The Superman Knocks Twice

I saw Superman Returns last night at a sneak showing my brother's company was doing. Bryan Singer has made a big damn movie for sure with some spectacular visual effects, but at the same time with a lot fewer characters then the X-Men movies, he was also able to give us a lot more intimate character moments. For instance, like Peter Parker's learning to web-swing in first Spiderman movie, Superman Returns shows us a new aspects of his origin that we've never seen before, in this case Clark's discovery that he can fly.

Additionally, Superman Returns is very much a love letter to the first Richard Donner Superman movie with numerous "in-references" that are often exact recreations of lines and scenes, but at the same time fit into the more modern story. In a sense Kevin Spacey is playing Gene Hackman playing Lex Luthor, while still doing enough to make it his own. A lot was made about using unused Marlon Brando footage, but really they were just backdrop, setting the tone for the film as a whole. But they did help tying the movies all together.

There was a major story element, that worried me a little bit just because it's a large departure from comic continuity but I'm curious to see where it goes. But who knows? Comics continuity could begin to echo the movies. The rumor is that Richard Donner will be joining Geoff Johns as a writer on Action Comics later this year.