Sunday, July 02, 2006

On the ideal hero

I just got back from watching the movie Superman Returns. Now, I'll be the first to tell you. I've never been a fan of the original movies, I've never been a big DC Comics fan, and I certainly have never liked Superman all that much. I've seen the originals a couple times over, but they've never struck a chord with me. Nothing about the mythos that surround the Man of Steel have interested me.

So it came as a very, very, pleasant surprise when this new movie was not just good, not just great, but positively excellent. It's not enough that they kept to the original music and mythos, or that they picked an excellent cast, or that it had an excellent script, or that it had excellent directing. All these things certainly made this movie great, because otherwise...well, it would've sucked. It's how they take this one ideal, this one hero that many have grown to love and worship almost, and gave him his great return to our world. In the movie, there was talk of how the world didn't need Superman, and yet, at one point with Lois Lane, Superman says that he is still needed, because the world still has a long way to go.

That's what hit me most about this movie, the fact that Superman left, but returned because he still had a place in this world, because people still needed him. And that's when I finally learned why Superman has such a huge presence, ever since he got his own comics. People love Superman because they all wish that we could have a hero like him, someone to come save the day when things get tough, someone guide humanity with the dilemnas we still have, someone to always just be there in the nick of time. And yet, this hero, this guy who's not a bird, not a plane, still has his weaknesses like all of us, and is still capable of being hurt physically, but most of all his heart.

Don't most of us wish for someone who'll "always be around"? Especially those of us who've been left behind by someone we care about? I know that's something I want. When I think about Superman like that, I actually feel a little bad for making fun of him. Then again, I can also write an entire entry about how the whole movie is one giant innuendo about homosexuality, because believe me I could see it too. But I can't...the movie just resonated too much with my current thoughts on life and my own desires to branch out and find out who I am and who I should be, and my desire to have freedom and to be a dependable person.

Superman is our ideal hero. He is the hero we wish we had, but more than that, he is the hero we all wish we could be.

On a final note, Kevin Spacey as Lex Luthor was positively amazing. He creeped me out. Do you guys have any idea how hard it is to creep me out? And the guy goes and does it.

6 comments:

carol said...

I read that the director of this new Superman movie, no recuerdo su nombre, tiene una tendencia a cast unknowns que le han hecho "favores"..

carol said...

Ah supuestamente paso eso mismo con uno que salio en X-Men, no recuerdo cual.

The guy does look a bit like Christopher Reeves cuando era joven, quien era que iba a hacer de Superman primero? Nicolas Cage? No me acuerdo bien pero this guy is probably much better. I've never seen a Superman movie anyway lol.

Di said...

No, this guy is a lot better. Iba a ser el actor que hizo a Jesus en Passion of the Christ. Gracias a Dios que no fue el. >_> Imaginate, Jesus = Superman, no way.

Zen said...

I went to see it yesterday and I found it awesome...I prefer Spiderman myself but I REALLY liked this one...I really appreciate the "movie critic" side of you ;)...thanks.

Di said...

Zen: It's a rare side. =) You're welcome.

Sergio Gutiérrez Negrón said...

bueno, bueno... yo todavía no la he visto, pero pues, eso no me quita la posibilidad de postear. ^_^. Primero que todo, todos los super-heroes, y pelicuas relacionadas a super-heroes encajan con la homosexualidad, por ello de vidas ocultas, la gente no aceptará, y todo esto. Es más, esto normalmente se puede ignorar, pero en X-Men 3, 3menda basura, dios santo! Al principio, dije: Bonita referencia. Pero todos los dialogos de aceptarse ellos mismos, los mutantes, por que nacieron asi, y que lo que tienen no es una enfermedad, blah, blah, blah. Following me?
Muy bien...
lo otro que iba a mencionar, es que todos amamos a SuperMan por que SuperMan fue el primer SuperMamau. Un niño huerfano, de campo, de camino a lograr el american dream en la gran Metropolis, que, cuando lo necesitan es un Super Hombre. Con todas las habilidades de un hombre amplificadas por 500! Vuela (aunque en realidad no vuela--brinca con tanta y tanta fuerza que puede planear [lo explicaron en los primeros comics hace mil años]), corre, es fuerte, y calienta cosas con su vista! Coño, ese es mi heroe. :p. Y lo que lo hace mejor es que: es un nerdo timido, que no puede decirle lo que piensa a la mujer que ama. Isn't that cute? Digo... mucho después salió SpiderMan y rompió el mamalometro, aunque prefería los comics de Daredevil cuando chiquito. Eso es un heroe de verdad (hasta que un mal directo, mal escritor, y Ben Affleck hicieron mierda.).

Ya se me olvidó que era lo que iba a decir...
sergio