I had prepared myself for weird, but that was somehow weirder than I ever imagined.
Damn good and a ton of fun for sure.
But yeah... super weird, and so weirdly paced as well.
I'm still wrapping my head around how it felt like more of a two-hour episode of Superman than a two-hour movie - though a "pilot" episode that absolutely left me wanting more, and definitely curious to see where the rest of the "show" goes from here.
That said, honestly, it wasn't nearly as emotional for me as some of the reactions led me to believe. It was endearing for sure, but going back to the "episode" vibe, it ultimately fell a little short for me due to how quick the movie moved, how little context was given, etc. I definitely didn't need an origin story, and I actually loved how it began, but I guess I just needed another 20 minutes or so of Clark in Metropolis/at The Daily Planet, Clark and Lois together, Clark back in Kansas, etc, to feel like I knew him (and Lois) just a little more. I don't know, just something to deepen the characters and give it a bit more of an epic, cinematic feel.
If anything, that was the "buzziest" crowd I've been around in forever. Completely packed/sold out, everyone so amped to see it, and more than I expected wearing capes, Superman T-shirts, etc. The audience laughed a ton throughout, cheered a couple times, and then gave a big round of applause at the end.
It's a hit for sure, and a movie I want to revisit, free of whatever expectations I had going into it.
The coolest part of the night was actually hanging a bit with Beck Bennett beforehand, outside the theater. We were at the Chinese Theater IMAX, the showing before ours had let out late for some reason, and they didn't open the doors until fifteen minutes before showtime (thankfully they pushed our start time another fifteen minutes to accommodate). So a ton of the audience was gathered outside beforehand, where all the cemented movie star handprints are, and that's when I noticed Bennett with a group right next to our group. One of my friends - the one I've mentioned here before who ran the marketing campaign for the movie - immediately said, "Oh, I should say hi," seeing as she had just done some promo stuff with him. So she went over, said hey, he gave her a hug, then she introduced us and we all started mingling as we waited for the doors to open. He was there with his wife, he said he bought 18 tickets for him and all his friends, and by the time they let us in his whole group had shown up, we chatted with some of them, and it was just a really fun way to kick off the night. He couldn't have been cooler or more down to earth either. It was also fun to hear his group cheer the first time he appeared on screen, and to know he was in the audience when his character got big laughs a couple times.
That was only celebrity sighting number one, though, as celebrity sighting number two was way stranger.
While we were mingling with Bennett's crew I noticed James Franco, of all people, walk by with a couple of friends, dressed in all white for some reason - white pants, a white sweater (it was over 80s degrees outside), and a white hat - but like, all kind of gross and hobo chic looking. I quietly pointed him out to my friends, and then he and his friends ended up sitting not too far from us during the movie, up a row and to our left. But then after the movie, my friends and I were outside again, basically where we had been standing before the movie, discussing everything we loved about it, when Franco walked by again. This time, though, he seemed high as a kite, and just kept circling our group, studying/looking down at all the movie star handprints. It was so awkward that we finally stopped our conversation to subtly acknowledge the fact, amongst ourselves, that cancelled/probably-stoned James Franco was for some reason walking circles around us, aimlessly looking at movie star handprints on the ground. His three buddies were maybe twenty feet away, but he then just stopped, alone, right next to us, kind of starring straight ahead. That's when I saw his thin white tote bag was leaking from the bottom some kind of liquid all over his shoe. We were basically giggling when my friend said to him, pointing at his bag, "Hey, you're leaking," at which point he finally noticed and just gave us this sheepish, kind-of-embarrassed smile and walked off toward his friends. We heard him tell them "It's just water" as he tried to fish what a I presume was a bottle out of the bottom of his bag, but who knows.
It was just so weird how, like, twelve or so years ago that dude was one of the biggest movie/comedy stars on the planet, he suddenly got cancelled, and now here he was, aimlessly walking circles around us, some mystery liquid leaking from a tote bag he was carrying, dressed like a grungy house painter, not a single person recognizing/paying any attention to him, to the point where we all just kind of felt sorry for him more than anything. While the guys he was with had the weirdest, scummiest vibe, like the exact kind of people you would picture who would still be hangers on to a cancelled celebrity. The whole encounter honestly made us feel kind of odd and it was all we talked about on the way back to our cars... not the movie.
