Superman Returns You Will Believe Again
Why 'Superman Returns' Is the Best Superman Movie Ever Fabricated
That's correct, I said it.
Superman is, arguably, one of the biggest pop culture icons in American history. Everyone knows Superman, and it's no wonder that when Hollywood began making major feature film adaptations of comic book characters, the Human of Steel was ane of the offset to come to the screen. Richard Donner'south 1978 picture show Superman struck a chord with audiences at the time, as Christopher Reeve made folks believe he could fly. It is, by most accounts, a swell flick, and while information technology's held in high esteem as one of the best superhero movies ever made, I'd argue in that location's another Superman film that exceeds Superman both in terms of quality and fidelity to the character: Bryan Singer's 2006 reboot/sequel Superman Returns .
Donner's Superman spurred 4 further sequels, each worse than its predecessor, until the franchise was killed once and for all with 1987'due south low budget Superman Four: The Quest for Peace . Hollywood spent the adjacent decade and a one-half trying to figure out how to bring Superman dorsum to the big screen until Singer—fresh off revitalizing the superhero genre with X-Men and X2 —croaky the code. Only instead of making a hard left plow away from what came before, Singer embraced Donner's piece of work on Superman and Superman II , crafting a movie that was simultaneously a reboot and a sequel to Superman Ii.
The resulting Superman Returns was met with a mixed response. Just a twelvemonth prior, Christopher Nolan reinvented the superhero genre once again with the gritty, ultra-grounded Batman Begins , and audiences firmly had Spider-Human fever in the wake of Sam Raimi's colorful, splashy outset two films. Superman Returns, meanwhile, was a much more thoughtful and deliberately paced superhero movie focused more on the relationship between Superman and the globe/Superman and Lois Lane than action set pieces or fisticuffs. As a consequence, Returns got kind of a bad rap and with a worldwide gross of $391.one million, failed to exceed the heaven-high expectations of Warner Bros.
And yet, I nonetheless believe Superman Returns is the best Superman moving-picture show nosotros've seen thus far. In terms of casting, Singer knocked it out of the park. Brandon Routh is at once thoughtful, sensitive, and above all heroic as the titular Man of Steel, and he very much follows in Reeve's footsteps in crafting a distinct portrayal of Clark Kent in dissimilarity to his true superhero persona. And holy hell is Kevin Spacey a delightful Lex Luthor. Despite an interesting performance from Cistron Hackman, Superman'southward portrayal of Luthor is somewhat ho-hum—less menacing and more than smarmy. In the hands of Spacey, however, Luthor toes the line between ruthless and charismatic. He'due south clearly into some terrible things, merely you also tin can't wait to see what he's gonna do adjacent.
Spacey'south Luthor has a somewhat mannerly disdain for Superman, only as well feels justified in his deportment as beingness good for himself and humankind, as summed upwards at the cease of one of his brilliant opening monologues:
"Gods are selfish beings who wing around in little reddish capes and don't share their ability with mankind. No, I don't want to be a god, I just want to bring burn to the people. And…I want my cut."
And while Ned Beatty's Otis in Superman is and then incompetent he's more than abrasive than funny, Parker Posey's hilariously off-color remarks and willingness to call Lex out makes for one of the all-time onscreen villain sidekicks in movie history. Kate Bosworth, meanwhile, is a swell Lois Lane, and is more capable of treatment the complex emotions that are brought about by the sudden return of Routh's Superman, v years after he took off without so much as a cheerio. From a story standpoint, Singer's structure here is kind of vivid. The film builds off of Superman and Superman Ii, which gives him the excuse not to have to re-tell the origin story that everyone already knows, and allows him to immerse audiences into high drama in the middle of the story. Moreover, the 9/11 parallels are carefully handled, with Singer pondering the question, "Does the world fifty-fifty need Superman?" It's that central conceit that drives this movie and makes it more than interesting than well-nigh superhero stories out at that place. Superman Returns doesn't operate from the standpoint of assuming its superhero is the world's necessary savior. Singer asks, what if we don't need him? Where does that put Superman, a human being now firmly without his birthplace and in danger of losing his adopted home?
One of the major complaints lodged at Superman Returns is that Superman doesn't throw a unmarried punch throughout the whole movie, to which I respond, so what? Superman Returns offers a superhero that is more heroic than 80% of other modern superhero protagonists—Singer makes articulate that Superman needs to save the people; that is his desire, and that is his purpose. Whether that involves punching the living daylights out of bad guys or non is abreast the indicate, and in set slice later prepare slice we see Superman exuding the purity of the word "hero", ever enlightened of his surroundings and never favoring 1 person over another in detail, even if that person happens to be the love of his life. The airplane sequence; the motorcar chase; the Krypton rock finale—all of these set pieces are thrillingly crafted and executed, showcasing Superman's heroics. Is Human being of Steel a good moving-picture show? Yes, a very practiced ane I'd fence. Is it a good Superman picture? No, no it is not. Zack Snyder misses the point of Superman in both Human of Steel and Batman v Superman: Dawn of Justice , and while those films may feature more than impressive visual furnishings or fisticuffs, they neglect to fully realize the character of Superman, which is where Superman Returns shines.
Fifty-fifty as Superman Returns becomes a tad bloated in its decision, the film's impact outweighs that of Donner's Superman, whose runtime is made all the more taxing past the spotty pacing. I know it'due south sacrosanct, just it'south fourth dimension to admit that Superman is just every bit mixed a bag as all the other Superman movies. The positives of Superman Returns far outweigh the negatives, and had Singer and Co. been allowed to keep on with the franchise, I believe audiences would take been in for a treat. Instead, it served as a one-off, but is long overdue for another await—particularly in dissimilarity to the electric current state of the superhero moving-picture show genre. While Curiosity Studios is the biggest superhero actor on the cake, its focus on heroics and allegiance to character owe a debt to Vocalist'southward Superman Returns. Moreover, if Superman Returns were released right now, as-is, information technology'd be hailed as a vivid, character-centric twist on the superhero genre, continuing in stark dissimilarity to the explosion-filled theatrics of current comic volume adaptations. Information technology'due south sweeping, it's romantic, it's thoughtful—Superman Returns is the best Superman moving picture ever made.
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