Movie Review: "Superman Returns" (2006)

Where to begin....


Okay. We have all seen it by now and we have our own little comments, favorites and probably even dislikes about what came out. After so many MANY years we finaly see the Man of Steel in the flesh incarnated in a young unknown Brandon Routh with The Usual Suspects and X-Men 1 and 2 director Brian Singer at the helm and Kevin Spacey as Lex Luthor. How can this possibly go wrong?

Superman (Brandon Routh) is missing for five years. After having heard that astronomers have found remnants of his home planet Krypton, he embarks on a journey of discovery to learn more about his home, his, parents and perhaps, himself (cheese helmet...on!)

He comes back unannounced, as when he left, he makes his grand entrance by saving an airbus crash reminiscent of the mother of all plane crashes, the 9/11 tragedies. Coincidentally Clark Kent returns to the Daily Planet without much hulabaloo and discovers that his main squeeze Lois Lane (Kate Bosworth), has married and has a kid.



In the meantime, Lex Luthor hatches a plan to create another real estate venture much like the first one in Superman: The Movie. Only this time he utilizes the crystals found in Superman's Fortress of Solitude to create a new continent and bury the rest of North and South America underwater, Metropolis being in point blank range.

Superman's enormous responsibility seems great. Plus he has to deal with the whole Lois thing too. Well, being a superhero sucks sometimes.

The movie is great. But not awesome. I say this both because I expected a little more. More of everything. Dialogue, action. And maybe less of the romance, but more action against villainy. Like chasing cat burglars and boat robbers. I loved the airplane scene. It tops the Golden gate bridge scene in X Men 3, too bad I didn't even get to see it in IMAX. That would have rocked!

Superman is presented like a god in this movie. Routh is so good looking that he comes accross as iconic. What I mean is he is too good looking to be human. Which of course, Superman isn't. Bosworth, IMO, lacked the sass that Margot Kidder had. I have come to the conclusion that Spacey channelled a different Lex from Gene Hackman's. I saw the comic book Lex rather than the Hackman Lex in this one.



We all know by now why there's a kid in this movie. And what bearing he has in the story. Most people who I had sat with in the theaters knew it. Singer knew we would catch on. And it's all good. I'm still figuring out how Singer is going to handle all this in the sequels (we all know that too).

Over all my rating would be great, but not the greatest.

Rocketboy's Review: ****(4 out of 5 stars)