{"id":303,"date":"2006-06-28T22:03:28","date_gmt":"2006-06-29T02:03:28","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/chadossman.com\/blog\/2006\/06\/28\/superman-returns\/"},"modified":"2022-10-26T20:35:42","modified_gmt":"2022-10-27T00:35:42","slug":"superman-returns","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/chadossman.com\/blog\/superman-returns\/","title":{"rendered":"A god walks among us in Bryan Singer’s Superman Returns"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

It’s probably my own fault for buying into the hype, but Superman Returns<\/em> left me cold. There’s not a lot of drama implicit in the story of an omnipotent alien from another planet, and I just can’t buy the “god walks among us” metaphors.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Spider-Man is a real, troubled human being burdened with great responsibility; Batman is a human being wracked with guilt and obsessed with revenge; Daredevil is a literally broken man overcompensating for far more than just his disability. With Superman, it’s just plain hard to relate to an alien, even if he suffers such petty human problems as unrequited love.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

An obvious point of conflict is conspicuously absent: instead of any jealousy or anger from Richard White (James “Cyclops” Marsden), he simply acquieses to his romantic rival. It’s more like Superman to be above & beyond mere mortal jealousy; what makes White so noble? Perhaps he’s intimidated by Superman’s sheer potency. Just as the character is defined by nepotism (he’s the Daily Planet’s editor-in-chief’s son), Marsden is Bryan Singer<\/a>‘s X-Man star who was conspicuously erased very early in Brett Ratner’s X3<\/a>. Hmm…<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"Parker
Unsurprisingly, Parker Posey is far and away the best thing in Superman Returns.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

Another disappointment: whereas Spider-Man 2<\/em> exuded a strong sense of New York, the Metropolis of Superman Returns<\/em> is a blank, generic city without character. It’s a timeless locale – the present, yet nostalgic – where when a superhero returns from across the galaxy to save them, the citizens all run out and buy newspapers.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

As for the cast, Parker Posey<\/a> wins for best screen presence. While Kevin Spacey<\/a> gurns, hams, and scenery-chomps, she scores laughs with mere looks on her face. There was a lot of concern over the casting of a relatively inexperienced former soap star for the lead, but I thought Brandon Routh was just fine. Kate Bosworth (made up to look like Rachel McAdams), however, is was too young to be plausible as a star journalist with a five-year-old kid, and to be at all appealing to (yes I have to say it again) an omnipotent alien from another planet. Points detracted for dull, overhyped outtakes of Marlon Brando’s mumbled improv bullshit, and shafting screen legend Eva Marie Saint with about 5 minutes of screen time.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

It’s probably my own fault for buying into the hype, but Superman Returns left me cold. There’s not a lot of drama implicit in the story of an omnipotent alien from another planet, and I just can’t buy the “god walks among us” metaphors. Spider-Man is a real, troubled human being burdened with great responsibility; […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":5013,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[15,2],"tags":[381,384,293,1275,1303,391,1301,253,1302,1300,870,1274],"class_list":["post-303","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-3-stars","category-movies","tag-bryan-singer","tag-comic-books","tag-comics","tag-dc-comics","tag-eva-marie-saint","tag-james-marsden","tag-kate-bosworth","tag-kevin-spacey","tag-marlon-brando","tag-parker-posey","tag-superhero","tag-superman"],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/chadossman.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2006\/06\/superman-returns-feature.jpg","jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/pa9lhB-4T","jetpack-related-posts":[{"id":1738,"url":"https:\/\/chadossman.com\/blog\/mutant-mayhem-x-men\/","url_meta":{"origin":303,"position":0},"title":"Mutant Mayhem: Bryan Singer’s X-Men","author":"Chad Ossman","date":"April 30, 2009","format":false,"excerpt":"Bryan Singer's X-Men surprised me twice, first in a theater in 2000 and then again on a recent rewatch, by being better than it had any right to be. I used to be a comics fan, and read most of Chris Claremont and John Romita Jr.'s lengthy run on The\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "4 Stars"","block_context":{"text":"4 Stars","link":"https:\/\/chadossman.com\/blog\/category\/ratings\/4-stars\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/chadossman.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2009\/04\/x-men-2000-feature.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/chadossman.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2009\/04\/x-men-2000-feature.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/chadossman.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2009\/04\/x-men-2000-feature.jpg?resize=525%2C300&ssl=1 1.5x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/chadossman.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2009\/04\/x-men-2000-feature.jpg?resize=700%2C400&ssl=1 2x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/chadossman.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2009\/04\/x-men-2000-feature.jpg?resize=1050%2C600&ssl=1 3x"},"classes":[]},{"id":5828,"url":"https:\/\/chadossman.com\/blog\/the-dreadful-jack-the-giant-slayer-is-soullessly-engineered-escapism\/","url_meta":{"origin":303,"position":1},"title":"The dreadful Jack the Giant Slayer is soullessly engineered escapism","author":"Chad Ossman","date":"July 26, 2013","format":false,"excerpt":"Director Bryan Singer's Jack the Giant Slayer is almost unbearably dreadful. It continues a recent trend in the fantasy genre: fairy tails used as raw material for soullessly engineered all-ages escapism. See also: Snow White and The Huntsman and Tim Burton's appalling Alice in Wonderland. It's hard to understand how\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "1 Star"","block_context":{"text":"1 Star","link":"https:\/\/chadossman.com\/blog\/category\/ratings\/1-star\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"Jack the Giant Slayer","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/chadossman.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/09\/jack-giant-slayer.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/chadossman.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/09\/jack-giant-slayer.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/chadossman.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/09\/jack-giant-slayer.jpg?resize=525%2C300&ssl=1 1.5x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/chadossman.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/09\/jack-giant-slayer.jpg?resize=700%2C400&ssl=1 2x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/chadossman.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/09\/jack-giant-slayer.jpg?resize=1050%2C600&ssl=1 3x"},"classes":[]},{"id":4082,"url":"https:\/\/chadossman.com\/blog\/songs-that-broke-my-heart\/","url_meta":{"origin":303,"position":2},"title":"The Songs That Broke My Heart","author":"Chad Ossman","date":"March 17, 2013","format":false,"excerpt":"Rock 'n' roll is not an everyday conversation topic around our family table, but the improbable longevity of The Rolling Stones was remarkable enough to come up once during dinner. I had recently listened to \"Sympathy for the Devil\" for the first time in a while, and remarked upon how\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Music"","block_context":{"text":"Music","link":"https:\/\/chadossman.com\/blog\/category\/main-menu\/music\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"Nick Drake","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/chadossman.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2013\/03\/nick-drake.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/chadossman.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2013\/03\/nick-drake.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/chadossman.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2013\/03\/nick-drake.jpg?resize=525%2C300&ssl=1 1.5x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/chadossman.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2013\/03\/nick-drake.jpg?resize=700%2C400&ssl=1 2x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/chadossman.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2013\/03\/nick-drake.jpg?resize=1050%2C600&ssl=1 3x"},"classes":[]},{"id":3476,"url":"https:\/\/chadossman.com\/blog\/xmen-origins-wolverine\/","url_meta":{"origin":303,"position":3},"title":"Rewind & Reboot: X-Men Origins: Wolverine","author":"Chad Ossman","date":"February 12, 2012","format":false,"excerpt":"Much of what's wrong with X-Men Origins: Wolverine can be traced right back to its confused conception, indeed beginning with its clumsy title. The ungainly prefix is clumsily bolted on solely for it to alphabetize adjacent to the three previous X-Men films on Walmart shelves, iTunes, Pay-Per-View, and torrent trackers.\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "1 Star"","block_context":{"text":"1 Star","link":"https:\/\/chadossman.com\/blog\/category\/ratings\/1-star\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"X-Men Origins: Wolverine","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/chadossman.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2012\/02\/x-men-origins-wolverine.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/chadossman.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2012\/02\/x-men-origins-wolverine.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/chadossman.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2012\/02\/x-men-origins-wolverine.jpg?resize=525%2C300&ssl=1 1.5x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/chadossman.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2012\/02\/x-men-origins-wolverine.jpg?resize=700%2C400&ssl=1 2x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/chadossman.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2012\/02\/x-men-origins-wolverine.jpg?resize=1050%2C600&ssl=1 3x"},"classes":[]},{"id":234,"url":"https:\/\/chadossman.com\/blog\/x-men-iii-the-last-stand\/","url_meta":{"origin":303,"position":4},"title":"Brett Ratner’s X-Men III: The Last Stand is lost in a densely self-referential world","author":"Chad Ossman","date":"May 29, 2006","format":false,"excerpt":"God help me, but I agree with Harry Knowles' review. Sometimes you need a fanboy to point out what's wrong with a movie crafted for fanboys. He picked up on the absurdly sensitive Wolverine, the important Phoenix backstory cursorily related in hammy exposition, and the sudden and arbitrary shifts from\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "2 Stars"","block_context":{"text":"2 Stars","link":"https:\/\/chadossman.com\/blog\/category\/ratings\/2-stars\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"X-Men III: The Last Stand","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/chadossman.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2006\/05\/x-men-iii-the-last-stand-feature.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/chadossman.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2006\/05\/x-men-iii-the-last-stand-feature.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/chadossman.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2006\/05\/x-men-iii-the-last-stand-feature.jpg?resize=525%2C300&ssl=1 1.5x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/chadossman.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2006\/05\/x-men-iii-the-last-stand-feature.jpg?resize=700%2C400&ssl=1 2x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/chadossman.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2006\/05\/x-men-iii-the-last-stand-feature.jpg?resize=1050%2C600&ssl=1 3x"},"classes":[]},{"id":291,"url":"https:\/\/chadossman.com\/blog\/the-dork-report-for-june-19-2006\/","url_meta":{"origin":303,"position":5},"title":"The Dork Report for June 19, 2006","author":"Chad Ossman","date":"June 19, 2006","format":false,"excerpt":"How much is a feature film digital download worth? Or rather, how much are consumers willing to pay? An \u201calbum\u201d of songs far, far less than cd quality goes for $9.99, so maybe $9.99-19.99 movies will work after all. 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