Stephan Bender plays a young Clark Kent discovering his powers in Warner Bros. Pictures’ Superman Returns, © 2006.

Parts of this review contain spoilers of the film, I have signified the area with ****

Faster than a speeding bullet. More powerful than a locomotive. Able to leap tall buildings in a single bound. It’s a bird! It’s a plane! No, it’s Superman! Cue John Williams’s opening theme. But who is Superman?! When is the last time you heard that one? Superman has been around since the late 1930s (first appearing in 1938) and has become one of the most famous pop culture icons of all time. Since then, Superman has appeared in various radio serials, television programs, awful musicals and stageplays, movies, and of course hundreds of comic books.

On a distant planet called Krypton, a married couple, Jor-El and Lora Lor-Van, or at least we think, has cautioned everyone that their very home will be destroyed in a matter of hours. No one bellieves their nonsense and officials have everyone remain where they are. Their first and only child known as Kal-El is sent in a pod out to space moments before the destruction of the planet. Thousands of years the toddler Kal-El crash lands in a rural town called Smallville and is adopted by Jonathan and Martha Kent. He grew up in the town and discovered he had many super powers. The effects of earth on his alien body have given him amazing abilities. He was able to leap great distances (and eventually fly), had super strength, and superspeed (he also later was known to have been able to travel back in time, different types of vision, as well as ice breathe, take that mentos!)

After finding a green crystal, Clarke travels to the artic and builds a crystal behemoth, known as the Fortress of Solitude. There he spends many years learning about his past from the memories of his father the crystal has generated. He decides to use his unique abilities to help the people of earth.

“They can be a great people, Kal-El, they wish to be. They only lack the light to show the way. For this reason above all, their capacity for good, I have sent them you… my only son.”

-Jor-El played by Marlon Brando originally stated in Superman (1978).

Clarke travels to Metropolis, a bustling city full of busy people and plenty of crime. With his new costume, blue full body tights, a red cape, tacky red boots, and of course an “S” symbol on his chest and cape, he takes on the identity of Superman. After fighting plenty of crime, he meets the beautiful reporter known as Lois Lane from The Daily Planet, the city’s most read newspaper. The two have many interviews together and Superman learns as much about Lois as he does about him, they spend a romantic evening flying in the sky together.

Those were mainly the events of the 1978 film, Superman, starring Christopher Reeve and directed by Richard Donner.

After the most recent Superman film, he apparently went away for a while. Superman (now played by the very young Brandon Routh) went out to space to visit the remains of his homeworld to really find out if it was truly destroyed. It indeed was and after five years of soul searching, Superman and Clarke Kent return to Metropolis. Clarke is welcomed back by Jimmy Olsen (Sam Huntington) who is very glad to see him and is surprised he actually returned. Perry White (Frank Langella), the head of the newspaper is also glad to see him back. Clarke is curious to known where Lois (Kate Bosworth) is and Jimmy points him to a T.V. screen and informs him that Lois is now a mother and has a very serious relationship (with Richard White, played by James Marsden) happening at the moment. She has a five year old son named Jason (Tristan Lake Leabu) Lois is aboard a Boeing 777 and is present for the first launch of a space shuttle from a top a plane.

Clarke is proud to learn that she is nominated for a Pulitizer Prize, but is horrified when he finds out her article was called “Why The World Doesn’t Need Superman.” As he watches the T.V. screen, something goes very wrong and the shuttle refuses to seperate from the plane. The problem is, the engines are timed to go off in a matter of minutes. The engines starts and begins to fry the tail of the plane. Clarke flees the office and out of nowhere, Superman is on top of the plane seperating the shuttle.

As the plane is dropping hundreds of feet per second, Superman manages to land it safely. The world breaks with applause, pleased that Superman was able to save them, and that Superman has returned!

Lex Luthor (Kevin Spacey) has also been out of prison for quite a while and has cheated an old woman out of everything she has and took it all at her decease. A few of his henchman have discovered a new landmass in the artic north and Lex travels to this strange place with partner Kitty (Parker Posey). To his luck, it is Superman’s Fortress of Solitude. He finds the crystals that have built this place, as well as the message from Jor-El (stock footage of Marlon Brando). Learning that Superman has returned, he uses this to his advantage. The crystals can creat new landmasses. The only thing that cannot be produced more than already exists is land. Lex sees an opportunity to become even richer, but also exterminate billions of people in the process. Kitty apparently has plans over her own.

The Metropolis Museum of Natural History has opened a new exhibit consisting of minerals found from an existing world. Lex immediately knows, Krypton. They break into the museum take the Krytonite, a deadly radioactive mineral to Superman and encase the crystals in it and begin to grow a landmass. A Kryptonic one…

Where has Superman been all these years? Well after the fourth Superman film released in 1987, Superman went to T.V. in 1993 with Lois and Clarke: The New Adventures of Superman starring Terri Hatcher and Dean Cain. Superman was hispanic and so was Lois, probably one of the biggest changes in the Superman adaptations. No one cared! Superman was a global phenomenon since his birth in 1938 and was portrayed in many different ways. The show was a lasting hit until 1997. Four years go by with nothing until the WB produced a new TV show. Smallville premiered in 2001 and told the story of a teenage Clarke Kent (Tom Welling) in high school. He faces the everday troubles of finding love and friendship, high school troubles, and as well as harnessing his alien powers.

The show continues to run until this day and even teenage versions of Lois Lane (Erica Durance) and Lex Luthor (Michael Rosenbaum) have been introduced to keep the viewers wanting for more.

So here, in 2006, we get another film. About time. The way the writers made an excuse for Superman’s absence was a decently creative one. I’m guessing most adopted children want to know even more about their biological parents sometime.

The new Superman played by Brandon Routh is a pretty good one. Though he doensn’t really share the same stature of Christopher Reeve, he does look a lot like him. Last week on Late Night with Conan O’Brian, he told Conan that people even told him he looked similar to Christopher Reeve around that age. He has sleek black hair, a square jaw, and brown eyes. Mostly the image the Superman, of course the blue contact lenses helped a lot. For such an epic role in a movie, this new kid on the block hasn’t really done much. He had a role in a very low budget film called Karla, which I have never even heard of. Though, he has made various guest appearances on popular T.V. shows such as Will and Grace and Cold Case.

He plays the new Clarke Kent as traditionally and geeky as possible. But of course, he also plays the new Superman with the traditional costume as heroically as possible, and definitely looks the part. He put on twenty pounds of muscle for this role and that is something to be proud of and recognized for. His acting truly shows the emotional breakdown and struggle to try and re-win Lois Lane and regain the relationship they once had.

Lois Lane. Her character produced an article “Why The World Doesn’t Need Superman.” This is my little share of information of why the world doesn’t need Kate Bosworth playing Lois Lane. She has no filmography to be proud of besides an average performance in Beyond The Sea with Kevin Spacey. But she was also in the film Win A Date With Tad Hamilton!, which I’m sure no one in that film was proud to be part of. Her performance in that film was merely pathetic and underplayed, even though every character in that film was quite underwritten. Unfortunately, when it comes to any sort of performing arts, one can still show talent over poor writing.

Lois Lane’s character is suppose to have changed since Superman left. She moved on with her life, she got together with someone, and she had a son. When Superman is back, she’s a little bitter towards him and hot-headed. It is obvious through the writing that she is still in love with him, but Bosworth doesn’t show it towards the degree she should have. This however, melted any possible onscreen chemistry that she and Routh could of had. I don’t really see how they could have made such a mistake at choosing a Lois Lane. I’ve even read that they strongly considered a few others for the role such as Kerri Russel (No.), Elisha Cuthbert (No!), and Claire Danes (Yes! Yes! Why not her?!).

Kevin Spacey was Lex Luthor. What a fun and dark portrayal of this character! His character was both evil and hilarious. He hasn’t been in a lot of films for quite a while, but one was particulary memorable for me. Way back in 2001, he starred in the film K-Pax. In the film he played a mental patient who claimed to be from a different planet. His psychiatrist attempted help him, but ends up being blown away by his patient’s explanations. He plays Lex Luthor in his own way, a way we have never seen before. There is a modern evil to him, and we learn that he was locked away until Superman left (five years) and was released when Superman didn’t show up at the court hearing to testify for a double life sentence.

Director Bryan Singer, who also wrote the film, has cooked up a new story, that flows with his own direction. The way things are done especially the emotional tension of Superman’s return on Superman and what was supposed to be Lois Lane’s character was really powerful for what is what and what it also could have been.

Other writers, Michael Dougherty, Dan Harris, Jerry Siegel, and Joe Shuster for the most part write the story and characters well. Superman’s return affects a lot of people in different ways and it truly shows in the film. Again, Kevin Spacey’s character was probably the best written. A favorite line of mine is probably something I’m going to remember for a very long time.

“Gods are selfish beings who fly around in little red capes and don’t share their power with mankind.”

-Lex Luthor (Kevin Spacey)

The cinematography by both Singer and Cinematographer Newton Thomas Sigel is something quite new. For one thing, the film was entirely shot on high definition video using the new Genesis Panavision camera giving the film an entire brand new, rich look, and uses a full frame 35 mm width.

Most of the shots are quick, especially that involving Superman. Besides the special effects, the way he flies by the camera, we truly get a feel for how fast he really is. How fast? Faster than a speeding bullet. There is a slow-motion shot on top of a bank with one of Lex’s henchman weilding a machine gun turrent and is firing towards two security guards. Even after the shells have left the weapon, Superman wips around and deflects them with his body. A personal favorite shot in the film is a memory of a young Clarke discovering his powers. He falls through the roof of a barn and stops in mid air before hitting the ground. He looks his left and sees his glasses on the ground and the camera is looking right through them.

Jim Emerson, a popular online blogger, has recently released a new blog that of relating to Superman. His observations after reading his blog are indeed painfully obvious. In “It’s a God! It’s a Man! It’s Super-Jesus!”, after some observation on Emerson’s part on the whole Superman is gay thing, he realizes that Superman is not gay but actually Jesus. Well wait a minute. Well there are a lot of facts there. Definetely check out his blog to learn more about this, but I found something particularly intersting. Author Stephen Skelton released a new book called “The Gospel According to the World’s Greatest Superhero”, where it is confirmed that the storytellers of Superman modeled him on Christ, El (the end of Superman and his father’s real last names) is hebrew for “God”, and the movies, T.V., shows and comics are all parallels to Christ’s life, death, and second coming. There is a lot of this that can actually be related to the film, especially since Lois Lane keeps calling Superman a “savior.” but see the film for yourself to find out.

**** (spoiler area)

Something particulary outrageous about the film, but also very well done was the thought that Superman could have a son. There are many instances in the film where this is in fact implied.
Jason is about five years old, Superman left five years ago. Jason is afraid of a Kryptonite crystal held by Lex. It appears that Jason threw a piano at one of Lex’s attacking henchman. Lois whispers something in Superman’s ear while he is in a coma, while glancing at Jason. Jason senses Superman in the water after he has been stabbed by Lex Luthor with Kryptonite and has fallen in the ocean. Superman visits Jason while he is sleeping and speaks to him.

There are many possible explanations to this. I do not favor either one, but there is an equel balance of whether Superman is in fact Jason’s father or not. Jason is about five years old, so what? Possible coincidence. Jason could have just been afraid of Lex Luthor, he was also holding the Kryptonite in a threatening way. The ship could have rocked that made the piano slam into the wall, we never actually see Jason push the piano. Lois could have said anything to Superman, but could have looked at Jason because he was touching Superman’s costume. Superman was also floating on the surface of the ocean, so Jason could have saw him, not sensed him. Superman could of had the idea that perhaps Jason was his son, and decided to go see him. One more thing that particularly makes you reconsider why he may not be Superman’s son, when Lois and Jason are locked in the pantry, Jason opens the pantry door. Or does he? Ryan is standing right outside the door. Jason could have opened it with his strenght or Ryan could have opened it from the other side.

**** (end of spoiler area)

John Ottman’s score is an adaptation of John Williams production for the 1978 film. It is however, much more powerful and goes wonderfully with the action sequences and the bustling of the city of Metropolis.

The film has many qualities that truly makes it feel like the gallant return of the world’s favorite super hero. Lois Lane’s character was written as it should have been, but underperformed and could have been much more powerful a character. Unfortunately, this was probably the most emotional film of superman’s and we got what we got… And though we did, we also got the workings of a truly great director, who will continue to produce films that we can continue to enjoy. Though they are not perfect, they have reached the best they can be. Because like actors, directors, superheroes, and even the movies, no one and nobody is perfect. But they can inspire and strengthen…

One of Marlon Brando’s lines in the first film that is probably the most powerful and loving in all of history, is something that can also be said about the movies.

“You will travel far, my little Kal-El. But we will never leave you… even in the face of our deaths… the richness of our lives shall be yours. All that I have, all that I’ve learned, everything I feel… all this, and more… I bequeath you, my son. You will carry me inside you all the days of your life. You will make my strength your own, and see my life through your own eyes, as your life will be seen through mine. The son becomes the father, and the father the son. This is all I can send you, Kal-El.”

Jor-El (Marlon Brando), Superman (1978)

Rated PG-13 for some intense action violence.

Running time 157 minutes.