Not A Super Fan Of Superman

The new Superman movie, "Man Of Steel, is coming out this weekend, or I think it is. I admit I haven't been paying a tremendous amount of attention to it. I don't know quite why that is. New movies haven't been an attraction to me lately, although I have gotten to see one or two. I'd say I'm not responding to the endless sequels and remakes (sometimes dressed up as "reboots"), but the original films haven't done much for me either.

I have had an inconsistent appreciation for the Superman films to date. I think that I only recently saw the first one. I've seen maybe parts of the second one. I don't think I've seen any of the third one except that it was on TV once years ago and I saw that Richard Pryor was in it. I've seen the fourth one - regarded by most as the worst- numerous times, and personally consider it my favorite of the bunch. I love Nuclear Man.

I saw the more recent one ("Superman Returns") when it came out on DVD. That was all right. I liked its faithful style, but it didn't really stir anything in me deeply. Still, Brandon Routh seemed like a reasonable Superman, and I also liked Kevin Spacey as Lex Luthor. He struck me as superior to Gene Hackman, but then maybe I'm being influenced too much by the later films in which he starred. Those got rather deep into camp and cheapness.

This new one, I gather, is not so faithful to the earlier films or (I can only imagine) the comics. I have read that they only call him Superman once, and it seems that the film strikes a heavier tone than its predecessors. Maybe that is only naturale given the direction of superhero movies in recent years. They've all got to be gritty, dark and heavy. I'm personally content for some of them to be sunny and fun, but maybe that's part of why I'm drifting away from the mainstream that still loves the current stuff.