Great Caesar's Ghost

Saw Superman Returns yesterday (and I'll get this off my chest first: it's a great 2-hour movie unnecessarily inflated to 150 minutes — a little trimming and tightening would have done wonders). Otherwise, a fun and highly gratifying movie.

I don't believe I've seen any movie that treated its source material with this much affection. And in this case, “source material” means both the comic books and the original Superman films. The movie is teeming with small details that are gifts to Superman fans — from the opening credits to the familiar final shot of Superman flying towards the horizon.

My favorite touch, though, surfaces when Superman rescues an out-of-control car. Holding it over his head, he sets it down gently, front-end first, and for a brief moment we see echoes of what to comic-book fans is an unmistakable image:

The cover to Action Comics #1 — Superman's very first appearance.

It's one of those very subtle, blink-and-you'll-miss-it moments, but it made me wish I could rewind-and-pause the film.

The whole movie is filled with little gems like that. And that affectionate attention to detail makes it worth sitting through the extra 30 minutes of superfluous fluff.