First off, if you were considering doing the IMAX 3-D Experience for Superman, don’t bother.  There are only a few scenes which take advantage of the 3-D thing, and those were clearly done as an afterthought.  Rather than adding to the experience, the 3-D effect is distracting and made it harder to see what was going on.  The end result was tired eyes and a headache.  Skip the IMAX and just see it at a quality theater with good sound (the classic Superman theme is in play, and deserves to heard at maximum clarity and power).

As the movie started, I was expecting Superman Returns to follow the trail blazed by Spider-man and Batman Returns – a depiction of the superhero mindset and character as helearns about his powers and responsibilities while facing increasingly important challenges.

Superman surprised me, though, by focusing on the characters of the people in Superman’s life rather than Superman himself.  Superman’s character was static throughout the movie — a caring guy who wants to use his powers to help people, all while smitten by Lois Lane.  He never wavered from this — Clark Kent never dropped hints that he was Superman (though the movie hints that there are suspicions, especially from Lois Lane’s son).

The character development instead came from those affected by Superman and his heroics. 

Lois Lane struggles to accept why Superman deserted both the world and her.  She doesn’t want to cover Superman as a news story, she doesn’t want to feel that the world needs him.  Her feelings for him resurface, but she’s torn between Superman and her fiance.

Her fiance isn’t the typical love-interest-foil, either.  I was expecting him to be someone who’s a pushover for Superman’s charms by displaying his own foibles.  Instead, the movie portrays him only in a positive light.  “He’s a good man,” is Lois’ refrain.  And he is — engaging in his own heroics from time to time.

Superman’s adopted mother shows her emotions at the struggles of having an alien superhero child, and the citizens of the city regularly show their love and support of Superman.

Lex Luthor is, like Superman, a static villain through which people around him are able to show their character.  He’s evil from the the first scene to the end of the movie, with no redeeming traits and nothing that makes you say, “Hmm.  He may be misguided, but I see where he’s coming from and his motivation does make some sense,” unlike Batman’s foil in Batman Begins.  His only motivation is to take over the world and be rich.  Nothing more, nothing less.  He contrasts Superman’s pure super-goodness with his pure super-badness.  But even his henchmen show their humanity — Kitty’s shock at his plans and another henchman accompanying Lois Lane’s son on the piano.

That’s not to say Superman is a cardboard character — he delivers his lines well, and his pure desire to do good is convincing.  You feel for him as he remembers his father and as he fights for Lois Lane’s attention.  But the real story is in watching the people Superman and Clark Kent affect.

Batman Begins could have been renamed Batman Badass.

Seriously, this is the best Batman movie. I went in expecting it to be good, but not as good as the 1989 Batman with Michael Keaton and Jack Nicholson. I came out so impressed by the depth of the Christian Bale Bruce Wayne that I believe this is the best Batman.

Superhero movies have taken a cue from the recent Spider-man series. As Spider-man had to create his props and learn the art of being a superhero, so does Batman. As Spider-man had to learn the pratfalls of being a superhero, so does Batman.

Comic book fans would tell me this isn’t exactly a revelation in the development of the characters but rather moviemakers finally properly following their comic book sources. Whatever the source, it makes for a great movie. We grow to understand why Bruce Wayne is fighting, how he came across his nearly-invicible suit, and how he came to be behind the wheel of the tank-like Batmobile. No longer do superheroes just arrive in battle with their props, they now have to find them or earn them. A layer of suspended reality is removed.

My only problem with the movie is that it’s hard to tell what’s going on in some of the fight scenes. Batman’s training tutor teaches him the art of stealth, which makes for good fights but difficult to follow fight scenes. The darkness that conceals the unknown that adds to enemies’ fright also conceals to the audience exactly what happens. And the speed that Batman attacks with surprises the viewer as well as the enemy.

The complaint is minor — the scenes are still action-packed and enjoyable. I was just confused a little sometimes.

It’s a great movie. The best I’ve seen in a while.

Some pros:

• Ninjas. Everyone likes ninjas
• Badass Batman
• Alfred is given a little more depth and more good lines
• Nonstop action — no boring parts. The movie flies by
• Ninjas
• Christian Bale is great, even if he reminded me of Luke Wilson every now and then

Some cons:

• Every time I saw Katie Holmes, I thought about how weird the thing is with her and Tom Cruise. Can we call this Tomatie? Katom? Holmcruise? I saw a funny poll on CNN — would you change religions to date Tom Cruise? 94% no. 6% of the population worries me.
• Christian Bale’s Batman voice is a little contrived. It shows he’s trying to disguise it better than previous Waynes/Batmans, but it’s kind of weird sometimes. It’s a little nasal, or something. I couldn’t quite put my finger on it.
• Could have used more ninjas

Again, great movie. Go see it.