Superman Returns Movie Review

I had my doubts about newcomer Brandon Routh taking on the lead role, but Singer knew what he was doing. Routh seems to be channeling Christopher Reeve as Superman and almost pulls off the bumbling Clark Kent. Kate Bosworth’s a little too young for the part of Lois, but compensates by acting beyond her chronological age. Routh and Bosworth are okay together, but it’s with James Marsden that Bosworth really connects onscreen.

Kevin Spacey plays Luthor as more of a calculating businessman than a warped evil genius. Spacey doesn’t copy Gene Hackman’s performance and never quite captures that real psychotic tone needed to bring the film’s only villain to life. Parker Posey and Sam Huntington steal the show and provide the film some much-needed comic relief.

Director Bryan Singer left the X-Men franchise to take on the massive duty of bringing the Superman franchise back to life. He succeeds, although not as well as Christopher Nolan did with the return of Batman. Good but not great, Superman Returns is absolutely gorgeous on the surface. There’s no way to fault the effects, and you really will believe a man can fly after watching Routh as Superman soar through the sky.

Singer’s $200+ million budget was put to good use but I feel there’s an intangible something missing from the finished film. Sometimes the effect shots swallow up the pivotal emotional sequences, and the balance of action, romance and drama is slightly off. There’s also a good 20 minutes of the 2 ½ hour running time that could have been trimmed without screwing up the film. There’s only one reason for a sequence that finds Superman taking on bank robbers on the roof of a building, and that’s for the payoff shot of a bullet bouncing off of Superman’s eyeball. While the effect is cool beyond words, it’s also totally unnecessary.

Despite its shortcomings, Superman Returns is one of the better comic book inspired films of the past decade, ranking right up there with Singer’s X-Men series. It didn’t blow me away, but Singer and his cast have delivered a beautiful film with solid performances and first rate effects. It’s just too bad there wasn’t more meat to the plot.

GRADE: B

Superman Returns is rated PG-13 for some intense action violence.