Film Review: Superman Returns (2006)
As the 21st Century saw an era of Hollywood superhero films, fans of superhero who started this trend long ago, suffered from disappointment with each new film. None managed to replicate the impact of Christopher Reeve's iconic portrayal in the 1978 classic. The most ambitious and most highly anticipated among those attempts was Superman Returns, 2006 film directed by Bryan Singer. Singer's ambitious attempt fell short, despite his proven ability to handle big-budget superhero films through the X-Men series.
The film came out nineteen years after Superman IV: Quest for Peace, the ignominious end to the original film series. Attempts to restart the series anew were numerous, with Tim Burton's Superman Lives becoming legendary despite remaining stuck in development hell. Fortune finally smiled at Singer, a great fan of Superman and the original films. He decided to make a sequel rather than a reboot, ignoring the last two Superman films and starting where Superman II left off.
The plot takes roughly five years later, with Superman (played by Brandon Routh) leaving Earth in an attempt to visit remnants of his ancestral home, Krypton. Upon returning, he discovers that the world has changed a lot in his absence, becoming more cynical and violent. He gets his old job as Clark Kent, Daily Planet reporter, and finds that his colleague and love interest Lois Lane (played by Kate Bosworth) won a Pulitzer Prize for an article claiming that the world doesn't need Superman. He also discovers that she is a single mother, having a 5-year old son Jason White (played by Tristan Lake Labeau), whom she apparently had with her new boyfriend Richard White (played by James Marsden), nephew of Kent’s boss Perry White (played by Frank Langella). As he struggles with those realisation, his archnemesis Lex Luthor (played by Kevin Spacey) leaves prison on a legal technicality, rebuilds his criminal empire and uses Krypton's crystals to conduct a diabolical scheme involving the creation of his own continent in the North Atlantic.
Singer tried hard to pay homage to the first two films, consulting with Richard Donner before developing the script. He was also aware that the world had changed since then, and the general tone of the film was much darker due to events like 9/11. Those changes included removing “the American way” from Superman’s motto, in order to pander to anti-American sentiments that became prevalent in the world in the years of Iraq War. Bold creative decisions were made, such as turning Lois Lane into a single mother and exploring Superman's role as a father.
However, the script by Michael Dougherty and Dan Harris failed to explore these themes sufficiently. Too much fan service in the first part of the film left little room for action until the second half. Luthor's criminal scheme felt unoriginal and similar to that of the 1978 film, leading to comparisons that made Singer's work seem too dark and less humorous. The pacing issues created by the script resulted in an overlong film even by today's superhero film standards.
Casting was another big problem for Superman Returns. Brandon Routh, chosen mainly due to his physical resemblance to Christopher Reeve, tried hard but lacked the charm necessary to fill Reeve's shoes. Kate Bosworth was even worse as Lois Lane, being too young and lacking chemistry with Routh. The casting of Kevin Spacey as Lex Luthor helped elevate the film, providing a sinister and less campy performance.
With a budget of over a quarter billion US dollars, Superman Returns was both impressive and disappointing. The CGI effects and digital resurrection of Marlon Brando were impressive, but the cinematography by Newton Thomas Sigel was too dark and cynical for the earlier Donner's vision. John Ottman's musical score paid homage to John Williams' timeless original.
Superman Returns received mostly positive reviews and had decent results at the box office, although much less than Warner Bros. had anticipated. That disappointment led to scrapping plans for another sequel and a reboot of Superman in the form of Henry Cavill as part of the larger DC Extended Universe. Ultimately, Superman Returns fell into the cracks, with some off-screen shenanigans and accusations against Singer and Spacey contributing to it being conveniently forgotten or seen by Superman fans as a noble but failed experiment.
RATING: 5/10 (++)
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