SUPERMAN 5 (***Spoilers***)
ALLWORKANDNOPLAYMAKESJACKADULLBOY
ALLWORKANDNOPLAYMAKESJACKADULLBOY
ALLWORKANDNOPLAYMAKESJACKADULLBOY
ALLWORKANDNOPLAYMAKESJACKADULLBOY
ALLWORKANDNOPLAYMAKESJACKADULLBOY
ALLWORKANDNOPLAYMAKESJACKADULLBOY
ALLWORKANDNOPLAYMAKESJACKADULLBOY
ALLWORKANDNOPLAYMAKESJACKADULLBOY
ALLWORKANDNOPLAYMAKESJACKADULLBOY
ALLWORKANDNOPLAYMAKESJACKADULLBOY
ALLWORKANDNOPLAYMAKESJACKADULLBOY
ALLWORKANDNOPLAYMAKESJACKADULLBOY
ALLWORKANDNOPLAYMAKESJACKADULLBOY
ALLWORKANDNOPLAYMAKESJACKADULLBOY
ALLWORKANDNOPLAYMAKESJACKADULLBOY
Well, as with X-MEN 3 last month, I waited until I saw the film--
TONIGHT!!-- before reading any comments on it at all. Sure glad I did.
I loved the fact that John Williams' 2 main themes were reused. I was
reminded (by contrast) of the sheer stupidity of the Joel Schumacher
films when he DIDN'T use Danny Elfman's magnificent BATMAN theme.
Now, given I had a LOT of reservations about SUPERMAN (1978)-- there
were just too many "changes" for my tastes, too many things that
struck me as "wrong" or "dumb" or "embarassing"-- I've long felt that
film worked and is loved IN SPITE of itself. SUPERMAN II was a BIT of
a let-down, after that, mostly because-- DAMMIT!!!-- Richard Donner
didn't finish what he started, and Richard Lester decided to RESHOOT
70% of the film from scratch. I don't care WHAT "problems" Donner was
having with the Salkinds-- it was unprofessional not to finish the 2nd
film before walking. SUPERMAN 3 & 4 were both HORRENDOUS
disappointments-- and for completely different reasons!!! That
said... FOR A "SEQUEL", I find it astonishing that SUPERMAN 5 (hey, I
refer to the HALLOWEEN movies the same way, it's easier to say & type)
is probably the BEST film of the series-- so far. How many #5's can
that possibly be said about? (The 6th James Bond film gets my vote
for best-ever in that series-- but a lot of people completely dismiss
that one!! That's personal tastes...)
There may be some things about this film I disagree with-- or that may
be ill-conceived-- but half of it comes from the first 2 films, so if
you don't like those, this magnifies the problems, and if you did like
those, this is a very worthy follow-up.
I watched and watched and watched, enjoying, enthralled, in
suspense... Noel Neill's cameo made me squirm (HOW LOW could Lex
SINK???), I loved Jack Larson's role as the bartender, I thought Frank
Langella LOOKED DEAD RIGHT as Perry White (as perhaps no actor before
him-- especially Jackie Cooper-- ever did) and it was interesting to
see the Gene Hackman Luthor return with a NASTIER edge. I think I
might have enjoyed #1 MORE if it had been more like this one back
then. But the FIRST moment that really did it for me was the shuttle
disaster (shades of John Byrne!). First I expected the whole thing to
crash-- NOPE! Then it looked like the plane might get fried (as the
one at the beginning of MOONRAKER did) --NOPE! Instead we got to see
Superman save 2 aircraft-- the 2nd with more difficulty than the
first. But THE moment wasn't the suspense or the thrill... it was
after it was all over, when he opened his mouth and talked said how he
hoped this wouldn't scare people out of flying... TEARS ran down my
face! THAT's SUPERMAN!!!!!
At the time it came out, #2 went into questionable territory by having
Lois find out Clark is Superman (something that NEVER happened in the
comics back then, EXCEPT in the Earth-2 stories) and SLEEP with him.
(Clearly the late-70's/early-80's-- an earlier Superman would have
MARRIED her first!) Giving Superman a SON (!!!!!) by a woman he's NOT
married to reminded me of STAR TREK II: THE WRATH OF KHAN, where we
found out Kirk had a grown son WE'D NEVER HEARD OF until that story,
by a woman referred to way back in the 2nd pilot. ("I almost married
her!") I can kinda see the parallel between Clark being adopted and
Lois' son having an adopted father. I don't recall if they actually
said anywhere in the film that Richard was supposed to be the father--
it was rather vague. If Lois knew (or at least suspected) Supes was
the father all along, it would "explain" her bitterness toward him,
NOT knowing the facts. (Of course, it could have happened sometime
after #4-- but I get the feeling a lot of people would prefer to think
the last 2 films never happened! Sort of like the 3rd & 4th BAT-films.)
I thought about the various parallels to real-world disasters... and
also noted the (to my eyes) BLATENT "tribute" to TITANIC in the way
that humongous yacht broke apart. Lex & his henchmen's BRUTALITY
seemed out of left-field, as I don't recall Luthor ever being so
physically violent in any previous incarnation. But talk about poetic
justice-- when everyone was running from the collapsing rocks, and 3
of his men got FLATTENED (!!!) I got a double-image from the film
JASON AND THE ARGONAUTS, when the bronze giant Talos collapses right
on top of Hercules' young friend. (I passed on to a pal of mine that
in Greek mythology, Herc & the other guy had been LOVERS... but in
1963, that might have seemed out of place in a Ray Harryhausen film!)
I don't know how this happened, but I got 3/4THS of the way thru the
picture before I realized Lois' boyfriend was CYLCOPS from the X-MEN
movies! He CERTAINLY got a bigger, better part here... I still think
it's a damn shame Bryan Singer couldn't have managed to do the 3rd
X-film first and THEN do this one. Ah well...
The structure of this thing was almost as unusual as #1-- almost in
reverse, as it was the last part of the film that seemed like a
separate story ("Death of Superman" tribute?) tacked on. I keep
thinking, if Supes can hear "everything", the 1st thing he should have
done after recovering was zoom into space, listen until he heard
Luthor, and then NAIL the bastard. Otherwise, it just seems like
we're left hanging for the sequel-- and having a Superman villain ON
THE LOOSE at the end of a story just isn't right. This isn't Chris
Claremont's X-MEN, after all (where nobody EVER goes to prison for
their crimes)!
One of my favorite "imaginary" stories from the 60's was "The Three
Generations Of Superman", in which Supes is an old man, has a grown
son who's taken over for him, and a young grandson-- about the age of
the kid in this picture! The differences being, the kid already has
super-powers, and the old man MARRIED his Lois. Oh well. Maybe
"Cyclops" can get fried off-camera in some sequel... (oh wait-- WRONG
movie!)
Henry
PS: Coming soon!!! SUPERMAN 6: "Stupendous Triumph of The Six
Super-Villains!" (Yeah, I KNOW that was a FLASH story, but still...!)