Written by: Michael Dougherty & Dan Harris
Starring: Brandon Routh, Kate Bosworth, James Marsden, Frank Langella, Eva Marie Saint
Rating: [3/5]
Recreating the magic of properties that worked in the past has remained one of the premier practices of Hollywood for decades now. When afraid to develop new ideas, going back to the well with a built-in audience becomes impossible to resist. Superman Returns serves as one of those instances for the ultimate boy scout and for all the issues it has, it makes for quite the well-polished and enjoyable movie
After being away for five years searching for Krypton, Clark Kent (Brandon Routh) returns to Earth which has moved on from him including his love, Lois Lane (Kate Bosworth). Reckoning with what he has missed, Lex Luther (Kevin Spacey) devises a new plan to make himself all-powerful at the cost of everyday people.
Following the epic run by Christopher Reeve in the movies starting in 1978, the time the hand off the baton to someone else in bringing this character to life on the big screen came to the hands of Brandon Routh. By the looks of it, the casting team sought to find someone who looks as close to Reeve in appearance as possible and they surely accomplish just that in Routh. Obviously, when replacing a beloved actor within a major role such as this one, plenty of pressure gets applied and despite the gargantuan task set before him, Routh does a solid job in his portrayal of this character. Not only through his looks but also the charm he brings to the role he harnesses and what it means for Superman for this world and it works.
As for the story, this feature delves into what the world looks like post-Superman and how things would operate, and to his surprise, everything works out fairly well. This certainly gives credence to the idea the world would be a better place if superheroes did not exist because villains would not rise to the occasion. With Superman away, Lois has married another man, raised a child, and even won a Pulitzer prize as to why the world does not, in fact, need Superman. Never has an ex moving on from someone stung that much yet it’s where Clark has now found himself because of his decisions.
With this new iteration of Superman made in the 21st century, it allows for the use of more technology, such as CGI to be utilized in the feature to make the flying and other elements inherent in Superman even more believable. It certainly shows in the film how the advancement of technology assisted in the presentation but it certainly did not capture the same magic as the older films. It loses the special feeling these films evoke allowing for, in this age, to feel quite plain as a result. In fact, some moments in the film heavily overdoes the CGI which proves quite distracting.
This feature plays the hits on multiple fronts, even bringing back Lex Luthor as the villain with another plot to somehow enrich himself. A plan that certainly gets quite wild, but on this occasion things get much more brutal in his battle with Superman. Without a doubt, Kryptonite gets utilized for any chance for Luthor to lay a hand on him and it certainly gets utilized to good effect here in this feature as he manages to devise a plan that could destroy North America somehow and simply wants to wreak havoc. Something to expect from the mad genius but even on this level it gets a bit silly.
Having both good and bad elements, Superman Returns provides just enough positives to get it over the line. Definitely does not recapture the magic of Christopher Reeves nor did it really have the chance to ever do so. However, what we receive in this feature makes for something quite engrossing as it focuses on the larger aspects of what comes expected of Superman but also the interpersonal issues he deals with, particularly with Lois and how she has moved on. While having its good elements, the pacing of the feature makes it feel like it trudges along for many stretches where the nearly two-and-a-half-hour runtime feels much longer making it difficult to get to the end of the feature. We receive a decent Superman and Lois brought together for a story of reconciliation all culminating in something enjoyable.
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