Top 10 Can’t Miss Movies of the Summer: #2

2. Superman Returns (June 30)
In general I find Superman to be a boring character thanks to qualities like his invulnerability, his Boy Scout morality and his USA USA mentality. From time to time certain creators in film, TV and comics have embraced these same qualities and turned them on their head resulting in some truly enthralling stories. In addition to the dual role Superman balances with Clark Kent, he also balances being raised human but being alien. For all his Midwestern charm and flag waving he’s still an outsider because of his DNA and his scary amount of power. Recent representations that have capitalized on these ideas are the classic graphic novel Kingdom Come, the TV series Justice League Unlimited, and the film Superman II.

For all intensive purposes the last Superman movie in theaters was Superman II. The third and fourth installments in the 80’s dug a grave so deep for this franchise, it made Batman Forever look like a pot hole. I’ll never forget throwing up repeatedly after watching Superman III as a kid. My grandmother blamed the quadruple cheeseburger and its full pound of beef I got at Wendy’s but I’ll always blame the movie itself.

Waiting this long to do a new Superman film is a surprisingly smart move from a studio (Warner Bros.) that has historically put money over quality. Now part of it was they had to distance themselves from those horrible sequels but a bigger factor was that Superman was stuck in the Phantom Zone of development hell. Kevin Smith, Tim Burton, Michael Bay, JJ Abrams, Wolfgang Peterson; these are just some of the writers and directors attached to the project over the years, along with actors like Nic Cage and Mel Gibson. All these names possess talent but as fate would have it, none would be able to see their vision come to pass. In the end, one thing fell through after the other and we’re left with Brian Singer and something called Brandon Routh.

Coming off the first two X Men films, Singer has showed his chops as an action director that can still keep the focus on characters and story. While I was saddened to see him leave X Men 3, you knew Superman would benefit. The casting of Routh is one of the many ways Singer is respecting and emulating the first two Superman movies by Richard Donner. Routh is an unknown much like Christopher Reeves was when he stepped into the underoos. Singer is also loosely picking up where Superman II left off. While not calling it a sequel, he has said in interviews that after events similar to the second movie Superman has left Earth. The new score even features element of John Williams’s classic music.

Here’s another summer flick where I’m not sure what we’re going to get but the possibilities are super exciting (no pun intended). The full trailer just came out and Kevin Spacey looks to have discovered a crazy scary evil to Lex Luthor as opposed to Gene Hackman’s crazy funny evil version. The shots look epic and remind me of the small snippets we had going in to Batman Begins. I’m looking for the same kind of results here as Superman Returns has a chance to reinvent a franchise and bury painful memories of Nuclear Man and the quest for peace.