One of my most fondly remembered movie-going moments is sitting in the grand old Columbia Theater in Sharon, Pennsylvania in the winter of 1978 and watching Superman. I was in fifth grade. Even after seeing the first Star Wars movie, there was something magical about seeing one of my favorite comic book heroes actually fly. In fact, that was the tagline of the movie: “You’ll believe a man can fly” and I did.
I had a funny experience watching the opening credits of Superman Returns, the first Superman movie to hit the screen in 19 years. For a moment, I was in fifth grade again, anxiously awaiting the movie that was about to begin. Unfortunately, the rest of the movie couldn’t live up to that moment, but that’s alright. Superman is back and he seems to have made the transition into the present day just fine.
At the beginning of the film, we’re told in a text blurb that Superman (Brandon Routh) disappeared when astronomers found the remnants of his home planet, Krypton. The former Kal-el, Krypton’s only remaining survivor, had to go back to check things out for himself. By doing so, he left the world he had sworn to protect. In his absence, Lex Luthor (Kevin Spacey), has been released from prison on a technicality and has resumed his attempts at world domination. This time, however, his methods will hit Superman close to home.
Obviously, Superman returns from his self-imposed exile. When he does come back, he finds that he has some adjusting to do in both his superhero form and as his secret identity, Clark Kent. Lois Lane (Kate Bosworth), for example, hasn’t exactly been pining away for Superman or Clark Kent. She’s now in a relationship with Richard White (James Marsden), the nephew of Daily Planet editor, Perry White (Frank Langella) and she has a son (Tristan Lake Leabu). I won’t reveal any more than that.
For those worried about how well Brandon Routh can fill the shoes of the late Christopher Reeve, you can all relax. Routh handles the role just fine. In fact, there were quite a few moments that I had to remind myself that Reeve wasn’t playing the Man of Steel. It’s almost eerie. I don’t know if it is intentional or if the resemblance is the reason Routh got the part. Either way, it makes the transition from Reeve to Routh as smooth as silk.
Kevin Spacey makes for a good Lex Luthor. It’s obvious that he’s taken a few cues from Gene Hackman’s portrayal of the nefarious villain from the previous Superman movies, but he makes it his own as much as he can.
One of the things I like about Superman Returns is that it doesn’t feel the need to waste time to over explain anything. Aside from a few flashback scenes where Superman recalls his youth, there is no real backtracking. The movie takes the time to set the mood and give the actors time to get into their characters. I can credit that to director/co-writer Bryan Singer, who gave his X-Men characters the same kind of breathing room. At 2 hours and 34 minutes, Superman Returns never seems too long and it still manages to pack a lot of action as well as character development into the mix.
Superman Returns doesn’t have many flaws but it does have a few. One very minor flaw is the regrettable choice to wheel out the now-overused Matrix-inspired “bullet time” effect for a sequence where Superman shows off his invulnerability to bullets. If the object is to convince the audience of Superman’s might and power, it might have been better to do it in a way we haven’t already seen several times before in lesser movies. Another misstep is the musical score, which is credited to John Ottman. His contributions are dwarfed by the inclusion of John William’s original “Superman” theme. The most serious flaw, though, is Lois Lane as she is portrayed in the script. She doesn’t seem like someone that would be the object of Superman’s desire (or Clark Kent’s, for that matter). It makes Superman’s pressing need for reconciliation with her somewhat hard to understand early in the film. These are minor flaws individually but, together, they keep Superman Returns from being the classic it could have been.
Still, it is a success. It didn’t knock me over like 1978’s Superman, but it certainly held my interest and made me wish that Superman was real. I haven’t wished for that since I was in the fifth grade.
4.0 out of 5.0 stars
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