Superman Returns!

I saw "Superman Returns" last night with Randy and Bill at the McHenry Downtown Theater (more about the theater experience later). For now, I wanted to give my review of the film. I won't reveal any plot points which aren't already in the trailers, so if you've seen the previews, you won't get any more spoilers.

"Superman Returns" is fantastic, but sometimes a bit too slow. I loved all of the character interactions, but they did make the film drag a bit (especially near the end). I enjoyed all of the action scenes (e.g., the airplane rescue), but I'll admit that I'm a sucker for the scenes with Superman and Lois. The fact that Lois has a fiance adds a ton of extra character development opportunities for Superman.

Which brings me to my favorite part of the new movie: Lois' family (her fiance Richard, and their son Jason). It would have been very easy (as in most "love triangle" stories) to make Richard a "bad guy". But they never give us that option. Richard is a fantastic person. He's a great fiance, and a fantastic father. I was impressed that he never resorts to petty jealousy. It's obvious that he's struggling to deal with Superman's return to Lois' life, but he always trusts her enough to let her decide how to handle it. In other words, he's not a possessive jerk. He's such a nice guy that I found myself hoping that Lois would stick with Richard, despite Superman's return.

And her son, Jason, plays the "cute kid" perfectly. He was never so cute that you wanted to slap him, but he's still a kid at heart. I enjoyed all of his scenes immensely.

The music was perfect. Ottman took just enough music from John Williams to make it familiar, but not so much that it felt rehashed. The Kent Farm theme, the Love theme, the Krypton theme, and (of course) the Superman theme are all woven throughout the movie in just the right amounts. Almost every main theme makes a reappearance, except for the old Luthor theme (which was too comic for this more serious Lex). Instead, Ottman wrote a darker theme for Lex, involving a lot of snappy percussion and dissonant brass.

I strongly recommend "Superman Returns", but expect some downtime (especially at the end).