Superman Returns (2006)

2 out of 4

Starring: Brandon Routh, Kate Bosworth, Kevin Spacey, Parker Posey, James Marsden, Sam Huntington, Frank Langella, Kal Penn, Eva Marie Saint, Tristan Lake Leabu

Director: Bryan Singer

Time: 154 mins

Viewed: Loews Monmouth Mall, Eatontown, New Jersey

Superman/Clark Kent/Kal-el (Routh) returns to Earth after a 5 year absence (while searching for the remains of his home planet Krypton) and finds a changed world: Lois Lane (Bosworth), the love of his life, is now engaged to Richard White (Marsden) and a mother to Jason (Leabu). Meanwhile, Lex Luthor (Spacey) is out of prison (again) and plots to destroy Supes and hold the world hostage, with a suitably outrageous scheme involving real estate. X-Men director Singer's take on the Man of Steel is intended to be a sequel to Superman 2 (Superman III and IV aren't "canon", apparently), but his solemn vision makes for a heavy handed 2-and-a-half hours. Routh is a decent substitute for the late Christopher Reeve, if a little subdued; Bosworth is okay but lacks the energy of Margot Kidder; and Spacey is appropriately villainous but not as humorous as Gene Hackman. As for the action scenes, they are few and far between, with the climactic sequence relying more on alien-looking effects than any definitive "wow" factor. Indeed, what made the original Superman movies so enjoyable was a sense of fun, exhilaration and showing us things we had not seen before - something this new version, in the age of digital effects, fails to accomplish. An underwhelming dissapointment from director Singer and Warner Bros.

(c) Joe Wong (2 July 2006)