It’s been a class A summer for fans of superhero movies. X-Men 3 and Superman Returns excelled in so many ways, for entirely different reasons. The best way for me to heap earned praise on these movies is to compare how wildly different they are.
In short, X-Men is an ode to modern action and spectacle. Superman Returns, on the other hand, while occasionally spectacular, is more interested in tone poetry, with Golden Age innocence at its heart.
X-Men is tight and economical, you could argue it’s too short or, more accurately, too brief. Like great sex with a stranger in a foreign city, you’re not likely to ever forget it. Superman Returns is a commitment to emotion and character nuance, taking its leisurely time to tell an epic return story packed with romantic ideas and iconic majesty.
Both movies plumb their cinematic forbears for guidance on pacing, character, production design, and visual arrangement. On X-Men 3, director Brett Ratner stepped in for Bryan Singer, who moved on from mutants to direct Superman Returns. Ratner clearly has his own way of doing things. He has no patience for lengthy quiet moments. He builds character through a combination of context and immediacy. Because he’s inherited characters we already care about — thanks to Bryan Singer — he can afford to move along at a delirious clip, focusing more on relentless excitement, intrigue, and spectacle. I was a doubter — given Ratner’s credentials — but he did a damned fine job of infusing his movie with a sense of superheroic magnitude and pathos.
Bryan Singer’s adoration of Richard Donner’s original Superman: the Movie couldn’t be more visible in his love letter to the impregnable history of the Last Son of Krypton. He’s deeply interested in what characters mean to each other, and how even their little decisions move the story forward in ways that alternately hurt and please. Singer’s Superman is melancholic, capable of unflagging love not only for Lois Lane, but for humans as an entity under his care. Brandon Routh as the new Superman and Clark Kent, does things with his face that so sublimely communicate his thoughts, you can’t help but enjoy how completely he embodies and embellishes what Christopher Reeve once owned. He’s a beautiful man and he’s gigantic on screen.
Brett Ratner’s interpretation of the Dark Phoenix end time so beloved by fans of old-school X-Men comics is surprisingly moving. Unfortunately, we don’t gete enough insight into Jean Grey’s struggle. As a complete Phoenix geek, I was most sated by the special effects that help tell the story of her transformation. Hard to believe that more than 20 years after Chris Claremont, John Byrne, and Terry Austin told this story in monthly comics, the film — in spirit if not in fact — is a gorgeous and powerful look into the heart of absolute power. As a whole, it’s just so much fun.
Writing this has made me eager to see X-Men for a fourth time and Superman Returns for a fourth time. It’s not often that some things must be seen over and over again on the big screen. It’s rare and pleasing to have two at once.