The original Superman is a fantastic movie, for all the reasons already mentioned. To me, it's the perfect combination of fun, humor, drama, campiness, action, heart and the feel of comic book "over-the-topness".
I'll even defend the "Superman spins the Earth in reverse" scene. Think about it....if you were lucky enough to experience this movie in the theater, as a kid, you saw in a way it was designed to be experienced. And that scene was so powerful at the time. Seeing Lois perish was traumatic. Seeing Superman's reaction, devastation, and feeling of helplessness....was emotional and jarring. The way he looks up at the sky and yells a universe-shattering yell....ranks up there among my favorite cinematic moments. And then, when he shoots himself into the sky and begins to circle the globe, with a full range of devastation and anger on his face....hearing the voice of his father in his head, was just very powerful.
Think about it....he defies his Krypton father, and listens to his Earth father. Sure, it was way over-the-top. But in the comic book world, over-the-top is ok....and this scene was iconic. You just need to allow yourself to watch that scene through the lens of that 12 year old inside you. Then....it will blow you away once again, the way it was always meant to. Just when you were feeling the hopelessness of Lois's death, and the impossibility of being able to fix it--Superman finds a way to make the impossible....possible. It was an emotional rollercoaster, experiencing the loss...and then that miracle. That release of happiness is when a movie is really doing its job.
Now I have to go watch that scene again--for that primal scream. There have been many times when I've wished I could scream like that.
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melissah1982 (883)
4 years ago
Completely. I don't recall ever seeing Superman THAT angry. That kind of primal 'you have to do SOMETHING' kind of rage. The whole movie is about Kal-El not being a god; not manipulating humans. To help and inspire them but not interfere. His line when Pa Kent died: 'All these powers and I couldn't save him' kind of comes back here because Lois meant so much to him he just couldn't bare the idea of just letting it play out. I thought it was a great moment.
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bozo_500 (13391)
4 years ago
yeh and although it appears so it dosnt mean superman was literally turning the earth backwards.. more he was travelling so fast he was going backwards in time and the earth spinning backward is just the movie interpretation of it.. (of course then that presents the problem of why arent there 2 supermans flying around... but i guess that can be explained away somehow too)
the ending was also kind of apt thematically as he was unable to do anything to help his father as a teen ..now hes a man he might be able to do something (it having been hinted/foreshadowed by Jor El 'it is forbidden for you to interfere with human history')... and also the fact hes 'Superman' he can literally do anything...even the unthinkable...its like for the audience 'ok you think youve seen him do everything..well heres one last surprise.. the absolute impossible..' (almost like 'Endgame' in that they saved that last unthinkable/impossible/insane plot twist of time travel for the final movie - of that phase of MCU anyway)
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