Superman Returns
Rated: PG-13
On the page, Superman is not a very interesting character. His power was basically stripped away by Dr. Manhattan in Alan Moore’s Watchmen. A man who can do anything is a god and gods aren’t very interesting. As a classics professor of mine once said, “Gods (referring to those Olympus kids from Homer’s The Iliad) are like drunks in a padded cell,” Furthermore, without room for failure, there’s not much room for growth. On the big screen, the Man of Steel's boring streak continued. While most everyone agrees that Superman III and Superman IV: The Quest for Peace are worse than Doomsday in a kryptonite suit, Superman and Superman II seem to hold some respect and I’m not sure why. Other than Christopher Reeve, Gene Hackman (who I don’t really buy as Luthor but the guy’s a great actor nonetheless), and John Williams’ iconic score, those films are pretty terrible. Whenever someone mentions those films, all I can think about is the ending to the first movie where Superman spins the Earth in the opposite direction so that he can go back in time and save Lois. Even if you accept the comic book logic that spinning the Earth in the opposite direction would turn back time instead of KILLING US ALL, you still have to deal with the fact that Superman has now sacrificed all those people he previously saved so he can rescue Lois (and not even a good Lois; old, shrill, woodpile-y Lois). But now, after almost twenty years and four Presidents, and a production hell that someone has to write a book about, Superman has returned. And in the capable hands of Bryan Singer, he returns far better than he ever was before. 
The film picks up five years after the events of Superman II (don’t worry: you don’t have to subject yourself to those films to get caught up; Singer and co. know that you know the Superman mythos). Superman (Brandon Routh) left to see if Krypton still existed, Lex Luthor (Kevin Spacey) got out of prison and married a dying woman to get her cash, Lois Lane (Kate Bosworth) hooked up with Richard White (James Marsten) and got a son. Luthor steals some crystals from the Fortress of Solitude, learns how to use them to make land, and doesn’t really care that his new real estate venture will off billions of people. After reading responses to the film, I can understand but not necessarily agree with the comments. Would people be upset that Superman left them for five years to go find himself? Probably, but then again, his return to the public eye is in his typical spectacular fashion, with him saving a plane full of reporters and a stadium full of baseball fans. Would it be more dramatic if people resented Superman? Sure, but he’s too busy helping people to earn resentment. Besides, that would just make the whole planet look like a bunch of entitled dicks (whether we are or not is a discussion for another time). Also, while his return and Clark’s return are pretty much simultaneous, this is a world where glasses and a hair-do are a masterful disguise. The best defense I’ve ever heard of the Clark Kent/Superman problem is that why would anyone think that Superman has an alter-ego? He’s just a dude who flies around the Earth and helps people. He doesn't wear a mask so he must not have a secret identity. 
Others have commented that the film’s Christ-subtext is far too heavy, but I never really saw it (seriously, every time a character has to sacrifice him or herself to save humanity and then doesn’t die, does that automatically make them a Christ-figure? Does this mean that Super Mario is a Christ figure?). For me, the film is about selflessness vs. selfishness. The film juxtaposes Superman and Luthor from the beginning as both make their returns. And while a simple argument could go that Luthor is selfish and Supes is selfless, that’s not really true. Superman left Earth for personal reasons and Luthor idolizes Prometheus. Each sees the other as selfish and both see themselves as selfless. So do I have any problems with the film? Of course. I think that Luthor is nowhere near as cool in the third act as he is in the previous two. I think that the film could trim off twenty minutes and be just as good. I think that the editing is a little clumsy at times. But there’s just so much good in this film. It’s got a great sense of humor, some iconic shots, and Ottman’s unsurprisingly brilliant score. But for me, the film’s strongest aspect is the performances. Routh wears both the cape and the glasses just as well as Reeve once did. He’s perfect for the role just like Tobey Maguire was perfect for the part of Peter Parker or Hugh Jackman was for Wolverine. If anything, Routh deserves more kudos because whereas Maguire and Jackman were the first actors to take the characters to the big screen, Routh had to stand in the shadow of the beloved Reeve. 
I was worried about Bosworth simply because I didn’t think she was old enough to play a hardened journalist like Lois Lane. But she has a gravitas that makes her performance believable. It also helps that her first big scene is her being bounced around an airplane (quick side note: the hits people take in this film are beyond painful and it’s weird to see someone get smashed into a wall and not have so much as a bruise. Big twist: Kryptonians walk among us!) But perhaps Superman’s biggest save is Kevin Spacey’s career. He really hasn’t had a decent role since 1999’s American Beauty and his flops have only increased with Pay It Forward, The Life of David Gale, and culminating with Spacey’s dream project about Bobby Darin, Beyond the Sea. But here, he gets to devour the scenery, his co-stars (biggest casualty: Kal Penn who doesn’t speak a word for the entire film), the entire craft-services table, and a couple of production assistants. I’m not a dyed-in-the-wool Superman fan. I’m fan of Bryan Singer. I enjoy The Adventures of Lois and Clark as a cheesy distraction. But this was a film that, while I was excited for it, still had to win me over. It has, and now I can’t stop humming the theme song. Perhaps on repeat viewings the criticisms of others will become clearer, but right now, DC Comics has had yet another character resurrected by a talented filmmaker. Like last year’s Batman Begins, a solid story filmed by a talented director has taken a previously-humiliated superhero and returned him to his former glory. Superman Returns? I don’t about everyone else, but for me, he’s finally arrived. Words by
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