Review of Superman Returns (2006) by Mitchell B — 30 May 2013

Superman Returns is Brian Singer's love letter to Richard Donnor's Superman movie, but without any of the magic or star power to carry it. The story, the acting, and the characters all fall very flat. It has some good effects and action scenes, but not enough to make-up for a poor story, or lack-there-of.

The characters do not work at all for me. Brandon Routh is just a poor imitation of Christopher Reeve. He definitely looks the part, which is why the studios hired him. I also like the Superman costume in this movie. However, Routh does not have any of the charm and charisma that Reeve had. I do not care for this Superman either. He is very stoic and broody and is not very proactive.

Kate Bosworth does a horrible job as Lois Lane. She does not look the part, nor does she have any of the spunkiness that Margot Kidder had. Kevin Spacey does a decent job as Lex. Lex does come off as more of a threat in this movie, which is nice. However, he is still mostly played-up for laughs like the famous WRONG scene. He also makes some of the same mistakes he did in the previous movies. James Marsden has really a nothing role in this. I do not understand why he left X-Men 3 for this. The rest of the cast is alright but nothing great.

The story is the biggest gripe for me. The story is very drawn-out and boring. Superman returns to Earth then really not much happens for a while. It took a very long time for things to get off the ground. The film throws in some action scenes (though good action scenes) to distract the audience from the fact that they do not have story to tell. The ending is a lot like the ending of the first Superman movie. The big threat is kind of underwhelming. Here is no big super villain to fight but Lex Luthor again.

The effects are very good. This movie has some of my favorite action scenes of all the live action movies like the plane scene which everyone remembers. The action is easily the best aspect of the picture.

Overall I like that they tried to bring back Superman to the big screen after twenty years. However, good intentions do not trump execution. I hope the new film The Man of Steel is better than this. This film is definitely an improvement over Superman 3 & 4, but still nothing special.