Review: Superman Returns

And so, after an eternity in Development Hell, the Man of Steel finally flies back onto the big screen. Nineteen years after the execrable Superman IV: The Quest For Peace, Bryan Singer manages to restore the reputation of the Last Son of Krypton in much the same way as Christopher Nolan did for Batman last year.

Singer sticks closely to Richard Donner's highly iconic and influential original movie, keeping much of John Williams' emotive score and even the style of the opening credits (also nicked for the credits for the new Doctor Who series...). The film, intended as a direct sequel to the first two movies, takes place some five years after Superman leaves Earth to search for the shattered remains of his home world. He returns (see where they got the name from?) to find that the world has moved on. Lois Lane (Kate Bosworth) has a new fiancé and a son and is about to be awarded a Pulitzer Prize for an story about why humanity no loger needs a Superman.

Meanwhile, Lex Luthor (played by a wonderfully scene-stealing Kevin Spacey) has evaded prison because Superman didn't turn up for a parole hearing and has swindled a dying woman out of her estate so that he can discover the source of the Man of Steel's power and knowledge.

Brandon Routh proves to be an excellent choice in the twin roles of Superman/Clark Kent. He echoes Christopher Reeve's bumbling Clark persona, but also manages to make Superman his own. He's friendly but slightly aloof, charming and yet distant - almost alien. Much of the film's emotional core comes from his feelings of loneliness, and his feelings for Lois.

If Donner's film showed us that we could believe a man could fly, this time we believe he can fly, catch falling jet aircraft and stop gas explosions with his icy breath. The effects are excellent, and in some ways very subtle - the haze surrounding Superman's heat vision, the flames of re-entry into atmosphere, the sonic boom as he flies off at top speed. Mainly we revel in the pure joy of seeing someone fly, much in the same way we enjoy the sight of Spidey swinging through New York.

Unfortunately, it's also Singer's insistence on sticking closely to the original movie that lets it down in some ways. twenty-eight years on(!) we demand more pace from our superhero movies, with a bar of quality set by two Spider-Man films, at least three Batmans and even Singer's own pair of X-Men. Those films show that you can have emotion, have slow moments and still deliver a cracking, well-paced action movie. Superman Returns seems to have its beats in the wrong places and the story seems to fizzle out, ending not with a bang, but a whimper. There's no rousing emotional climax, no real sense of threat to the world from which only Superman can save us.

Hopefully, this won't be the last we'll see of Superman on the big screen, but any further films will have to stand on their own, rather than riding the nostalgic coat-tails of the 1978 epic. Does the world need a Superman? Probably not, but its still rather wonderful to have him around.

Superman Returns UK Website