Lex Luthor (Kevin Spacey) also throws himself into the super-mix, with an Evil Scheme so stupid that the microwave-acid trip-plot in Batman Begins seems quite reasonable. Luthor got out of prison after a five year sentence, which suggests to me that Saddam should request a trial in the U.S. Luthor acquires a few Kryptonian crystals from Superman’s icy vacation house and decides that he will use them to destroy half of the earth in order to create a new landmass. Sure, billions will be killed, but the survivors will pay him a lot of money for the land, even though jagged shards of black ice are usually unsuitable for trendy nightclubs or food production.
Superman doesn’t so much battle Luthor as he meddles in his plans. Most of the film goes by before Superman gets around to Luthor, roughly the amount of time it would take the FBI to snare him. They share perhaps four minutes of screen time, during which Superman walks up to Luthor and allows himself to be stabbed with kyptonite.
Did this make sense during any of the numerous production phases of the film? Of all the ways Superman could be exposed to kryptonite, the writers decided that simply allowing his archenemy to hit him with it at point blank range would be the most effective. In Dark Night Returns, arguably the most well thought of comic ever written, Batman defeats Superman by shooting him with a cannon, a kryptonite arrow, and jolting him with the electricity supply of an entire city. If Superman Returns was canonical to the comics, then Batman only needs to begin mouthing off to Superman and keeping that kryptonite arrow in his pocket.
There exist precious few action sequences, which are visually spectacular but not very exciting. Superman doesn’t do anything that we haven’t seen during the comic film bonanza of the past few years. The filmmakers mistook the wholesomeness of the character for blandness, and subscribe to the Batman Begins school of lighting, which erroneously believes that dim is a synonym for gritty.
Article comments
1 - Triniman
I pretty much agree with your views here. United 93 is one of the best films that I've seen this year. Superman Returns will be a huge commercial hit, but it just pales in comparison. And Kate Bosworth's Lois Lane has the appeal of soggy kleenex.
2 - James Frazier
Thanks for the feedback! I agree about Kate Bosworth; what the hell were they thinking? She had no spark, no zest or appeal at all. The handling of virtually every character in this film is a total misfire.