I liked this superhero movie.

Rating: 7/10 (13 June 2009)

I didn't see this one for awhile as the reviews seemed to hint that it was intended as a comedy and that it somehow fell short.
When I saw it I realized that it was a good fresh-from-scratch (as far as I know) superhero story. Sure, there was humor to the plot that was introduced (a down-and-out type with Superman-ish powers and an image problem because he keeps screwing up) but I thought the character development was decent for a quick new superhero story, and I also liked the love story element. The hero's weakness was I thought a "good" one (it made me think a bit), and the love story aspect to the movie was something that worked OK I thought.
There were values championed here that I didn't entirely agree with. The whole generic off-the-shelf anti-profit save-the-world-through-charity theme didn't seem to find enough contrast, I thought, though there was maybe a "tiny" bit. Still, some of us are accustomed at this point to having to overlook that sort of theme in order to find the elements of a story to like and I'm not sure Hollywood writers allow themselves to do many superhero stories that don't have this sort of theme hardwired into the plot whether we like it or not.
What they didn't seem to have here was years and decades of comic books upon which to rely for their plot and villain and story-line development and so the movie may seem a bit more sparse than one of the big DC or Marvel Comics or other comic-book-based superhero movies, but I was very good with it, and while it may help really fill up the screen for 2 hours if you are doing a movie about 10-70 years' worth of comics, I suppose it might also weigh it down.
I liked Charlize Theron. I'm not sure if it was her role, her look, her acting or the chemistry with the other actors or all four.
I give it 8 stars, and would look forward to another installment if Smith and Theron really honestly wanted to do it (i.e.: if it came across as not being just about the money of a part II). I mention further development in part because I thought the basic aspects and powers and weaknesses of the superhero they created were "not bad at all" and so there could be other story possibilities.