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DVD Superman Returns (Two-Disc Special Edition)
If Richard Donner's 1978 feature film Superman: The Movie made us believe a man could fly, Bryan Singer's 2006 follow-up, Superman Returns, lets us remember that a superhero movie can make our spirits soar. Superman (played by newcomer Brandon Routh) comes back to Earth after a futile five-year search for his destroyed home planet of Krypton. As alter ego Clark Kent, he's eager to return to his job at the Daily Planet and to see Lois Lane (Kate Bosworth). Lois, however, has moved on: she now has a fiancé (James Marsden), a son (Tristan Leabu), and a Pulitzer Prize for her article entitled "Why the World Doesn't Need Superman." On top of this emotional curveball, his old archrival Lex Luthor (Kevin Spacey) is plotting the biggest land grab in history.
Singer, who made a strong impression among comic-book fans for his work on the X-Men franchise and directed Spacey in The Usual Suspects, brings both a fresh eye and a sense of respect to the world's oldest superhero. He borrows John Williams's great theme music and Marlon Brando's voice as Jor-El, and the story (penned by Singer's X-Men collaborators Michael Dougherty and Dan Harris) is a sort-of-sequel to the first two films in the franchise (choosing to ignore that the third and fourth movies ever happened). The humorous and romantic elements give the movie a heart, Singer's art-deco Metropolis is often breathtaking, and the special effects are elegant and spectacular, particularly an early airplane-disaster set-piece. Of the cast, Routh is excellent as the dual Superman/Clark, Spacey is both droll and vicious as Luthor, and Parker Posey gets the best lines as Luthor's moll Kitty. But at 23, Bosworth seems too young for the five-years-past-grizzled Lois. It's nice to see Noel Neill, Jack Larson (both from the classic Adventures of Superman TV series), and Eva Marie-Saint on the screen as well. Superman Returns is one of those projects that was in development for seemingly forever, but it was worth the wait -- it's the most enjoyable superhero movie since Spider-Man 2 and The Incredibles. --David Horiuchi
Review(s): DVD Superman Returns (Two-Disc Special Edition)
More Garbage
In my opinion they've yet to find a decent Superman. Christopher Reeve was gawky and uninteresting. Brandon Routh is simply a cardboard copy. In fact, Superman Returns is plagued with bad acting and bad character development. Even the music is old. We've seen and heard everything before. Kate Bosworth makes a dreadful Lois Lane. She neither looks nor acts like a pushy female reporter and was not terribly bright. (Superman and Clark Kent coming back at the same time? Du-uuuuh!)
Arguably the best CG in the movie was the scene where Superman saves the plummeting plane from disaster and brings it to rest in the Metropolis Stadium. The scene could have been far more memorable had it been accompanied by great music. Bryan Singer should have recalled the crash landing in the beginning of the last Star Wars movie. That's how a scene like that should be handled.
Every modern movie has a chase scene and Superman Returns serves us the same trash that every other action film serves. This time Luthor's girl friend is in a car with no brakes and yet which amazingly remains at 60 mph no matter how many cars and fire hydrants she hits.
Superman lowering planes, raising land masses and doing other physically impossible feats works in comics, perhaps, but not in modern movies where audiences are more sophisticated. The movie wastes too much time on contrived action scenes and never develops anyone's character, except possibly Luthor's, and that's primarily because of Kevin Spacey's irrepressible acting ability.
Finally, I suspected the true heritage of Lois Lane's son about two seconds after he was introduced. So much for surprises.
This film shows why Marvel Comics has the superhero genre wrapped up. Even a bad Marvel film is better than the best DC superhero film, though Batman's return movie was undoubtedly the best of all DC fare.
Hopefully, one day the right director will come along and give us a Superman and a Dracula that will knock our socks off. But that day is still a way's off. As for now, both characters must wait for a future "return" of merit. This movie wasn't it for Superman.
A super-disappointment
I'm in a minority here, but in my opinion "Superman Returns" was a disappointment. The producers should have asked the TV "Smallville" writing & acting team to do the movie.
While the special effects in "Superman Returns" are stunning, the plot is cartoonish and manipulative. It is manipulative in the coy manner ("does he or does he not have super-powers?") the movie sets up the son of Lois Lane to be Superboy, thereby preparing us for a sequel. It is cartoonish because to have us think that NO ONE sees that Clark Kent is Superman is simply absurd. (1) They look exactly alike, except for Clark's glasses; (2) Both Clark & Superman had been gone for 5 years; (3) Whenever Clark disappears, Superman appears. Come on!!! And to think that Lois, who is so smart she won the Pulitzer, can't see this? What a joke.
In having Lois winning a Pulitzer, the movie commits an all too common "sin" in contemporary Hollywood movie-making. She looks at most 25 years old, but she has already won a Pulitzer prize!!! In today's movies, women not only are beautiful and accomplished, they are also "enfant terrible" geniuses. In so doing, not only is Hollywood divorced from the real world, it is also setting an impossibly high bar for REAL women. Lois also is entirely without personality and charm, which leaves me wondering just exactly why Superman remains smitten with her.
I was especially disappointed by Kevin Spacey as Lex Luthor. His performance was one-dimensional, shallow, and cartoonish--in the mold of old movie villains who cackle with glee at doing evil. Most unconvincing and tiresome. I can't believe this is the same actor who once won an Oscar for acting.
Finally, while Brandon Routh did a respectable job as Kent/Superman, I wonder why both he and the director saw fit to have him mimic Christopher Reeve's rendition of Superman. The far superior "Smallville" series had demonstrated that there is room for a fresh interpretation, instead of a replicant.
How Many F's Are In Catastrophe?
Early in the movie, we're told that Lois Lane was to receive a Pulitizer Prize for her article "Why the World Doesn't Need Superman". Yet, 15 minutes or so into the movie, she asks her editor "How many F's are in catastrophe?"
I paused the movie, looked at my husband in exasperation and said "Can you BELIEVE this?" A Pulitizer Prize winning journalist who doesn't know how to spell the simple word catastrophe? You've got to be kidding!
Needless to say, the movie went downhill from there. (My husband was holding out hope that it would be better, and it wasn't until the next day that he acknowledged all the flaws I pointed out--and added some of his own!)
Routh is a decent Superman, but Kate Bosworth *stinks*. She's flatter than Katie Holmes in Batman Begins! (And Kate can be an exceptional actress--just see Pieces of April). Not only that, she looks 17--hardly a Pulitzer Prize winning (nor "I'm in a mature relationship and have a 5 year old kid") material. There is absolutely no chemistry between Bosworth and Routh, and the whole cast (except Kevin Spacey as Lex Luthor) lacks charisma. (I admit, I kept looking at James Marsden thinking "Huh. I always thought he had brown eyes under Cyclops' visor. Hmm. I could stand to see more of him as Cyclops...") Pretty bad when you're fantasizing about X-Men characters instead of focusing on the lame dialogue in the one you're watching! (For the record, it's Hugh Jackman/Wolverine whom I *really* like...)
Superman flies into space looking down to Earth as a god lamenting the naughty ways of wayward Earth children one too many times. Not only that, you mean to tell me that after going through hell and high water to stop Luthor and rescue Lois and Co.--almost dying in the hospital--he still has a perfectly swirled curl centered on his forehead? C'mon!
So much time was wasted among the bleak, green/grey crystalline land mass that Luthor created when combining a crystal from Superman's homeland with a piece of Kryptonite. And to think that we, the viewers, are supposed to buy the fact that humans will want to snatch up this craggy, desolate landscape with sheer cliffs because land will be in demand? Again, unbelievable!
Considering Superman is director Bryan Singer's childhood hero, you think there would be a better homage. Too bad Singer didn't choose to direct X-Men 3, instead, which Ratner screwed up royally.
Rent this movie first before buying. If you like what you see, then you may want to invest in the purchase. As for me, I am SO glad I didn't buy Superman Returns as a gift for my husband! (And I'm sure he's glad, too!)
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