Movie Review: Superman Returns

I can’t say I went to see Superman Returns with great expectations. Cautious optimism would probably be the best way to describe my frame of mind on entering the cinema.

The film starts with the familiar strains of John Williams rousing score and credits in the style of the 1978 Superman film and we’re informed that Superman’s destroyed home planet had been discovered by astronomers and that Sups had left Earth in an attempt to find his roots (a bit dumb considering he’d been told by his father, Jor-El, that the planet had been destroyed, but then he never was that bright.)

We get introduced to Kevin Spacey’s Lex Luthor and find out how he got out of prison, then we’re off to Smallville and the main man’s spectacular return to Earth. He spends the night with his ‘Ma,’ played by Eva Marie Saint (who gets nothing to do), and does a spot of reminiscing about how he learned to fly before heading for Metropolis. So far so good.

Then we get to Metropolis and the Daily Planet building and it becomes clear just how big a fan Bryan Singer is of Richard Donner’s original film. Superman may have been gone five years but walking into the Planet takes us back almost 30 to 1978: nothing has changed. It’s soon clear that Singer is not a fan of Superman the character but rather Superman the movie and it’s this slavish devotion to the original that lets the film down. It’s Brandon Routh who comes off the worst. Spacey and Bosworth aren’t trying to be Hackman and Kidder but it's clear Routh is not playing Superman, he’s playing Reeve playing Superman. You can almost picture the casting sessions. "No, not enough like Chris. Next!" or Singer’s on set pep talks: "Great, Brandon but can you give me a bit more Reeve?" and it does a disservice to a good actor. And he is a good actor, he does a pretty good job of imitating Reeve but how much better would he have been if he’d been allowed to make the part his own? We’ll sadly never know.

Article Author: Ian Woolstencroft

Ian Woolstencroft was brought up on a diet of John Wayne movies and Marvel Comics and still has a passion for both. Now as a blogcritic he finally understands what Spider-Man’s Uncle Ben meant when he said ‘With great power comes great responsibility.’ …

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