Superman Returns

It's been well over fifteen years since we last saw the world's most famous superhero on the screen. With the recent and successful revival of Batman, it was with eager eyes that DC fans gazed upon a Superman for the 21st century. Let's look at what this film had in it's favour to help feed the buzz that heralded it's arrival...
1. It was Superman. Unarguably the biggest superhero of them all.
2. Special effects have come a long way since Superman was last on the big screen.
3. Bryan Singer, who had brought us the first two fabulous X-Men films, was signed on as director - an assignment that fulfilled a lifelong ambition.
4. Kevin Spacey signed on to portray the mighty bald one, Lex Luthor.
and
5. The film set out to pay direct and absolute homage to the two classic Richard Donner-helmed Superman movies - 'Superman' and 'Superman II', utilising (amongst other things) the iconic theme tune and footage of Marlon Brando as Jor-El.

So you could be forgiven for thinking this film was going to be something special. I have to admit, I was sucked into the hype early on, but once the film was released I suddenly become unexcited about the whole thing. So I didn't get around to watching it until just recently.

Anyway, it's been five years since Superman left to visit his home planet, Krypton. Earth been left to fend for itself. Similarly, Lois Lane has moved on with her life... she now has a husband and a son. Lex Luthor remains unpunished for his past transgressions, thanks to Superman's absence, and has tracked down Superman's Fortress of Solitude with grand plans of villainy. Things don't look good for Earth. Superman returns after his long absence and looks to resume his old life... but fitting back in might not be as easy as all that.
I was very disappointed with this movie. It isn't bad, it's just so spectacularly average. The notion that this film is set between Richard Donner's two Superman movies (mentioned in various promotional interviews prior to it's release) is a tad silly. It feels kind of unneccessary and irrelevant... why couldn't this just be a Superman movie? Also, it takes far too long to get to the point and make with some decent action. Lex Luthor's dastardly plot and Superman's discovery of it happens way too late in the film.

The first half of the film deals with setting everything up... Clark Kent ponces about feeling sorry for himself whilst Lois gnashes her teeth about the return of her one-time love, Superman. Superman sports some fairly emo-hair and Brandon Routh's performance is, on the whole, unimpressive. Kevin Spacey treads a fine line between giving a serious performance and going over-the-top... it's not cartoony, but it's not really all that memorable either. Parker Posey, as Lex's ditzy moll, easily gives the least boring performance in the whole film, and the rest of the cast is fairly average. Australian viewers should also watch closely to spot former footballer Ian Roberts playing one of Lex's henchmen.

The third act of the film has some great action and stuff in it, but it's not enough to save the whole film. The subplot involving Lois's son didn't really feel right to me either. It looks like a follow-up film is going ahead, and Routh recently promised that it would have more action, so here's hoping they get it right the second time around. Maybe they could call it 'Superman Returns Again'?

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