The Singer Factor

This is the first time in a long while I've had time to really sit down and blog, so lots of posts tonight, boys and girls. Let's get on with it.

There were two big superhero movies this blockbuster season. One of them was good; the other was a piece of shit. But why was this so, when both seemed equally strong in concept? The answer lies with one man - Bryan Singer.

I must declare: I'm not a Superman fan, per se. I've read the comics quite a bit, but I was never really that into the character, not like, say, Batman. I did watch Lois and Clark when it was on TV, and the first season of Smallville, but these two series got repetitive after awhile, and you could almost count down what was going to happen by looking at a clock. I also saw the early Superman movies when I was a kid, but they didn't leave much of an impression on me. Indiana Jones and the Temple of Doom, yes. The Back to the Future trilogy, yes. The original Star Wars trilogy, yes. Supermen I through IV, no.

That said, I loved Superman Returns. A big part of that has to do with Bryan Singer. Not that he's the second coming of Christ or anything, but this guy just "gets" comic book movies. He doesn't look down on them, he doesn't do the whole tongue in cheek thing where this has to be manufactured fun in a can, he treats them seriously, with respect, like the modern myths that they are. He digs deep and he finds the human truths in them, and brings them to the forefront.

And he does that right here. Granted, he does paint Superman as a Christ figure in ridiculously broad strokes at times, but he also gets the human emotions right, which is crucial for bringing Big Blue down to earth so we can connect with him. I cried more in this movie than any other in recent memory. Yeah, I'm just a geeky crybaby fanboy deep inside.

But even so, when Superman soars, he soars high. The pulse-pounding plane rescue was an action sequence to beat, but Singer tops it off with the arena of people just welcoming him back into their lives, cheering him on, no questions asked. Clichéd? Of course. But it brought tears to my eyes.

I thought the love story between Lois and Superman was played out quite well, even though he seemed like a stalker at times. Singer was probably counting on the human emotion to make us overlook that fact, and to his credit, he almost succeeds. Unfortunately he had a weak leading lady in Kate Bosworth, who played Lois like a spoilt little girl instead of the independent woman she's supposed to be. I mean, come on, a Pulitzer-winning journalist who doesn't know how to spell "catastrophe"?

I enjoyed the plot twist, even though I saw it coming a mile away, and the whole father-son theme, while a bit overdone, was nice. Kevin Spacey shows what fun he can have playing evil instead of trying to say something Really Important About The World We Live In Today, and he really should stop taking himself so seriously. Brandon Routh more than acquits himself as the Man of Steel, filling in Christopher Reeve's cape and tights better than anyone expected.

I think I should stop now, because I seem to be gushing like a boyband-crazed teenage girl. Next up, let's look at why X-Men: The Last Stand sucked complete balls.

Well, it's simple. Bryan Singer wasn't on the project. Look at what he did with the first two X-Men. He weaved themes and human emotion into a complicated soap-opera-like mess of story threads, somehow managing to keep everything dramatically compelling and the action coming at the same time. The action has more impact because the drama is there. They felt like real people, and when real people get hurt, we feel it.

This time around, Brett Ratner directed because the money-grubbing studio couldn't wait for Singer to be done with Superman. Well, it's their loss. What could've been the strongest of the series turns out to be one big piece of fluff. Ratner never brings even a fraction of the gravity Singer brings to his dramatic scenes. No, he's always too eager to cut away to the next scene. Lookie! It's another explosion! No one cares because they can't feel anything for the characters. And how can they, when everything and everyone is simply thrown willy-nilly into the mix and characters exist for the sole purpose of exposition?

Like I said in my Flixster review: "Great for kids with ADD as stuff blows up every two seconds. For anyone with half a brain, too bad. Ratner undoes everything Bryan Singer did to build up the series, and ends the trilogy with a soulless, emotionless whimper. Yes, kids, he killed the X-Men." I still stand by it. Oh, how I hate this movie.

So yes, for comic book movies: Chris Nolan, good. Sam Raimi, good. Bryan Singer, good. Tim Burton... oh-kaay. Anyone else? Try harder. You've got a lot to live up to.