He's a super freak, super freak.
Superman Returns
Starring: Brandon Routh and Kate Bosworth
Rating: PG-13
It's a bird! It's a plane! No, it's a disappointing Superman movie riding on the coattails of the recent superhero movie trend! This highly anticipated continuation of the Superman saga of movies starring Brandon Routh has opened, but the film doesn't live up to the hype. Right from the very beginning, Superman Returns is choppy and forced. The story begins with the man of steel having been gone five years in search of the remains of his home planet. While he's gone, Lex Luther (Kevin Spacey) is scheming once again, but this time he's growing new continents fro crystals in Superman's Fortress of Solitude. How he knew where to look for the fortress or what to do with the crystals are just the first in a long line of unanswered questions. As the title implies, Superman returns from his space quest and gets right back to the messy business of saving people. Much to his dismay, in his absence the one person he really cared about, Lois Lane (Kate Bosworth), has hardened her heart to him after he abandoned her. In fact, she has a new beau and a son who is, coincidentally, almost five years old (the plot thickens).
While the actors do a good job, they don't have much to work with. Superman, homoerotic as usual, but slightly more emotionally developed, is unfortunately more reminiscent of Jake Gyllenhaal in Bubble Boy than Christopher Reeves, the hunk of steel. It's my personal opinion that Tom Welling would have made a much better cape crusader than caterpillar eyebrows, but obviously Welling has been to busy with quality flicks such as The Fog and Cheaper by the Dozen 2. Lane is the typical noisy reporter and her son, while a subplot with a lot of potential, ends up adding little to the story. Considering this is an action movie, there is very little plot driven action until about the last 45 minutes of this nearly 3 hour film. The special effects are sometimes cool, but the feats are mostly just ridiculous to the point of scoffing. The only person who doesn't disappoint is Jimmy, the cameraman, who offers timely comic relief.
Of course the movie leaves room for a continuation of the series and gives some indications throughout the film that Superman's secret identity might be compromised. Over all, Superman Returns was too long and unfulfilling. On the superhero movie scale, it falls somewhere between Fantastic Four and Catwoman, smack in the middle of sub-par.
