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The second film of the year to deal with Superman is, needless to say, a rather different affair from the mega-budget Superman Returns. Hollywoodland takes the form of a film noir-esque detective story following the investigation into the death of Superman TV star George Reeves in the 1950s. The story is interspersed with numerous flashbacks showing Reeves' life in Hollywood, featuring Ben Affleck as the star in a performance that has deservedly earned him plaudits. The private detective trying to unravel the mystery of the death (it was called suicide but seemed suspicious) is played by Adrien Brody, who is also very good, as usual. Unfortunately, while the film kept me interested, it really dragged at some points with an extremely slow pace. I liked how it depicted three different versions of what could've happened the night Reeves died, but the end was a bit disappointing; the film just seemed to peter out. The most interesting bits were the parts showing Reeves playing Superman, in which Affleck was really excellent. But while the film wasn't devoid of merit, it didn't quite keep me engrossed as much as it could have.
The summary
Hollywoodland is interesting but really slow. So, quite good, but not - ahem - super.
