Superman Returns

Superman Returns (2006) Warner Bros./Action-Adventure RT: 154 minutes Rated PG-13 (some intense action violence) Director: Bryan Singer Screenplay: Michael Dougherty and Dan Harris Music: John Ottman Cinematography: Newton Thomas Sigel Release date: June 28, 2006 (US) Cast: Brandon Routh, Kate Bosworth, Kevin Spacey, James Marsden, Parker Posey, Frank Langella, Sam Huntington, Eva Marie Saint, Kal Penn, Tristen Blake-Leabu, David Fabrizio. Box Office: $200.1M (US)/$391.1M (World)

Rating: **

You would think that after almost 20 years, somebody could have put together a great movie, one that soars. Unfortunately, Superman Returns sputters and stalls out. It cost over $200 million to make and what the studio got back is a big budget bore.

Okay, forget Superman III and IV. For the purposes of Superman Returns, they never happened. It picks up about five years after the events of Superman II. Superman (Routh) went to the location where astronomers believe they found the remains of Krypton. In his five-year absence, Lex Luthor (Spacey) got out of prison and married a wealthy old widow so she could leave everything to her “loving husband”. Her money will be used for another one of Luthor’s plans to dominate the world.

Luthor travels to the Fortress of Solitude to collect some very powerful crystals that would aide him in his quest for world domination. When he tries one of the crystals, he causes a major power outage on the East Coast. It interferes with the flight test of a space shuttle that gets launched from an airplane. As expected, Lois Lane (Bosworth) is on board the plane and Superman arrives just in time to prevent it from crashing.

The world is happy to see Superman back in action. Well, almost everybody. Lois won a Pulitzer Prize for writing an article called “Why the World Doesn’t Need Superman”. She has a fiancé Richard White (Marsden, X-Men) who just happens to be the nephew of Editor-in-chief Perry White (Cooper). In addition, she has a 5YO son Jason (Leabu). I expect you all know where this storyline is heading.

Luthor has the Kryptonian crystals. All he needs is some Kryptonite which he finds in the Metropolis Museum of Natural History. Superman is distracted by an out-of-control vehicle driven by Luthor’s henchwoman Kitty Kowalski (Posey, Dazed and Confused) so Luthor can steal the Kryptonite without any interference from the Man of Steel.

Meanwhile, Lois’ investigation leads her to a ship belonging to Luthor. He finds the intruders and holds them hostage. This is the point when the villain explains his devious plans to someone he plans to kill (so much for originality). He has combined Kryptonite with one of the crystals and throws it into the sea. It creates a whole new continent, but unfortunately as the new land mass rises up, it makes the waters of the Northern Atlantic Ocean rise drastically which means that billions of people will die.

There, now that I’ve explained the plot, I will focus my attentions on the movie itself. In short, Superman Returns is BORING! First of all, Lex Luthor is yesterday’s news. Couldn’t the filmmakers find something different? What about Doomsday? That would be pretty awesome. Instead, the filmmakers go with a really boring bad guy, especially as portrayed by Spacey. At least, Gene Hackman (No Way Out) played the role so well that it bordered on campy. He looked like he was loving it, especially in the first two movies. I’ll refrain from mentioning Superman IV (1987); that’s tantamount to beating a dead horse.

What about the performances? This is Routh’s first leading role and frankly, he stinks as Superman. I get the impression that he doesn’t understand the character of Superman. Superman is a complex superhero. He has to deal with some existential issues, like the duality of his character. He struggles everyday to maintain a balance between both identities, Reeve understood this and his depiction of one of America’s top icons (baseball hot dogs, apple pie and Superman) was completely believable. Routh doesn’t have enough experience (or talent) to pull it off.

As for Kate Bosworth, she’s the last one who should be playing Lois Lane. Margot Kidder did it better. She has a flinty way about her; she’s also one tough chick! She’s assertive and aggressive; none of these qualities describe the character as Bosworth plays it. She doesn’t have the same grit and ambition about her. The only thing that the two women have in common is a tendency to get into life-threatening situations. Huntington is okay as Jimmy Olsen, the photographer for the Daily Planet. Langella is actually pretty good in the role of Perry White.

The movie itself is just mediocre. There are some interesting parts to it, but the movie goes for over two and a half hours. I will compliment the scene where Superman prevents an airplane from crashing onto a baseball stadium full of innocent people. That was actually pretty cool, but the CGI effects get pretty stale.

Here’s a tidbit of information, did you know that two actors from the 1952 TV show make cameos in this movie? Jack Larson, the original Jimmy Olsen, shows up as a bartender and the elderly woman that Luthor married for her money is Noel Neil, the original Lois Lane. Aside from that, there isn’t anything particularly interesting in Superman Returns. Let’s hope that Zack Snyder (Watchmen) repairs and renews the franchise like Christopher Nolan (Memento) did with the Batman movies.