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Saturday, June 29, 2013

Looking for Lois Lane


   Have you seen her?

   Sure the new Man of Steel movie just came out (be sure to check out The Boxed Office for the best review) but was she really in it? Don’t get me wrong, there was a character with the name “Lois Lane” but being an avid comic collector and movie buff over the course of well...my entire life, I have yet to really see anything that resembles an accurate portrayal of the drop-dead gorgeous reporter that even has Bruce Wayne making a play for her.

   Granted, beauty is in the eye of the beholder and it’s at the artist’s discretion on what his or her interpretation of Lois looks like, but I have always thought that anyone that gets the eye, and heart, of the most powerful person on the planet should be something special to write home about. I’m not meaning to sound shallow (but I certainly can be) and understand that the most important aspect of anyone is personality...but, Superman was smitten at first sight and I refuse to believe his eyes and mine are at extreme ends of beholding. 

   I have been blessed and thrilled to be alive when all my favorite comic book characters are making their way to the silver screen, especially now when technology is so advanced. Granted I was thrilled when Superman hit theaters in 1978, but there really is no comparison to today's standards and I get goosebumps when I imagine where movies will be in the future. As good as Superman was for it’s time, I was always perplexed at the choice of Margot Kidder for Lois. Ursa got it right when she said Superman wasn’t very demanding when choosing a mate. I won’t even start on the whole smoking situation. Kidder wasn’t Lois...so I continued my search.

   Lois & Clark: The New Adventures of Superman hit the television in 1993 and I will say that Teri Hatcher was an improvement. Heck, I’ll even go further and admit that I found her to be very attractive. That said, she also never struck me as an accurate interpretation of Lois come to life from the comic pages. I think it was the lack of curves in all the right places that did it...or maybe even the eyes. They were big and bright, but like nothing I ever saw an artist draw. I wasn’t too upset though, she was better to watch than anyone else on the show and the fact that she wasn’t Lois fit right in with the fact that Dean Cain wasn’t Superman. Dean Cain...? Really...? Yeah...the search for Lois continued.

   Smallville hit the television in 2001...and was one of the best shows to ever be on television. The stories were great and the action was well done. The greatest strength of the show was that it was a drama, that happen to be about the early years of Superman. It also helped that it had one of the best selections of music to ever be put to a television show. So there was a lot going for this show when I decided that even though Erica Durance was pretty and a capable actor...she just wasn’t Lois. Given how far off continuity the show was from the source material, I wasn’t surprised nor was I excessively disappointed. I did, however, continue my search.

   Superman Returns hit theaters in 2006. I had mixed feelings about this film and had issues with it on many levels, but overall it was an enjoyable experience for me to see it. Of course one of my complaints with the film has been the same complain I’ve had throughout...and the subject matter of this post. In this case though, I was just horrified at one point for the most shallow of reasons (yes...I’m back to that). Kate Bosworth did her best, I’m sure, but I have to believe that Superman likes just a little junk in the trunk, even if it’s just for the occasional squeeze. That said, I have never seen or read a book where Lois had such a flat ass. Yeah...it’s like that, and the search continued.

   Welcome to 2013, the year of Man of Steel...clearly one of the best films of the year, and certainly one of the best super hero films of all time. So it’s with a heavy heart that I have to admit that Amy Adams was one of the worst interpretations of Lois Lane to hit any screen. I have no idea what the casting director was thinking but I can only imagine that it was something along the lines of “Well...at least she’s better than Margot Kidder.” Don’t get me wrong, she gave a good performance, she just wasn’t Lois Lane. They should have made her into some other character...and then fired every person that had anything to do with casting her as Lois.

   So, looking ahead, I can see that there will at least be two more films that continue the Man of Steel story...and I will be stuck, for now, looking for Lois Lane.

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