Bryan Singer’s Superman Returns, the latest entry in the last son of Krypton’s exploits, has one foot firmly in the past as it looks confidently into the future. Everybody knows the Superman saga, so Singer and screenwriters Michael Dougherty and Dan Harris waste little time before dropping us right in the middle of things. Having disappeared five years earlier, Superman (Brandon Routh) returns to Earth in spectacular fashion, crash-landing in the Kansas fields outside the Kent farm. His absence was unexpected and prolonged, forcing the people close to him to abruptly readjust their lives, including Lois Lane (Kate Bosworth), who is now rearing a young son with her new boyfriend, Richard White (James Marsden). But when Superman returns, old wounds are reopened and tender feelings resurface. The return couldn’t be better timed, given that his old nemesis Lex Luthor (Kevin Spacey) has stolen a set of Kryptonian crystals from Superman’s Fortress of Solitude and is determined to use their matter-altering powers to his own end.
In a sense, this is a Superman for everyone; Singer re-creates seminal events from the comic book while making sure to include allusions to the classic television 1950s series and the current television hit Smallville. The cover of the character’s first comic-book appearance is re-created; the first actress to portray Lois Lane, Noel Neill, is on hand for a cameo; the cornfields of Kansas will be familiar to fans of the WB’s hit show. Orphan, immigrant, messiah, and everyman — each of the roles assigned to the character over the years is touched upon.
Without question, the script is more than a bit derivative. Luthor’s latest nefarious scheme plays like an exaggerated version of the 1978 film starring the late Christopher Reeve, and the use of exact lines of dialogue from that movie seemingly begins as a homage but eventually reeks of desperation. In the end, the threadbare nature of the script does not live up to Singer’s lofty ambitions.
Be that as it may, a dynamic visual style wins out over the story’s lack of substance. There isn’t a scene in this film, even the most intimate, that isn’t suffused with a sense of grandeur. From the peace and grace of the Kent farm in Smallville to the teeming urban wonders of Metropolis, these iconic locales are rendered lovingly yet with a degree of realism that makes them genuine. Although Superman Returns is not a complete success, it is a strong and entertaining inaugural entry in what will, with any luck, be a long series of films. If anything, Singer proves here that amid all of the other big-screen superhero adaptations, we do need Superman.
This article appears in Jun 29 – Jul 5, 2006.
