Just super (Superman (DVD))

Member Name: george_lazenby

Product:	Superman (DVD)
Date:	03/10/01 (79 review reads)
Rating:

Advantages: Superb performances, well directed, good effects

Disadvantages: Old fashioned

As a bit of scene setting, imagine all the world’s morons filling the Trafford Centre with the biggest queue imaginable, just so they can have Posh Spice sign their copy of her autobiography. I pass them by, hiding a smirk, proposing to browse the DVD section of WHSmith and spend no money. But a moment of weakness overcomes me; as I peruse the top ten, my eye is drawn by a horribly cruel temptation: Superman and Superman II in a box set.

Curses. I have to buy it. Forgive me, but I am feeling a massive nostalgia surge.

'Superman: The Movie', to give it its full title, belongs very definitely in the Seventies. Post ‘Star Wars’, post ‘Jaws’, the cinema of awe and wonder replaces (virtually overnight) the cinema of disillusion and cynicism which Vietnam and Nixon had ushered into Hollywood. Everything was big, bold and exciting, a bit empty-headed, and squarely aimed at the kids. I am a child of this generation (even though I entered my Date of Birth incorrectly on my profile, and am consistently shocked every time I change it and see that Dooyou thinks I am 30 years older than I am), and I was reared on empty spectacle. I liked ‘Star Wars’, but I loved ‘Superman’. The spectacle, the innocence, the genuine poignancy throughout the film, it all appealed to me.

The film was the brainchild of Alexander Salkind, a producer of the old school, a Russian with big ideas and deep pockets (apart from his involvement in ‘Superman’, all of his movies, ‘Supergirl’, ‘Santa Claus’ etc. are stinkers). It’s immensely lavish, with effects which hold up even today, and vast sets, including a whole Metropolis street set. It is an almost entirely faithful adaptation of the comic strip, adopting wholesale the clean lines, clear morality and bold colours of the Superman comics. Aside from the sarcastic one-liners of Gene Hackman, perfectly cast as Lex Luthor the g
enius villain, it is a film devoid of irony or angles.

Perhaps America needed something with the nostalgic charge the film provides - certainly, there is an immense amount of backstory taking place in a lovingly created historical environment (Christopher Reeve, third on the cast, doesn’t even appear for 45 minute), and there is a lovely performance from Glenn Ford as Superman’s adoptive dad.

From the moment Superman appears, the film changes gear slightly. Reeve looks so much like the character, and inhabits it so perfectly, it is virtually impossible to separate him from the role, and that’s probably why his career outside the series was so limited. The nostalgic prologue gives way to a more straightforward adventure, with Lex Luthor using stolen warheads to cause devastation across America and blackmail the nation.

Nevertheless, I think that the appeal of the film lies less in Richard Donner’s skills as an action director, or the clutch of marvellous performances (everyone from Margot Kidder, Ned Beatty down to the deliriously sexy Valerie Perrine, the first woman I remember having erotic dreams about), than in the purity of the storyline, and the integrity of Superman’s character. It’s not a deep film, but Superman, and especially the way in which Reeve plays him (with an air of old-fashioned decency and chivalry), is the ultimate in unshakeable honesty and heroism. He’s never tempted to misuse his powers or act without justification - granted he is supposed to be a superhero, but Reeve manages to invest Superman with all the unshakeable integrity the icon implies.

These days, the film might look a bit staid, even boring. Compared to some of the compromised, difficult superheroes who have followed in Superman’s wake - Tim Burton’s take on Batman, Sam Raimi’s self-created Darkman, the protagonists of ‘The Matrix’ and ‘X-Men’ - the Man of Steel
probably looks like something from an older generation, and it’s no surprise that the recent attempts to revive the character has defeated a succession of cinematic talents. Even the sequel in my box set, ‘Superman II’, was taken away from Donner and handed to that great cinematic trickster Richard Lester, in order to add some sarcastic satiric spice (it's a great film, but lacking the sturdy ideology of its predecessor).

But there is a purity to the film, a refusal to compromise. It upholds and celebrates certain values - admittedly expressed in a comic strip format - which retain a great appeal. With most entertainments presented with a nod and a wink to the audience, it’s refreshing to rediscover a film whose delights are almost entirely innocent, whose celebration of honesty and integrity are without qualification - and to hell with it, it’s actually a lot more fun than I’m making it sound.

PS If you think I'm taking 'Superman' too seriously, I have just watched 'Batman Returns' again, and any review I write about that will make this look positively restrained.

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