Reviews by Matt

SUPERMAN RETURNS

Superman has returned and it is about time. It has been over 20 years since the “Man of Steel” graced the big screen. When we last saw him in 1983 in Superman 3, (they chose to ignore Superman 4; The Quest for Peace, and with good reason) he had traveled to the remains of his home planet of Krypton. “Superman Returns” takes place five years later and Superman (Brandon Routh) has just returned on the same ship he arrived in when he was a baby. He crashes in Smallville and spends the first few minutes with his mother Martha Kent (Eva Marie Saint) before Clark Kent returns to Metropolis and finds that things have changed. Lois Lane (Kate Bosworth) has a son and is dating Richard White (James Marsden), nephew of Perry White (Frank Langella,) chief editor of the Daily Planet. Lois has recently won the Pulitzer Prize for an article entitled “Why the World Doesn’t Need Superman.” Lex Luther (Kevin Spacey,) has been released from jail after Superman failed to show up at his parole hearing. He already has a new plan to destroy Superman.

The man picked to wear the blue tights is Brandon Routh. He, like Christopher Reeve before him, is a relative unknown. He even looks a little like the late actor. He is able to balance the bumbling Kent with the invincible Superman. He also does the awkward relationship with Lois, but when it comes to the Lois-Superman relationship, he falls very short. Lois has gotten over her feelings for Superman, but he has not. In the scenes between Lois and Superman, there is no chemistry. It is dull and lacking anything worth while. To be honest I was a unimpressed with performances on the younger cast members.

The man who picked up the “acting slack” was Kevin Spacey. I saw in interview with him where he said that after winning the Oscar for American Beauty, he stopped working so hard. He wants to allow the younger actors he shares the screen with to have the glory. Despite this, he steals all of his scenes. He plays Lex as an evil genius with a twisted sense of humor. He makes Lex the epitome of the character you love to hate. Spacey can pull of any role he is offered and I can see no one else to play Lex Luther.

Two performances that were underused were Parker Posey and Eva Marie Saint. When you get an actress the caliber of Eva Marie Saint, it is a shame to keep her in the film for only ten minutes total. Parker Posey delivers the funniest performance as Kitty Kowalski, the dumb woman involved with Lex who is obviously only there for her looks. She always misses the point of what Lex is doing and Lex treats her as inferior. Surely there is room in a 2 hour and 34 minuets for more performances like this.

The only actor who was in the original and is returning to this is the late great Marlon Brando. He reprises his role of Jor-el, father of Kel-el/ Superman/ Clark Kent. Using unused footage from the original he makes a small appearance in this one as well.

It may have been 20 years since we have seen the iconic “S” on screen, but this film has been in the works for about 10 years. The script has had many different writers and went through different versions. Many directors were in the running for this film and finally landed in the hands of Bryan Singer. He directed the first two X-men movies and is responsible for the wave of comic book movies. He has successfully brought back a franchise that many thought was dead and I look forward to seeing where he will take “the last son of Krypton” next.

8 out of 10

Rated PG-13 for some intense action violence.
Runtime: 154 min