Launchd-II Review of Superman Returns

Superman Returns (2006)

A decent restart on the Superdude's film series

[8/10 · 3 July 2006]

I liked it and I didn't like parts. Overall story is good, the homages to all generations of Superman film/TV and even comic book are plenty- Look for framed pix of Pa Kent Glenn Ford on the mantle at the Ma Kent (legendary Eva Marie Saint) house, plus Noel Neill in the opening scenes, and Jack "Jimmy Olsen of TV" Larson as the bartender, the score using John Williams passages from Richard Donner's 1st Christopher Reeve film throughout. When I'd first read about Lois Lane having a kid, I was not so pleased- however it works AND it's an important device- that I actually was rather thrilled with- Kate Bosworth as Lois is just OK- too flat a portrayal, especially when I still have Margot Kidder's Lois stuck in my mind. When I try to come up with a more fitting choice, I think Kate Hudson- she's got the spunkiness a Lois Lane requires (beside, I'd like to see her with dark hair!). Frank Langella (who remains one of the 2 best Draculas ever on the screen, Bela) as Perry White was OK- and even a bit of a hoot. I loved the reuse of Brando's Jor-el in both voice and footage. The script was rather decent, though having reuse of exact lines of Lex Luther from Donner's film bugs. And therein lay the problem with this film- Kevin Spacey's Lex Luthor. He was vicious- beyond nasty- he was vicious and very twisted. I am very biased by Gene Hackman's Lex, however that's not what is going on here- Spacey's portrayal is wife-beater vicious. And after enough of that I had no desire to continue seeing his role- period. They director and writers even confirm he's over the top by having his girlfriend Kitty (portrayed by Parker Posey, stalwart of those gawd awful Christopher Guest movies) realizing she's hooked up with a total madman and wanting out, only too late. She does a good job in the film- taking on a role that is complimentary to Valerie Perrine's Miss Teschmacher. The flying sequences are the most seamless ever, and the nice touches- busting the sound barrier, etc, are just great. In fact all of the FX are rather tremendous in this film. Brandon Routh's Kal-el/Superman/Clark Kent is decent enough and Somewhat reminiscent of Chris Reeve's portrayal. He can hang around for sequels. To be fair- the storyline this time out didn't give much audience exposure to Clark- most was as Superdude. Sequels will hopefully be well written and retaining Bryan Singer as director would be alright. However since production is no longer under the control of the Salkinds, so there wouldn't be the tiff to deal with, I wonder if anyone at Warner has asked Donner to take the reigns again. That would be super, man.