[Danger, Will Robinson, there be SPOILERS ahead!]
I've figured out the secret of Chinese films. They're all about love unfulfilled, love denied. They're all about unrequited love. Look at one of the best, Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon. Chow Yun Fat is literally gasping his last before he finally admits his love for Michelle Yeoh. Look at poor Chen Chang, so desperately in love with Ziyi Zhang, and she's so desperately in denial that she literally takes a leap of faith at the end in order to -- we hope -- fulfill that love. You see similar patterns in Hero, House of Flying Daggers, and even Infernal Affairs. And 2046 just drips with lost love, love unfulfilled, unrequited love, etc.
I mention all that because in that regard, Superman Returns feels very Chinese. It is all about love denied; it is all about unrequited love.
Throughout his history, Superman has been plagued by his relationships with humans, especially -- but not exclusively -- with Lois Lane. The films have focused on Superman and Lois, to their benefit and detriment. Benefit because it is that tension that adds humanity to Superman; detriment in that they keep having to find a way to keep them apart, typically by making Lois forget what happened.
In Superman Returns, Brian Singer takes the issue head on and these are the moments during which his film soars. Oh, sure, there's a decent hammy performance by Kevin Spacey as Lex Luthor, but who really gives a crap? He's going to lose. You know that going in. Is there anyone within the realm of the Great Cosmic All that believes Lex will ever win?
No? I didn't think so.
Superman Returns is the third Superman film, essentially creating a very decent trilogy. The previous thing labeled Superman III, and that other thing called Superman IV...Singer pretends they never happened. If you've never seen them, don't. If you have, head over to Rekall and have them wiped from your memory. You'll thank me for this.
So Singer has made the real Superman III. Superman, for whatever reason, sought to find out about his home world after defeating the evil General Zod and sending him hurtling into the pot of gurgling dry ice. He's been gone for around five years. Lots of things have changed. The world has adapted back to a Superman-less state. Lois is engaged to a striking young man who happens to be Perry White's son. She won a Pulitzer for an editorial titled "Why the World Doesn't Need Superman". Oh, and she has a son. Who is around five years old. HINT!
These clues are blunt instruments. Feeling jilted by Superman's sudden departure, dumped as it were, she hooks up with the boss's son. She pens a prize-winning essay where she rakes her ex over the coals. Oh, and she's got a son who -- by staggering coincidence -- is just old enough to have been conceived, oh, just shortly before Superman left.
All right, no subtlety there, but so what? As we learn when we cook, it's not just the ingredients you work with, it's how you work them. And with this set of ingredients Singer does very well. He wisely makes the New Guy a really nice, handsome, competent fellow. There's every reason in the world for Lois to legitimately love him, but she's having commitment issues. They're engaged but she won't set the date, won't take that final step.
She has, tada, Superman issues. And who shows up to really compound those issues? Damnit (for her), Superman returns!
Look, this can't be a complete review because I was watching most of this through a fever, fast-forwarding through the dull Lex stuff, and probably missing all sorts of silly details. Frank Langella seems a great Perry White. Kate Bosworth is much better at being Lois Lane than Katie Holmes was at being whatever she was in Batman Begins, but that's not saying much. It was great to see James Marsden's face, and as the New Guy, no less. Brandon Routh as the Man of Steel...well, maybe I'll get used to him. In time. Given the effort. Oh, and as much as I like Parker Posey, she (ahem) vamped things up much better in Blade: Trinity (can't believe I used that pun, for shame).
What stands out is how Singer wraps all this up at the end. By making New Guy a nice guy, a good guy, a great guy, Singer denies both Lois and Superman an easy out. New Guy even saves Lois and her son (albeit, with a final assist from Superman). By not killing New Guy, Singer again denies Lois (and Superman) an easy out. This triangle is holding firm and it hurts.
There are moments near the end that ring oh so damn true it's painful. Sure, we're looking at a fictional superhero, but the emotion behind it all is real and alive in the world today. You can see New Guy staring at Lois and he knows she's in love with Superman, and you know that if she said "I wanna go" he'd let her! You can see Lois longing for Superman but unable to leave New Guy because, well, it just can't work out with a superhero, can it? And you can see Superman staring at Lois and he knows he can't have her, that great human New Guy can take care of her...and the son.
I have to give special props, snaps, claps, applause, and recognition for one of the best things going for this entire sequence, the musical score by John Ottman. I said elsewhere that listening to the music of Casino Royale, it felt at times as though David Arnold (usually a, cough, blunt instrument) was channeling John Barry. For example, Arnold's orchestration of the Bond theme at the end of Casino is brilliant.
Ottman does the same here, only he's channeling John Williams. His orchestration and rendition of Williams' Superman theme is better than Williams did for himself. Unlike hacks who have taken tidbits of Williams' stuff for other sequels, Ottman uses that base material as pure inspiration. The result is a wonderfully done musical soundtrack.
On the album, the final track is "Reprise/Fly Away". I don't think it made it into the film, or the film got re-edited so that music didn't work anymore, but it is a thing of wonder to listen to. Ottman weaves his original music with Williams extracts, specifically "Can You Read My Mind", the love theme from Superman. What Ottman does that is so brilliant is that he gives hints of that theme, of that love, and then in the music, denies it. His own original music wants to swell in love and embrace and success...and then denies it. Dig up a copy of the soundtrack, listen to that last track, "Reprise/Fly Away". It's superb.
With Ottman's music, more than adequate visuals, clean editing, and damn little dialogue, Singer creates a powerful ending, saving what was, for a time, beginning to feel like something suffering Peter-Jackson-please-end-the-damn-film syndrome.
This is all just set up. I need to really sit down and watch the film. I suspect I'll have to have Kleenex handy. Call me sentimental, tell me that it hits hard because I'm still recovering from my own bout with unrequited love, but that only means Singer is, in fact, doing it perfect. He's touched a nerve with finesse and accuracy.
Now if only he had left all that Lex Luthor crap out of the film....
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