‘Superman Returns’ tells us the
story of Superman following the events of Superman II, where has returned to
his home planet of Krypton in hopes of finding any survivors after an astronaut
discovery of Krypton. He returns to Earth only to learn that the evil Lex
Luthor has been released, following Superman’s failure to show up in court. Now
Lex Luthor is at it again, attempting to once more destroy the world as
Superman must “return” to defeat him.
In terms of story, this is a
straightforward premise and could easily be an engaging one. This was very
similar in Superman: The Movie and the Lex Luthor storyline completely works
there but here, it simply doesn’t. Bryan Singer definitely did not demonstrate
his love for film and his passion to resurrect a franchise that died out 19
years earlier. The way that the entire story was told was in a dull manner,
never providing the true character moments that even the atrocity, Superman IV
remembered and provided. Lex’s plot to take over the world for a while seems
interesting, especially a scene involving Jor-El. It was actually great to see
them re-use Brando’s legendary performance back in 1978 into this film and
surprisingly worked, I must say. However, the whole aspect of Kal-El leaving
Earth to Krypton betrayed his character and his constant frustration and
jealousy throughout the film resembles more of the Clark from Smallville than
previous Superman films!
Something that was horrendous about
Superman IV was the laughable visual effects which looked like they had been
horribly Photoshop-ed thanks to an extremely low budget of under $20 million.
Thankfully, the effects in Superman Returns are good but still, in terms of its
age don’t look incredible. Much of the visuals do not seem engaging especially
considering most other elements of the film are horrendous. Bland visuals
generally don’t mean much but here it does, considering that everything is
pretty terrible, especially the characters.
Something that was amazing about
the first two instalments were the endearing characters and how they were
played out. Kal-El was always charming and possessed all the traits that
Superman should have whether it be witty humor, intensity, eagerness, boldness
or even the clumsiness and awkwardness of Clark Kent which were all brilliantly
portrayed by Christopher Reeve. The same cannot be said about Brandon Routh who
simply doesn’t bring much charm and excitement to the film despite some good
Superman moments. When he delivers the line, “flying is still statistically
speaking, the safest means of transport!” which was a complete take from
Superman IV, not much is felt. He wasn’t terrible but he definitely was miscast
and definitely does not bring the memories of Reeves’ Superman. Whilst Kevin
Spacey is great as Lex Luthor, yet still remains a boring character, there was
a huge issue I had with this film and that was Lois Lane who was such a lovable
character in the old films. Kate Bosworth was rather terrible in this film for
many reasons. She looked and certainly did not act anything like Lois Lane from
the previous films but she looks far too young which becomes extremely
distracting. However, the core of this issue lies with her acting abilities
which are extremely limited. Considering a large proportion of the story is
devoted to her story, it becomes rather hard to watch and care for her
portrayal of a beloved character. Her chemistry with Brandon Routh was terrible
with the two never demonstrating their charming and bold personalities that
their previous actors displayed. Eva Saint Marie is great as Martha and it is a
surprise that she and Brando were in a film together, despite not playing a couple
or anything, since On The Waterfront in 1954.
There is one decent action sequence
in the film and that is entirely it. To not spoil much of the ending, the film
ends in the most anticlimactic and rushed way that it becomes utterly
frustrating. To think that a new Superman film with the budget and even the
time did not add as much action as even Superman III did is just shocking. It’s
actually an insult and would make this film feel worse and worse when
re-watching. One decent action sequence doesn’t give justice and respect to
previous Superman films even if the source material was somewhat loyal to the
original films. Since there is almost no action and no final confrontation
between Kal-El and Lex, but ends abruptly, most of the emotion and conflict
cannot truly be felt. Possibly one of the greatest scenes in the film is when
Superman is hospitalized and people support him and wait eagerly, much like us
the audience did. But…nothing really happens!
Another frustrating aspect of Superman Returns was the vision of Metropolis by Singer. This certainly didn't seem to resemble that of the old films and especially sequences inside the Daily Planet seemed to show no recognition of what the old films were life. It now seems like a huge part of life on Metropolis with constant interviews and rooms full of people. Compare this with that of the old films and it certainly doesn't work well especially as a sequel to the first two Superman films.
Overall, Superman Returns is quite
possibly the fourth worst film in the Superman film franchise and suffers much
from poor character development and lack of emotion and conflict. Many
performances aren’t that great and many characters and themes feel betrayed by
this film. Even the effects do not look dazzling with such a big budget.
Grade- 3.5/10
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