Superman Returns

[Brian in Mesa]

Year of Superman

 

[Brian in Mesa]

Superman Returns

Release Date: June 28, 2006 (conventional theaters, IMAX & IMAX 3D)
Studio: Warner Bros. Pictures
Director: Bryan Singer
Screenwriter: Michael Dougherty, Dan Harris
Genre: Action, Adventure, Sci-Fi
MPAA Rating: PG-13 (for some intense action violence)
Website: Superman Returns

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

Plot Summary: Following a mysterious absence of several years, the Man of Steel comes back to Earth in the epic action-adventure Superman Returns, a soaring new chapter in the saga of one of the world's most beloved superheroes. While an old enemy plots to render him powerless once and for all, Superman faces the heartbreaking realization that the woman he loves, Lois Lane, has moved on with her life. Or has she? Superman's bittersweet return challenges him to bridge the distance between them while finding a place in a society that has learned to survive without him. In an attempt to protect the world he loves from cataclysmic destruction, Superman embarks on an epic journey of redemption that takes him from the depths of the ocean to the far reaches of outer space.

 

[jenna2891]

that poster is avatar material.

 

[Mike Olbinski]

Pretty excited...Rotten Tomatoes had it cruising at a 92% approval last night...which is great.

 

[Djaughe]

*SPOILERALERT*

Sunday, Jun 18, 2006
The Gospel of Superman
The Man of Steel goes godly in a mythic parable that--don't worry--delivers the action-film goods
By RICHARD CORLISS

A big summer action movie! About the very first comic-book hero! From the director of X-Men! The arrival of Bryan Singer's Superman Returns is exciting news to three groups: the very young, the perpetually adolescent and those cautious folk in the film industry who believe that the best way to make a box-office bundle is to clone the old Man of Steel story for a new generation of consumers.

It turns out that Singer and writers Michael Dougherty and Dan Harris had excellent reason to re-create the Superman saga, dreamed up in the '30s by Jerry Siegel and Joe Shuster and elaborated on in countless comics, movie serials, TV shows and feature films. Singer, Dougherty and Harris went back to the story's premise, reviving it by revising it. Beneath the artifacts of camp and cape, they located a rich lode of myth.

Just as important, they resolved to take it seriously. The result is an action adventure that's as thrilling for what it means as for what it shows.
The film is a kind of stepchild to the Superman movies of 1978 and '80. S

Superman (Brandon Routh) has been away from Metropolis for five years, searching for remains of his home planet, Krypton. He's back on Earth just in time, since his very arch enemy, Lex Luthor (Kevin Spacey), has been sprung from prison and has a plan--diabolical, of course--to debilitate Superman using kryptonite crystals and, with the big guy out of the way, make the world miserable and profit from it.

Returning to his cover ID as Clark Kent, Daily Planet reporter, our hero has an awkward reunion with Lois Lane (Kate Bosworth), who loved him as Superman but not as Clark. Lois has three new acquisitions: a Pulitzer Prize for her editorial "Why the World Doesn't Need Superman" (clearly, she was in deep denial over the fellow who deserted her), a boyfriend named Richard (James Marsden) and a young son, Jason (Tristan Leabu).

Who is Jason's father? If you don't want to know just yet, read no further.

But we must discuss it, for this is where the movie displays its impressive ambition and cunning. Earlier versions of Superman stressed the hero's humanity: his attachment to his Earth parents, his country-boy clumsiness around Lois. The Singer version emphasizes his divinity. He is not a super man; he is a god (named Kal-El), sent by his heavenly father (Jor-El) to protect Earth. That is a mission that takes more than muscles; it requires sacrifice, perhaps of his own life. So he is no simple comic-book hunk. He is Earth's savior: Jesus Christ Superman.

Using snippets of Marlon Brando's performance as Jor-El from the 1978 Super-man movie, in which Brando passes on the wisdom "The son becomes the father, and the father becomes the son," Singer establishes his own film's central relationship. It is not romantic, between Lois and Clark. It's familial--the bond of two sets of fathers and sons: Jor-El and Superman, then Superman and Jason. Each parent tells his child that he must surpass the old man's feats, improve on Dad's legend. Poignantly, this strength, this divinity, isolates Superman from Earth's humans. He can save them but not be one of them. Lois can love him but never understand him.

The movie cogently ransacks elements from all kinds of myths, classic and modern. Superman is the god who fell to Earth, enduring a cycle of death and transfiguration. And since he has sired a boy who is part human, he could be the Jesus of the Gnostic Gospels. And Lois? Mary Magdalene!
"O.K., O.K.," we hear you saying. "The thing is profound. But is it a good movie?" You bet. Made with precision and vigor, the film never forgets to entertain, packing its 2-hr. 33-min. length with cool visions (like Krypton's crystal cathedral) and spectacular set pieces. Want some pure exhilaration? Check out Superman's midair wrangling of an Air Force jet, maneuvering it back to terra firma to make a gentle belly flop onto a baseball field during a game. And for an intimate intensity not often found in action films, stick around for the creepy encounter involving Superman, Luthor and a stiletto of kryptonite.

The best Hollywood movies always knew how to sneak a beguiling subtext into a crowd-pleasing story. Superman Returns is in that grand tradition. That's why it's beyond Super. It's superb.

 

[Stronso]

I just saw it here in NYC - all I can say is that I cannot wait to see it again. It was awesome!!

 

[Pariah]

First of all, it's F'n GREAT. Singer really delivers.

Couple of things--good and bad.

1. Singer catches Supes in a bunch of iconic poses--including the original Action Comics cover. Sweet.

2. Routh IS Superman just as Reeves was. Great job. He does a better Superman than he does Clark Kent, in which he seems to be doing Reeves doing Kent. But, not a lot of Kent in the film.

3. Lots of "savior" thematic stuff. I think it's neat, if not taken too seriously.

4. PLOT HOLE (and a spoiler): When Lex's woman dumps the crystals, why wouldn't they grow just like the other ones did?

5. Didn't care at all for the really significant sub-plot. Not a bit.

6. It was F'n GREAT. Applause at multiple points in the film, including the end as we were getting up for the door.

 

[Pariah]

Come on, people. Go out and see this. I'm anxious to know what everyone thinks.

 

[NEZCardsfan]

Come on, people. Go out and see this. I'm anxious to know what everyone thinks.

I want to see this.

 

[abomb]

I want to see this.

Ditto. Maybe I'll go Thursday night since I work at the Arizona Center and silly 21 never calls me back.

 

[NEZCardsfan]

Ditto. Maybe I'll go Thursday night since I work at the Arizona Center and silly 21 never calls me back.

Women are disingenuous.

 

[D-Dogg]

Women are disingenuous.

 

[NEZCardsfan]

I thought you were a dude??

 

[D-Dogg]

I thought you were a dude??

LOL.

The is for you, not for women.

 

[abomb]

I thought you were a dude??

Dont worry NEZ, D-Dogg has been making that face at me for years.

 

[NEZCardsfan]

Dont worry NEZ, D-Dogg has been making that face at me for years.

I'm not very good at reading facial expressions....I'd think he was offering me a beer.

 

[D-Dogg]

I'm not very good at reading facial expressions....I'd think he was offering me a beer.

You'd be correct...

 

[boondockdrunk]

Take my review with a grain of salt... because I am not a Superman fan at all. The perception of the character in the comics always struck me as the spoiled brat concept. The person who would play a game and claim to have every power that is presented by someone else (I believe the technical term is 'ohIhavethatpowertoo' syndrome or better known as simply 'the power to have every possible power').

Now, the movie good overall but nothing jaw dropping. Kevin Spacey once again proves that he is one of the best actors currently in the business and Brandon Routh was a good choice as Superman, a few awkward moments aside. My heart goes out to James Marsden, because this guy always plays the person who gets screwed over in a love triangle. He dies and loses Jean Grey to Wolverine in X-Men 3; he loses Rachel McAdams to Ryan Gosling in The Notebook; he loses the girl of his dreams in Enchanted; and he is more than likely going to lose Lois Lane to Superman in the next movie. Can he ever get a role that will just cut him a break? In hindsight, he should probably fire his agent.

Some things that I really did not like about the movie were the points where it was just plain laughable. For example, did anyone else catch on that Superman is a bit of a voyeur? He would spy on Lois Lane at her house, in the elevator, and at work by using his ‘vision’ power. He was much like a stalker when he was hiding out at her house and looking in on the family, so much so that I had to remark to my friends that the director turned the Man of Steel into a Peeping Tom. To give the reader a perspective, imagine Robin Williams’ character in One Hour Photo.

All in all it was an alright movie, but nothing to write home about. The acting alone makes this movie worth a see and if you are a big Superman freak then by all means check it out a few times. However, do not walk into a theater on the second day, alone, and brag to people who don’t care that this is your fifth time seeing this movie since it came out two days ago. If you have that much time on your hands, get a job, or build a ship in a bottle for all I care. Am I going to rent this movie? No. Will I see it again? Perhaps if nothing else is on TV. But, as I stated earlier, I do not like Superman as a character, so my opinion is hardly the popular majority.

On a side note, I knew Lois Lane was always mean and cruel to Clark, but in this movie, she is made to be the embodiment of a word that I cannot say on this site (it rhymes with a kick in football). Did anyone else seem to think that she was made too much heartless co-worker? And I still find the awkward Hollywood romance (of love, that was once strong, trying... trying to be rekindled by two burnt embers into the flame that once way. Le sigh) gnawing at the core of this movie nauseating, but I have to learn to live with it as it 'puts the people in the seats' and does not seem to be fading any time soon.

 

[SunsTzu]

4. PLOT HOLE (and a spoiler):

looked like the crystals fell onto the island and not into the water to me.

I'm not a big Superman fan but I loved the movie, though I agree the interatction with Lois and Clark was lacking.

 

[Pariah]

looked like the crystals fell onto the island and not into the water to me.

Maybe.

 

[DeAnna]

I (grudingly) went to see it last night and kept telling hubby 'this better be a good movie." Well, it was great! Not a big Superman fan, but I do remember seeing the TV series as a kid and loved it.

I was apprehensive 'cause I didn't think anyone could to justice to Chris Reeve as Superman, but the new guy does a great job. He did seem a bit young - I mean, he was gone 5 years so he was, what, 19 when he left Earth??

I didn't really buy into Kate Bosworth as Lois Lane - she didn't seem feisty enough; not how I envision an agressive star reporter to act (like "A" type personality). Nor athletic enough to dive into the ocean to same him!

Lex Luthor's plot seemed outlandish, but what the heck, it works.

Nice touch as the credits rolled - it was dedicated to Christopher and Dana Reeve.

 

[SunsTzu]

I mean, he was gone 5 years so he was, what, 19 when he left Earth??

Well in fairness he could have been traveling so fast that it could have only taken him a few days to get there and back while 5 years past on earth(of course they never really get into the nuances of space travel). Kryptonians also age slower. So pick which ever answer you prefer.

/nerd

 

[Goldfield]

/nerd

big laugh! That was funny.

 

[Mojo]

Good movie overall, but it was pretty random. Best part of the movie had to be when Kumar was beating up Superman. That will make you look twice

 

[Red Hawk]

Possibly "Most disapointing film ever"