It only took until the opening credits started to realize that this was going to be a great movie. From the moment you see the names of all involved zoom over the screen in the style of the old Superman movies, Superman Returns is a great ride, almost unparallelled in the superhero genre in the way it rouses not just your adrenaline glands, but also the hidden romantic inside of you. Superman Returns isn't just a spectacular action movie (and a very funny comedy on the side), but also a movie that will tug at your heartstrings. And it's not just the love between Superman and Lois Lane that gets play here, it's also the love between Superman and the people of the world, who at first think they don't need Supes anymore, but who soon realize how much they have missed the Man of Steel.
In Superman Returns, the greatest hero of the world has been gone for five years, God knows where, but all of a sudden he is back. A nearly disastrous Space Shuttle launch from the back of a Boeing airplane is saved by Superman, who, in one of the most thrilling action sequences ever filmed, is able to stop the Boeing right before it crashes to the ground in a packed baseball stadium. The crowd erupts in cheering, and the passengers of the plane are left breathing sighs of relief when Superman enters their plane and reminds them that "Flying is still one of the safest forms of transport". Once inside the plane, Superman discovers that the woman who once stole his heart, Lois Lane, is also aboard, and the moment they lock eyes speaks volumes. While Lois has tried to live on after Superman dissapeared, even writing a Pullitzer winning article entitled "Why the world doesn't need Superman", and even though she has a fiancee and a little son, it is obvious that she has never been able to forget that time when Superman flew her across the globe in Richard Donner's original Superman movie.
Still, she hasn't forgiven Superman for leaving without saying goodbye to her, and Supes will have to do more than swipe her of her feet to get even a smile from his one-time girlfriend. Winning back Lois' heart is not the only task at hand for our fearless hero, since Lex Luthor was released from prison, and it seems that he is up to his old, nefarious ways. He has stolen some crystals that belong to Superman, and with these he plans on building his own utopia, a minor detail being that the creation of this new piece of land will kill millions of innocent people all over the world.
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Bosworth's Lane is more serious, but, as an added bonus, also more sexy, which can never be a bad thing.
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Luthor's plan sounds a bit silly when it's explained in the movie, and the way he executes it also feels a bit too easy, but somehow it fits perfectly in this latest Superman spectacle. The thing is that director Bryan Singer has made his movie to be sort of a sequel to the first two Superman movies (effectively erasing the less well received parts III and IV), and this type of scheme would fit perfectly with those earlier classics. The whole movie seems very much like an eighties production, when plotlines in this type of movie were simpler and often more effective than what we see all too often nowadays. The awe inspiring special effects don't overbear the plot, and all the elements gell together magnificently. At times the hair on my arms was standing up, not just from the visual extravaganza, but also from the warm feeling this movie gives you. The people in this movie really care about each other, not just Superman and Lois, but also Lois and her new beau Richard. Normally, the role of Richard would be the standard 'annoying prick of whom you cannot imagine why Lois would fall for him, but luckily Superman is here to steal her back', but in Superman Returns Richard is a great guy. He loves Lois and her son, he's friendly to Clark Kent (Superman's alter ego) and he's got heart to match Superman's, risking his life to save the people he loves. It's a great role from James Marsden, who did not get the part he deserved in the most recent X-Men movie, but who seems more at ease in this movie anyway. But no matter how good he, or Kevin Spacey as Lex Luthor, or Frank Langella as Perry White, or any of the other main actors is, this is very much Brandon Routh's movie.
At first he may seem a bit young, and his filmography may tell that he does not have a whole lot of experience, but the moment he sets foot on screen I felt that hiring Routh to fill this eponymous role was one of the best choices Bryan Singer has ever made. He is strong and heroic as Superman, bumbling and funny as Clark Kent, and in his calm way of saving the world he shows us a Superman that truly is the greatest hero ever. Kate Bosworth has a hard time equalling him in the role of Lois Lane, and I'm not sure she succeeded completely. She does a great job, no doubt, but the high energy Lois Lane that we all know from Margot Kidder's portrayal is gone. Bosworth's Lane is more serious, but, as an added bonus, also more sexy, which can never be a bad thing.
Superman Returns may be a bit long for people mostly interested in super heroics, and the last twenty minutes of the movie may seem tacked on, but I revelled in every minute of this movie. It's big, it's bold, and it's everything a superhero movie should be. I think it's the equal of last years equally brilliant Batman Begins and if they should ever make Brandon Routh and Christian Bale meet in a Superman/Batman movie, I think no other superhero movie could ever live up to that.
****½
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