I saw Superman Returns last night in a hot and sticky cinema. Notwithstanding the uncomfortable surroundings and my own misgivings, I actually enjoyed it. I had feared that any attempt at a Superman movie would fall so short of the Christopher Reeve original that it would be unwatchable. But it wasn’t. Brandon Routh (Superman) has found an interesting solution to the problem of stepping into another man’s iconic boots – he doesn’t try to surpass Reeve, he tries to BE Reeve. And succeeds rather well, to the point that you wonder if Reeve’s spirit might have reincarnated 25-odd years before he actually died! The voice is particularly uncanny. It’s a little odd to see an actor mimic another’s performance, but what you can see of Routh under the Reeve is promising.

The basic premise is this: Superman returns having disappeared for 5 years. We know this was to search for Krypton and any other Kryptonians, but Lois doesn’t. He left without saying goodbye. While he was away, she had a child, got engaged and won a Pulitzer for an article titled ‘Why the world doesn’t need Superman’. Lex Luthor was released from prison on appeal because Superman didn’t make his court date, and is now gleefully plotting the reduction of North America from a continent to an archipelago.

Kate Bosworth is Lois Lane in the Margot Kidder tradition – an attractive but not beautiful woman whose draw is primarily her personality. Having said that, Margot Kidder was buoyant Lois, conquering-the-world Lois. Bosworth’s is more damaged, a woman abandoned by the great love of her life and forced to move on, but never able to fully let go of that love.

In the role of Lex Luthor, Kevin Spacey is creepy where Gene Hackman was thuggish. He slithers through the film with relish and is great fun to watch, but was much less threatening than Hackman, I thought. With Hackman, you actually thought Superman might lose.

One complaint I have is the CGI. As so often with recent uber-CGId films, there are a couple of shots where Superman looks like a cartoon. An unwise close-up shot of a face that isn’t really there, and you feel like you’re watching Final Fantasy: The Spirits Within. Of course, the pleasure of hearing John Williams’ all-conquering score more than makes up for these technical quibbles. I never saw Reeve’s Superman films in the cinema (the first Reeve Superman film was released in 1978, the year before I was born, the last was in 1987, when I was an 8yr-old in Thailand) and the thrill of hearing THAT score on cinema speakers gave me goosebumps.

An interesting thing is the number of God/Saviour references in the films. Prometheus is referenced verbally, Atlas and Jesus are referenced visually, and of course Superman is repeatedly referred to as a saviour.

The film left me with a peculiar yearning – a wish that it could be real, that there could be such a hero. I wonder if the basis of religion is simply that – the human yearning for a superhero, a saviour.

And in that vein, I’ll end this post with some appropriate lyrics from Nickelback. The song is called Hero.

I am so high. I can hear heaven.
I am so high. I can hear heaven.
Oh but heaven, no heaven don’t hear me.

And they say that a hero can save us.
I’m not gonna stand here and wait.
I'll hold onto the wings of the eagles.
Watch as we all fly away.

Someone told me love will all save us.
But how can that be, look what love gave us.
A world full of killing, and blood-spilling
that world never came.

And they say that a hero can save us.
I’m not gonna stand here and wait.
I'll hold onto the wings of the eagles.
Watch as we all fly away.

Now that the world isn't ending, its love that I’m sending to you.
It isn’t the love of a hero, and that’s why I fear it won’t do.

And they say that a hero can save us.
I’m not gonna stand here and wait.
I'll hold onto the wings of the eagles.
Watch as we all fly away.
And they're watching us (Watching Us)
and they're watching us (Watching Us)
as we all fly away.yeahaahh...ooouuhh

PS: Holiday blog to follow, also another that is far more serious than that or this one. It’s just taking me a while to write due to emotional content. Thanks for your patience.