able to have his cake and eat it, too. One of the biggest reasons I respect the picture is because he ends it on such a quiet note. Not with a bunch of sound and fury, like Zack Snyder's Man of Steel, but with an elegantly composed scene where Superman goes to visit Jason knowing it's his son. He sits at the edge of Jason's bed, puts his hand on the boy's head, and repeats his father's words ("You will see your life through my life"). It's the crowning moment of a movie filled with crowning moments, a poignant scene of a father giving his son the only advice he ever received. It's all he's ever known. Learning to be Superman was something he had to tackle himself, as he never had anyone to give him guidance. The last scenes are hopeful and sad. Lex Luthor may still be out there somewhere (we last see him marooned on a tiny island that makes for a winning juxtaposition to the dreary land he was going to replace it with), but Superman is, as he says, "always around," a statement that hints that maybe his son will have the father he never did. The picture ends with the same shot as the earlier ones, with Superman slowly drifting through space, but before it gave the connotation that yes, he will always be there watching over us. This time, it's also lined with sorrow, because now we know what he feels when he's up there, and it's combined with the knowledge that he has to live with it alone.
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