And were back with Superman yet again.
Superman Returns is a comic book movie based on well, Superman. While it's the fifth movie in the franchise it serves as an homage sequel to Superman (1978) and Superman II, thus ignoring III and IV: The Quest for Peace. It was produced by DC Entertainment, Warner Bros. Pictures, Legendary Pictures, Peters Entertainment, and Bad Hat Harry Productions with Warner Bros. Picture also handling distribution. Superman Returns was written by Michael Dougherty and Dan Harris and was directed by Bryan Singer.
The story is, Superman traveled to a location where astronomers believed they discovered the remains of Krypton. Five years later he's come back to Earth, and while the people of Metropolis rejoice, Clark is saddened to learn just how much Lois has moved on from him. During all of this, Lex is planning something that'll kill billions of people.
- Negatives
I've got nothing.
- Mix
Alright let's get to it. First off, the story. Now I actually appreciate the story took a good portion of focusing on character. It makes sense. Superman hasn't been seen for five years so we might as well have some focus on how things have changed while he was gone. But we brings it down a peg is it's pacing. I get they wanted a slow burn, but even slow burns have their quick moments.
The next aspect I'll touch on is the tone. While I admire the tribute to the Donner films, there also lies the problem. On one hand it's trying to capture a nostalgia feeling, but on the other it also feels like it does want to be modern, well 2006 modern not this year's modern. The point is it's trying to do a balancing act, but each side keeps tipping one way and they have to run quickly to the center before falling.
- Positives
Alright let's get to the positives. One being the style. Yes, I know hard to give Bryan Singer credit giving the controversies surrounding him, but let's separate the art from the artist, then go back to hating him. The look to the movie is beautiful. It's very cinematic and clean. And it has a very warm color palette for more easy going scenes, but dark for the intense moments.
Then there's the action. Yes, there is action in this movie! That airplane rescue scene is amazing. When Metropolis is crumbling, we see Superman use all of his powers to stop all of the disasters. Then we have the intense scene of Superman lifting a whole mountain despite his weakened state. I think when people say action, what they mean is they wanted to see Superman fight someone. An understandable thing, after all prior to this movie we fought three different enemies. But this is also a confusing complaint because he didn't fight anybody in the first Reeve's movie, he stopped natural disasters.
My last praise will go to Brandon Routh and his performance. While the material isn't the strongest Routh provided enough strength and charm to make it work. So I'm glad years later he was given the chance to be Superman again in the Arrowverse's version of Crisis on Infinite Earths.
While Superman Returns isn't perfect, I do believe he gets way to much hate.
My final rating is, Good.