Superman Returns: Now Will It Suck or Not?!

Superman was my first hero.

I'm old enough to remember seeing the big screen version when it first came out some 20-plus years ago. I was a kid and recall seeing it with my brother and a family friend. I was blown away. Totally and completely blown away. In fact, back then, movie theatres weren't too enforcing on showings, so we lucked out and saw it about three more times at the same theatre. Each time was better than the last.

To this day, this version still holds the record as the film I've seen the most. I've seen it on TV, seen it on cable, seen it on videotape and now on DVD. Everything about this film I loved, from the epic scope of it all, the acting, the music (how can you not get chills hearing John Williams' theme) and the effects. I especially loved Christopher Reeve's performance most of all. As a kid, he was my first definition of a hero. I truly believed that he could fly. Of course, now we know better, but he still holds a place in my heart to this day, even after his tragic accident that left him paralyzed and eventually led to his untimely death.

So, almost 30 years later, we've got a new Man of Steel movie out now. "Superman Returns". And ever since word about this has come out and we've seen bits and pieces here and there about this. There's been two sides to this: those who really like it and those who are totally against it. I have two friends, Rob and Brandon, who have been against this from the start. Brandon has been the most vocal about it, especially about the suit and the acting, even though he hasn't seen anything aside from the trailers and certain scenes.

Now, later on today, I'll sit down at the theater and will see it for myself. I will decide if it sucks or not. And hey, this has a lot on the line. Especially with Brandon Routh, who has the most unenviable task of being in Reeve's shoes. Or suit as it were. Now, granted he looks a little like him, but anything he does in this film will be compared to what is arguably the best superhero performance ever captured on screen. I hope he does well. I want him to do well, but we have to just wait and see.

Not only will I be interested in seeing how Routh does, but I want to see how Bryan Singer does directing this film. He has a great respect for the original movie as well, since this version takes place in the period of the first two films. Now I know he has a great track record with the first two X-Men films, but this is Superman here. This is a whole different level. So we'll see how this goes. Especially when it comes to the story, which may tinker around with the mythology we've come to know over the years.

So when I sit down later on to see this, I'm going to be going over this with a fine tuned comb. Everything from the music, which I hear will take some of what Williams did and add on to it, to the acting (not just Routh, but Kate Bosworth as Lois Lane and Kevin Spacey as Lex Luthor), to the scope and magnitude of the whole feature. Plus, this is going to be a long film too, over two and a half hours. Let's just hope the length means something and not just filler.

About a year ago on this blog, I talked about another DC Comics hero making a return to the big screen, and "Batman Begins" turned out to be a good movie. My pick for movie of the year last year. Will the same hold true for Superman, my first movie hero?

Will this movie suck or not?

I'm about to go and find out.