"You'll believe a man can fly!" That was the tagline for Richard Donner's Superman.
Movies are neither the best nor the worst, it is never perfect or totally weird, movies are an opinion, no definitive answer can ever be determined about a movie. It’s a personal thing and Superman is that personal film which everybody loves despite of all the cheap props it may have used. Superman is loved unanimously.
In Quentin Tarantino's Kill Bill Vol. 2, Bill talks about Superman to Beatrix Kiddo [Uma Thurman], I would like to share that little part first.
“Now, a staple of the superhero mythology is, there's the superhero and there's the alter ego. Batman is actually Bruce Wayne; Spider-Man is actually Peter Parker. When that character wakes up in the morning, he's Peter Parker. He has to put on a costume to become Spider-Man. And it is in that characteristic Superman stands alone. Superman didn't become Superman. Superman was born Superman. When Superman wakes up in the morning, he's Superman. His alter ego is Clark Kent. His outfit with the big red "S", that's the blanket he was wrapped in as a baby when the Kents found him. Those are his clothes. What Kent wears - the glasses, the business suit - that's the costume. That's the costume Superman wears to blend in with us. Clark Kent is how Superman views us.”
First Blue, then Red and then may be Yellow are the colours you remember Superman for, no other fancy superhero costume make it look better. Superman is godly and his costume is something you don’t like to see tampered.
Superman is absolutely delightful, you sit watching a film where you know this bespectacled guy is going to become Superman soon and you wait for that first scene when Clark Kent almost tears apart his shirt to show us the big “S” on his chest, that moment is the definitive superhero moment in our lives. [Till the time Christian Bale pulls Falcone on the roof of his car and yells at him; “I am Batman” in Batman Begins].
People of the Gotham city lose hope when Bane beats Batman or when the bad guy dominates any other superhero but people of Metropolis believe in Superman, Superman will never let them die. They never give up on Superman.
You realize this later only that how perfectly Clark Kent complements Superman. Kent is weak, a coward and was one of the biggest critic of Superman. A few people I talked about Superman complains that how is it possible that Lois Lane couldn’t see that Clark Kent and Superman had an identical face [Since Superman doesn’t wear a mask]and believes it as a major plot hole but the way I see, it was the main theme behind the Superman-Clark Kent equation. It was intended to be like that.
Lois Lane, played by Margot Kidder, was one woman who spend more time with both Clark Kent and Superman and Clark’s characteristics made him look coward and weaker than most of his colleagues and on the same time Superman was the one alpha male she has ever seen in the whole world. This comparison made Clark look even weaker and it was not their faces but their strengths which Lois Lane found tough to compare, though she had a doubt in one sequence in the film which Clark successfully evades.
Christopher Reeve was the iconic Superman and any superman that came later had to look like him in a certain way; the face, the physique or the body language, it was like Brandon Routh [Superman Returns] and Henry Cavill [Man of Steel] auditioned to play Christopher Reeve and not Superman.
Gene Hackman was the chosen one to play Lex Luthor, he was very humorous, amusing and witty but still a diabolic and ruthless conspirator, even though I liked Kevin Spacey’s performance of Lex Luthor more satisfying in Superman Returns by Bryan Singer.
There is a less than 15 minutes part by Marlon Brando who plays the role of Jor-El, father of Kal-El [Superman’s name in Krypton]. Brando was paid $3 Millions for that little important part he played.
Now, whether you are a movie fanatic or not, you should watch Superman, because it’s not a film, Superman is a way of life.
Movie Geek's Ratings: ★★★★½ Brilliant
Cast: Christopher Reeve, Gene Hackman, Marlon Brando, Margot Kidder
Directed by: Richard Donner
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Author: Amrit Rukhaiyaar