Superman Returns

When Superman Returns was released it had 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...

- It was Superman. Unarguably the biggest superhero of them all.
- Special effects have come a long way since Superman was last on the big screen.
- Bryan Singer, who had brought us the first two fabulous X-Men films, was signed on as director - an assignment that fulfilled his lifelong ambition.
- Kevin Spacey signed on to portray the mighty bald one, Lex Luthor.
- 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 and didn't even get around to watching it for a while.

Anyway, it's been five years since Superman left to visit his home planet, Krypton. Earth has 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 from the 70s and 80s (this was mentioned in various promotional interviews prior to Superman Returns' 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 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. Attempts to follow up on the Superman franchise have understandably stalled in light of this mediocre film.

DIRECTOR: Bryan Singer
WRITER/SOURCE: Written by Michael Dougherty and Dan Harris, with some story input from Bryan Singer. Characters created by Jerry Siegel and Joe Schuster.
KEY ACTORS: Brandon Routh, Kate Bosworth, Kevin Spacey, James Marsden, Marlon Brando, Parker Posey, Frank Langella, Sam Huntington, Eva Marie Saint

RELATED TEXTS:
- There have been four previous Superman films, all starring Christopher Reeve. These were the excellent Superman and Superman II, the somewhat less excellent Superman III and the outright dorky Superman IV: The Quest for Peace.
- Supergirl, a Superman-spinoff film, was also made in the 1980s.
- Several longstanding and unsuccessful attempts have been made to team up Batman and Superman in a film together.
- The Superman comics have been running since the late 1930s.
- A radio serial was produced in the 1940s, which was then spun off into a series of short cartoons to be played in cinemas.
- Two Superman serials were produced in the late 1940s starring Kirk Alyn.
- George Reeves played Superman in a 1950s television series.
- A Broadway musical of Superman was also produced in the 1960s, but it had a relatively short run.
- Other television series based on Superman include The New Adventures of Superman (a 1960s animated series), Super Friends (a Hanna-Barbera animated series made in the 1970s and 1980s), Lois & Clark (a more soap-based live-action series made in the 1990s), Superman: The Animated Series (a Warner Bros series made in the late 1990s) and Smallville (another live-action series produced in the 2000s).

AWARDS:
Nominated for a visual effects Academy Award.

Also nominated for a series of genre, special effects and popular choice awards, and even won a couple.