Most of the publicity on this film was negative - budget overruns, shooting overruns - but in the end it was pretty good. The story is strong, the special effects amazing. That it doesn't quite work simply comes down to good old fashioned misacting.
When the film started I thought it was going to be fantastic - using John Williams' wonderful score, Marlon Brando's voice (the film is a sequel to the Christopher Reeve movies). Then it got going and I thought "uh oh". Not the fact that it starts a bit gay - the first ten minutes have a nude Superman, Kevin Spacey as a gigolo, Spacey and Parker Posey and corgis - that disappears.
The main problem lies in the leads. Brandon Routh tries, at least has the physique - but tries to evoke Christopher Reeve and it only makes you recall how much better Reeve was.
The killer is Kate Bosworth - Lois Lane is a terrific role, torn between two men, a brave gutsy woman - but she has a blank expression, the lights are on but no one's home.
Then as the film goes along it starts to improve. Kevin Spacey stops phoning in his performance and starts to cut loose a little, the kid playing Lois Lane's film is pretty good, the sfx of the raised island are incredible (this segment is really well done - but who is going to pay to live on rock? And also they never satisfactorily explain why New York isn't destroyed), and most of all the story has genuine emotional pull because of the love triangle thing.
With decent actors in the leads this could have been excellent; thinking over it a bit more it's not really Routh's fault, Bryan Singer had a limited pool of actors to pick from because of the Superman curse, but he needed a strong Lois Lane.
Some moments are magical - Superman taking Lois for a ride, Superman's moments of solitude, the crash of the plane. Lex Luthor needed some better henchmen (they have no personality, he needs a Ned Beatty - Ian Roberts has a decent role, no lines but he's always holding a video camera, something which you keep expecting to pay off but it never does). Richard Branson is in the cast. And two actors from the Old Fitzroy Theatre in Sydney - David Webb and Ansuya Nathan.
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