“Superman Returns” (Warner Brothers)
Good But Not Super
Heeee’s back! Yes Superman returns to the big screen in a new adventure titled “Superman Returns” (clever title). Brandon Routh is the new Superman and Kate Bosworth is the new Lois Lane. They may be new but the look and feel of the movie is the same old same old. This “Superman” flies but never soars.
As the movie opens Martha Kent (a luminous Eva Marie Saint) is alone on her farm. Pa Kent has obviously died. A meteor streaks across the sky and lands nearby. Martha goes out and finds Superman/Clark Kent (Routh). He has returned to earth after five years. Why he returned in a blaze of light and slightly dulled in his senses is not explained.
Later when Clark goes back to work at “The Daily Planet” he finds that Lois’ life has gone on without him. She is engaged to Perry White’s nephew Richard (James Marsden) and has a five-year-old son, Jason (Tristan Lake Leabu). Of course the question is “Who is that baby’s daddy”
Meanwhile Lex Luther (Kevin Spacey) and his girl friend Kitty (Parker Posey) are up to no good. They plan to rob Superman of his powers and take over the world. They even use Superman’s father Jor-El (Marlon Brando) to do this.
If a lot of this sounds like a plot out of the Christopher Reeve “Superman” movies, well it is. Spacey and Posey seem to be directly channeling Gene Hackman and Valerie Perrine, who originated the roles in Reeve’s movies.
Routh is a little wooden as Superman, but so was Christopher Reeve. He also resembles Christopher Reeve in the looks department but is a little more mannequin-ish. A times his face looks painted on and his hair looks attached.
Bosworth is mousy looking as Lois and doesn’t give her much of a personality. There is a hint of some chemistry between her and Routh’s Superman but it needs to break into flame in the next edition. Marsden has been the other man in so many movies he knows the role by heart. If I recall he once wooed Mary Jane in the “Spiderman” movies and also went after Jean Grey in “X-Men.” The guy is typecast to say the least.
The special effects in the movie are great and give the movie the little something “extra” it otherwise wouldn’t have. Still in this age when special effects are a dime a dozen the movie needs more.
There is a lot of religious symbolism going on in the movie but most of it will go over the heads of the kids in the audience. But for the adults, you get pummeled with it about the time Superman loses his powers.
The running time certainly doesn’t add to the enjoyment of the film. At two hours and thirty minutes plus the film becomes an endurance race with only the strong surviving. A little editing is a wonderful thing.
The movie is rated PG-13 for violence.
This newest incarnation is a good movie but not a super one. Maybe it should have been titled “Goodman Returns.”
I scored “Superman Returns” a one more time 5 out of 10.
