The Man of Steel is back and in a big way. I went to see Superman Returns last night and was pleasantly surprised by a terrific movie. With the recent comic book movie hits of Spiderman and X-Men, I had hopes that this movie would be good and I was not disappointed. The movie is directed by the same guy who directed X2 and knew how to treat the comic book material. I will give a small, spoiler-free review.
The movie takes place after Superman II, I have heard that this movie basically forgets Superman III & IV ever existed (don’t we all), and Superman has be gone off planet for the last five years. He returns to this world and has realized people have moved on with their lives especially Lois Lane, who now has a kid and boyfriend. When an airplane, showing off the latest space technology, goes crazy Superman comes out of hiding to save the day and re-introduce himself to society. He becomes and instance hero and is the largest news story in five years. The rest of the movie deals with his relationship with Lois, how he fits back in with society and let’s not forget his old nemesis Lex Luther.
The movie was a great ride form start to finish. I got goose bumps and the opening music hit and was just like the originals. Kevin Spacey, who played Lex Luther, was absolutely amazing. He pulled off the nonchalant, kill-anybody-to-further-my-plans villain that Superman needs to defend society from. This Lex is brilliant, crazy and has a vendetta to settle with the Man of Steel. Brandon Roth nails Superman and Clark Kent down to the smallest detail. He brings the mannerisms of both characters that Christopher Reeve made famous. I thought it was a great homage to a actor that brought the series to life. The special effects were amazing and when the plane was spinning out of control I started to get dizzy. I thought the plot was good, for a comic book movie, and not too over the top. I like my comic book movies a little more plausible than what passes on the pages of there paper based counterparts. The film even ends with a homage to the first movies.
All in all, this was a great film and I would pay to see it again. It came in at about two and a half hours and was paced perfectly. I have heard some people say how it dragged but I think that is just our American, hit me with it all now attitude. I thought it was put together really well and used all the time perfectly to setup the plot, the character development, the struggles and the few surprises/twists along the way. I definitely smell a sequel and I will line up to watch it.
Oh, and there were a couple scenes in space, and if memory serves correctly, there was no sound, now that is sweet!