Superman

Saw the 1978 version of Superman (thanks, Chris!) It was pretty good. It opens with neon credits against a backdrop of space. The letters swoosh by us, trailing light and rumbling the base, as though they were titanic object flying by us at tremendous speed. This is a blockbuster from the time when they were new, trying hard to evoke the sweep and opera of Star Wars, but also trying to stay true to its roots as a dime-store comic. The result is basically good, but very mixed.

Take, for example, the scene where Superman flies with Lois Lane. She is terrified at first, but slowly, taken with the wonder of actually flying, she begins to trust him and relax into his arms. This is such a great and beautiful metaphor for love and then they go and 70's it all up with a spoken-word poem that contains the couplet "You can fly / you belong to the sky." Ugh. There's a lot that's great here, but there's a lot of comic-book-y camp as well. Some of the camp is even good camp. At one point Superman is cheerily assuring Lois that no politician would lie. That's classic starry-eyed Supes! Perfect! The mincing, shouty Lex Luthor and his bumbling assistant... not so much.

On the whole it was a good film. It does very little explaining and, even for being two and a half hours, is told at a breathless, breakneck pace. It opens with his Kryptonian father putting General Zod into space-jail for heaven's sake. Nowadays this would be three films and an HBO show, and as it should be. There's a ton of story going on here and it's all very entertaining and exciting, but even so I wish it had taken its time a bit more. Also, of course there's the bad science (just turn the Earth backward!) and, I'm sorry to admit it, but Fleischer Lois is the only true Lois for me.