Superman Returns

A Superman we can root for
I remember seeing Superman IV in the theaters when I was six, how there were so many people swarming all around, how there was excitement. Clearly it was a shoddy movie, but to a kid you just can't buy that kind of palpable movie madness.

Now I'm as old as my parents were when they saw the very first Superman, and I've got to say this must be what it felt like. I think Bryan Singer is fast becoming one of the most respectable directors in Hollywood, and what he did with this movie--on a far, far grander scale than either of his X-Men movies--merits SOME kind of award come Oscar time.

We all know the story--Kryptonian boy comes to Earth, saves man from the foibles of archnemesis Lex Luthor, woos Lois Lane. Singer and Co. decided to have this movie pick up after Superman II (wise move) but you never really get a jarring sense of chronology--no General Zod references here. Instead, Supe has just returned from a nearly five-year journey to see if anything remains of...
Not Even Kryptonite Can Stop Him!
I can now forgive Bryan Singer for ditching X-Men - possibly even he couldn't have saved X-3, but what he did with Superman Returns puts him at the top of the heap of action film directors. Quite simply Superman Returns is just about perfect. It has nearly everything one could want in a 21st Century incarnation for the Man of Steel and the physical production is visually as eye-poppingly glorious as anyone could hope for. The flying scenes (especially the Superman in space scenes) have a breadth and beauty around them that almost stops one's breath - absolutely stunning.

As we've come to expect, there is great humor throughout with winks to the comic books and previous Superman flicks and director Singer doesn't shrink from paying obvious homage to the Reeve flicks - a very nice touch, indeed. Singer doesn't shrink, either, from going for broke in the second half of the film's more emotional content and the balance between action, love story, and pseudo-religious,...
The Man of Tomorrow Returns...
It's taken more than a decade to get the Man of Steel, The Man of Tomorrow, and the Big Blue Wonder to find his way back onto the big screen. After the debacle that was Superman IV: The Quest for Peace, it would be understandable that many people would be skeptical going into Superman Returns, the first film in the franchise since 1987. But now, in 2006, Bryan Singer has done what many comic book and film fans have been hoping for with the treatment of Superman - he's restored the magic, respectability and wonder to the character.

Clocking in at a nearly-epic 2 hours and 34 mins, Singer and company return to the world of Metropolis, where Superman has seemingly disappeared for close to 5 years without a trace. The world has moved on when Superman finally does make a return, a shock to the world, and even more of a shock to his love - Lois Lane. But being a part of the world, of course, Lois has also moved on - becoming engaged to the boss's son, and raising a child, placing...
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