Superman Returns - Comic to Movie #19 (2006)

"You wrote that the world doesn't need a savior, but every day I hear people crying for one."

Director

Brian Singer

Cast

Brandon Routh - Clark Kent/ Superman

Kevin Spacey - Lex Luthor

Kate Bosworth - Lois Lane

James Marsden - Richard White

Frank Langella - Perry White

Parker Posey - Kitty Kowalski

Sam Huntington - Jimmy Olsen

Eva Marie Saint - Martha Kent

Tristan Lake Leabu - Jason White

Potential spoilers ahead

"Superman Returns" was the first Superman film in almost 20 years. It's a continuation, and the last installment, of the film series beginning with "Superman" (1978) through "Superman IV: The Quest for Peace" (1987). The 2013 movie "Man of Steel," starring Henry Cavill and directed by Zack Snyder, is a reboot of the series. That's another review for another time - maybe.

In "Superman Returns," it has been about five or six years since the world has seen Superman (Brandon Routh). He hasn't been around since astronomers think they discovered pieces of his home planet, Krypton, floating out in space.

The story opens with Superman's infamous foe, Lex Luthor (Kevin Spacey) who has since been released from prison, married to an elderly rich widow who's on her deathbed. 

Moments before she passes on, she signs over her entire fortune and huge estate to him. 

Meanwhile, Superman returns to Earth after finding no signs of any surviving Kryptonians out in space. 

After crashlanding back on the Kent farm in Kansas, and visiting his Fortress of Solitude, Superman picks up as his alter ego Clark Kent and returns to his job at the Daily Planet. 

He finds that his old love interest, Lois Lane (Kate Bosworth), has hooked up with Daily Planet Editor Perry White's (Frank Langella) nephew, Richard White (James Marsden). The two are engaged to be married. She also has a young son named Jason (Tristan Lake Leabu). 

Also, much to Clark's chagrin, Lois previously won a Pulitzer Prize for an article she wrote entitled "Why the World Doesn't Need Superman." Ouch!

While Clark is busy getting his old newspaper gig back, and getting reacquainted, Luthor uses the fortune the old lady left him to venture up to the Fortress of Solitude to steal some of the Kryptonian crystals that hold information regarding Superman's origins and instructions from his father, Jor-El.

He takes them back to the mansion, again left to him by the old lady, to conduct some experiments. 

It turns out when even the smallest specs of the crystals make contact with water, they grow into massive land formations. His initial experiment causes a huge power outage all over Metropolis. 

This power failure interrupts a space shuttle launch which is piggybacking on an airliner. Being that it is an initial launch, several members of the media are on board the plane covering the story, and Lois is one of them. 

Brandon Routh as Superman in "Superman Returns."

The engines and the unlocking mechanism fail after the shuttle rockets are dragging the plane into space. 

News quickly airs about both the unexplained power failure and the effected shuttle, catching Superman's attention. 

He rescues the plane, detaching it from the rocket and returning it safely to the ground placing right in the middle of a baseball stadium during a game. All the world sees that Superman is back. While the world rejoices, Lois probably feels like a major tool as she was just rescued by Superman. 

Luthor takes advantage of Superman's return. 

He stages a runaway car incident with his henchwoman, Kitty Kowalski (Parker Posey) to distract Superman while he steals kryptonite from the Metropolis Natural History Museum. 

Meanwhile, Perry gives Lois an assignment to interview Superman in regard to where he's been, and why he's back. However, she's more interested in covering the mysterious blackout that affected all of Metropolis, and the space shuttle. She discreetly covers the blackout, with leads that take her to Luthor's boat.  

Of course, she heads over to the docs to try and talk to Luthor by sneaking onto his boat. And, for some reason, she takes her son with her and has him wait in the car. Of course, he doesn't wait in the car. He also makes his way onto Luthor's boat. The boat sets sail to the middle of the Atlantic before anyone, including Luthor, knows there's uninvited company onboard. 

Luthor finds the two on board and there's not much he nor they can do about it. He doesn't intend to turn around. She links the blackout with whatever Luthor is plotting. And he reveals his plans to create huge landmasses out in the middle of the Atlantic using a mix of Kryptonian crystals and kryptonite. "You can print money, manufacture diamonds, and people are a dime a dozen, but they'll always need land," he says to Kitty. "It's the one thing they're not making any more of."

This landmass will destroy parts of the United States and kill millions. Luthor intends to be head of this new land, and Superman will be powerless to do anything about it, or so he thinks.

One of the film's major selling points at the time of its release, after the return of Superman onto the big screen, was the post humous appearance of Marlon Brando as Kal-El's (i.e. Superman) father, Jor-El, thanks to the use of CGI. Brando plays Superman's father in the first film.  

This continuing Superman story, which was hugely anticipated back in the early 2000s, should have been much more action packed. If only producers utilized the capabilities to throw in a lot more eye popping affects and a Superman story unlike what audiences have seen before, it may have been a great and unforgettable movie. As special effects came a long way in the 20 years between "Superman IV" and this story, the potential was there but was missed.

Superman hardly does a thing in this return of his. He rescues an airplane in the beginning. In one scene, he takes down a guy blasting him with a gatling gun. It's a cool scene. So much so, I once saw a collectible statue depicting this one particular scene in a comic shop. Aside from that, Superman lifts a huge kryptonite-filled island and hurls it into space. There's a rescue here and there, and that's about it. He doesn't do much. He's not utilized as much as he should be. 

The plot is decent but doesn't stand well enough amid the disappointing writing and lack of anything interesting for Superman to impress the audience with. 

Kevin Spacey as Lex Luthor.

Good writing and great new affects (for the time) could have gone so well together and taken the story to new heights (no pun intended). Instead, we got a boring story with nothing much new than before. This movie is a wasted opportunity. The only thing that's unique is that Superman has a son - a plot point that's intriguing but goes nowhere. 

A good story mixed with comic book action are what make "Superman" and "Superman II" enjoyable films. Those are the two best movies in the series, in my opinion. 

In part two for instance, the whole friggin' world is threatened by three outsiders with the same powers and strength as Superman. And Superman loses his powers before he's aware of what's happening. What'll happen next? It's a great story that holds up well.

The decision to cast Brandon Routh as the Man of Steel, following the legendary Christopher Reeve, is a great decision. Routh captures the character impressively well. He even resembles Reeve. But he isn't given a lot to work with for a chance to really be an unforgettable Superman. What a shame. 

Unfortunately, Kate Bosworth as Lois Lane isn't such a good casting call. Her version of Lois is boring and void of emotion unlike the late, great Margot Kidder from the original flicks. Kidder is spunky and lively. Bosworth is the opposite. She's brooding and depressing. And there's no chemistry between her Lois and Superman, unlike Kidder and Reeve. 

Kevin Spacey, despite the bad news currently surrounding him, makes a decent Lex Luthor. He's more intimidating in the role than Gene Hackman from the original films. Gene Hackman is great as Lex Luthor, don't get me wrong. Spacey, though, makes the character his own.

Noel Neill, who plays Lois Lane in the classic television series "Superman" from the 1940s as well as in "Atom Man vs. Superman" (1950) portrays the elderly rich widow whom Lex Luthor is swindling at the beginning of the film. 

Anyways, "Superman Returns" should have been a fantastic opportunity to bring Superman back to the big screen with a heroic bang strong enough to blow the audience away. Instead, Superman's return is an underwhelming one with a humdrum story that bores and certainly fails to impress.