10 Troubling Messages From Superhero Movies

3. Deadbeat Dads Aren't All That Bad - Superman Returns

Superman Returns Ambitious though Bryan Singer's Superman Returns was, it was also a bit bloated and mired in soap opera guff, where we discover that Superman is a deadbeat dad who hasn't seen his son in the five years since his birth, and has presumably built up a mountain of unpaid child support. It's pretty difficult to focus on the central story of Lex Luthor attempting to drown billions of people and profit from it when we're constantly being fed snippets of Supes awkwardly interacting with his kid while trying to make nice with Lois - who has since moved on - and though this is (sort of) remedied by film's end, it's still a bizarre narrative trajectory to take. To try and fashion a superhero under such circumstances - especially given how long it had been since the last Superman film - is pretty bold, and also pretty stupid.
 
Posted On: 
Contributor
Contributor

Frequently sleep-deprived film addict and video game obsessive who spends more time than is healthy in darkened London screening rooms. Follow his twitter on @ShaunMunroFilm or e-mail him at shaneo632 [at] gmail.com.