You heard me right. They killed my Superman. 🙁 Okay, that’s a little bit loon, and I bet you folks are wondering what the hell I’m talking about? Well, I am talking about this movie, The Way Home. Dean Cain, who acted in Lois&Clark The New Adventures of Superman as Clark Kent a.k.a Superman played Randy Simpkins, a workaholic husband and father who is torn between the demands of his job and family.
When I first saw a glimpse of Dean Cain on the DVD cover, the first thing that I thought was ‘Whoa… Clark, you’re out of shape. You look… chubbier!’
My second thought when I was hurled into the world of Randy… I really couldn’t connect. Why? Because of the cast, of course. I am used to seeing Dean Cain moonlighting as Clark Kent aka Superman, not a workaholic husband and father who is irresponsible enough to ditch his two year old son to play by himself. In my mind, Dean Cain would always carry the image of the solid and steady and responsible Clark Kent who could balance everything in his hectic life and the strong and powerful Superman who only two things in his life could bring him to his knees, which is: Kryptonite and Lois Lane. And Superman is not like Randy… he’s… good with children. He doesn’t tell children off when he’s trying to save the world, instead, he gave them a bit of their time and gives word of encouragement before flying off to save the world.
In The Way Home, there’s a scene where Dean aka Randy was completely helpless. He was reduced to a desperate man who longs to be reunited with his son. He fell onto the ground, and was on his knees while yelling for God’s sign and guidance.
I was really… uh… speechless to see this scene. I mean… uh… at this point, I still can’t see Dean as Randy. I still see him as Clark/Superman. And Superman is a strong, solid and dependable character. Superman is concrete…a hero, while Randy is just a mere mortal.
Okay, I’m not being fair here…The Way Home is a good story. The movie based on a true story, set on March 31, 2000 where Randy Simpkins came home early from the office to help his wife, Christal, pack for a vacation to the beach. Within minutes on their rural farm home, their 2-year old son (Joe) is gone.
The next 8 hours would put Randy through a life-altering roller coaster of emotions that would challenge his priorities regarding God, his family, and community.
The movie is very good, in fact, as it’s based on a true story where a child is lost, and the story of faith. The message that the story is sending is clear… faith that God would not let you endure more than you could handle, and with God’s will, all will be right again apart from the child and spousal negligent message, but I still couldn’t picture Dean Cain aka my Clark Kent/Superman as Randy.
*SOBS* Why can’t they choose someone else to play Randy? Oh, Dean, I know you fancy characters that’s really inspiring, but from a superhero to a negligent husband and daddy? NOOOO! I felt as if through Randy, my Superman just died and there’s no chance of reviving him. 🙁
Dean, you go from this:
And this
To this:
And this… watch the interview on the making of the film… based on a true story:
The next 8 hours would put Randy through a life-altering roller coaster of emotions that would challenge his priorities regarding God, his family, and community.
It is truly a moving and inspiring story. I have no complaints… except that I felt that they killed my Superman. *SOBS*
You see…sometimes, strong fictional characters would just devour someone’s identity once they played that character. I can’t really see Dean Cain as other people than Superman/Clark Kent on screen… just the same way I can’t see Pierce Brosnan as James Bond…same goes with Daniel Radcliff as Harry Potter… and not to mention the well crazed Robert Pattinson as Edward Cullen. Strong fictional characters devoured one’s identity…and the markings will always be there even when they are no longer playing those characters, no matter how one try to escape that.
I received this DVD free from Thomas Nelson Publishers for an advance viewing as part of their Booksneeze bloggers program . I was not required to write a positive review and therefore, the book review is 100% my own opinion.
Cleffairy: I longed for the day I could create such character for my novels… characters that could devour one’s real identity.
