It may be a bit silly, but I admit, there's nothing quite like hearing John Williams' awesome Superman theme music blasting into a movie theater for the first time in 19 (!) years, ever since I saw the god-awful Superman IV: The Quest For Peace in a theater with about six other people back in 1987.
Bryan Singer's Superman Returns is the Man of Steel's first celluloid outing since then, of course, and if it isn't quite a total home run, it's solid entertainment and a pretty great spectacle. I'm not sure how well it'll do at the box office — it could catch on, or it could be seen as too cerebral and slow — but it more or less works. Some random thoughts, SPOILERS ahead of course ––
The good:
• Like I said, that John Williams music is wonderful to hear again, and might just be my favorite movie theme ever. The whole movie is a deep thematic sequel to Superman: The Movie and Superman II, and it's nice to see Singer paying respect to the godfather of the current superhero movie genre.
• First off, much of the action in Superman Returns is absolutely spectacular — a dazzling plane rescue sequence in the beginning that had me holding my breath with tension; a series of incredible can-you-top-this feats of catastrophe prevention; any scenes with Superman flying, executed with stunning grace and majesty by Singer. Naturally, it's all a quantum leap above the effects in the 1978 film. You get your summer movie big-bang money's worth from this one, I think.
• And overall, I'm down with Singer's approach to the material. Just like in his X-Men movies, he's respectful and utterly serious to the characters and story. There's a depth to Superman Returns, with its lingering themes of alienation, fatherhood, truly adult love and hero worship. They aren't all developed perfectly, but this movie tries, and that elevates it to the higher echelon of comics flicks like the Spider-Man and first two X-Men movies or Batman Begins.
• Brandon Routh, I wasn't sure about before I saw this — he looks too formless and bland in still photos, I think — but he's a very solid Man of Steel here. He plays Kal-El darker, more stoic and restrained than the late Christopher Reeve, who always had a nice kind of twinkle in his eye, but it serves for the story this movie is trying to tell. I don't think Routh's Clark Kent is quite as successful, but the Kent side of his personality really got the short shrift in screen time anyway.
Article comments
1 - david
Excellent review, and very closely mirrors my impressions of the film (just saw it an hour ago). I did enjoy Bosworth, however, and felt that her Lois was quite credible -- unlike Kidder's, who I found completely unbelievable.
2 - ensky28
Yes, I agree that Superman Returns falls short on a lot of expectations. I agree Rachel Mcadams would have been the perfect match.