Title: Superman Returns Director: Bryan Singer Staring: Brandon Routh, Kate Bosworth Aspect Ratio: 2.35:1 Studio: Warner Bros. Genre(s): Action Rated: (For some intense action violence)

Ever since Superhero movies became the big rage at the box office, movie studios have been making these superhero movies left and right. Last year Warner Bros. revived the Batman franchise in the most spectacular way with “Batman Begins.” Now they've revived the Superman franchise with “Superman Returns,” although the results aren't nearly as spectacular. Unlike “Batman Begins”, where they decided to completely restart the franchise, “Superman Returns” continues where "Superman II" left off by taking place five years in the future (and erasing the embarresing events of "Superman III" and "Superman IV: The Quest For Peace"). Superman left Earth to see if he could find Krypton, and returns to Metropolis to continue his world saving ways to find several things have changed. Lex Luther is out of jail and has inherited millions of dollars from an old widow he conned. The Daily Planet is still the only newspaper in the city. But the biggest change comes in the fact that Lois Lane has not only won a Pulitzer Prize for an article she wrote called “Why The World Doesn't Need Superman,” but she is also engaged and has a son. Can Superman win back the heart of the woman he loves while saving the world from Lex Luther's latest plan to take over the world? Well, if I wanted to be a jerk I could tell you right now, but I won't. And it's not because I think that there is something to spoil here. Oh no, compared to other modern day superhero movies that are being made, the story for “Superman Returns” is flatter then a monthly issue of the Man of Steel's best selling comic book. You ALL know what will happen in this movie!

Lois Lane will be a sassy reporter. Superman will save the day. Lex Luther will try to take over the world. Superman will walk right up to Lex Luther despite the fact that Lex Luther never does ANYTHING without having some Kryptonight on hand (on that note, you can expect Superman to not expect this for some reason or another). As Clark Kent, Superman will be a shy, bumbling idiot, and regardless how much time Lois spends with him she will never be able to see past the glasses and realize that Clark Kent is really *GASP* Superman. Oh, and there will be sexuel tension between Superman and Lois, but nothing between Lois and Clark. Yeah, it all played out exactly as a comic book would. This makes "Superman Returns" not only the most disapointing return of the Man of Steele, but also the most pointless sequel to a franchise. Why resurect a franchise more then ten years later if you do nothing new with it? There are so many in-jokes and refferences to the past Superman movies that I started to feel like the story took a back seat to the producers going "let's put in a refference to movie two here" at various points in the film. And did we really need to have another flashback sequence where a young Clark Kent discovers his powers? We've seen this several times. And isn't this supposed to be a sequel of the original Superman movie, where Clark discovered his powers already? Don't you think we can finally move on from this particular storyline?

At this point the producers seem to be buying time with these flashbacks more then anything. Though I will admit, the producers have upped the action quite a bit in this movie. Thanks to computer graphics and blue screens, Superman now flies through the air in ways he never could before. The movie reintroduces Superman by having him stop a jet that has gotten out of control. Not only does Superman move like we've never seen him before, but one of the wings breaks off when Superman pulls too hard on it, making this Superman more grounded in reality. And an earthquake that causes Metropolis to almost fall to ruins is particularly impressive, as is Superman using every trick he has (and then some) to save the city from collapsing upon itself. This is all good stuff, and it gives fans of the franchise the most eye candy they've ever seen from these films. Sadly, it's the storyline itself that gets to be a tad bit silly. Lex Luther's plan to sink the continent and create a crystal landscape is utterly bizzare, as the crystal landscape provides no reasonable way for people to live on it. Kevin Spacey's performance is particularly questionable at times. Make no mistake, Spacey's Luther is MUCH more menacing then Gene Hackman's Luther ever was! That said, Spacey's Luther is still a little too comical for most of the film, and only until the climax do we really get a feeling for how dangerous Luther really is.

I also have issues with Kate Bosworth's Lois Lane, who seems to be a little bit wishy washy, and has none of the spunk Lois Lane should have. The two actors that are the biggest concerns are Lois's son and Superman himself. Lois's son is a disturbing kid who does little more then stare out into space for most of the movie. Newcomer Brandon Routh dons the Superman suit, but actually has the least amount of dialog in the movie, and in reality does nothing of any real importance. Yeah he saves the world, but unless he's saving people he isn't actually contributing to the storyline in any serious way. This is a problem. How are we supposed to get involved in a movie if the main character not only comes off as worthless, but if the supporting characters also didn't do much. Make no mistake, the real star of the movie is Lex Luther and Lois's fiancee Richard White. Lex Luther makes everything in this movie happen. EVERYTHING!!! He's in the first shot of the movie and the second-to-last shot. If Lex Luther wasn't in this movie I doubt we'd have a movie at all, flawed as he is. Richard White proves to be the most complex character in the whole movie. Before we meet the guy we are set up to hate him because...well, because he's hooking up with Superman's girl, and no one, not NO ONE, hooks up with Superman's girl!!! Or so I thought. But Richard...well, he's a cool guy. He's nice, smart, shows some backbone to Lois, and actually provides some of the friendliest conflict I've seen in a movie this year.

Yeah, we're supposed to hate the guy, but how can we do that when the guy is so cool and nice? For that matter, when Superman is comes off as a worthless wet rag, we can't help but root a little for Richard to come out on top in the end. What really sinks this movie though is the abundant amount of miscalculations in the script. Miscalculations I wouldn't expect from Bryan Singer, a man who found a way to turn X-Men into a great film franchise, and won an Oscar for Best Original Screenplay (for the movie "The Usual Suspect," which also won Kevin Spacey an Oscar for Best Supporting Actor now that I think about it). Like why is Lex Luther's plan so utterly incomprehensible and pointless. Doesn't detroying land to create land no one would want to buy completely missing the point of doing something in the first place? Why does Lois Lane have no spunk? Why does her kid just stare during the whole movie? Why is this movie two and a half hours long when it could easily be thirty minutes shorter and have the same effect? Why is Superman the least important character in the movie? Why establish things that are already established? On and on the list goes. Still, thanks to some impressive special effects and some astonishing action sequences, "Superman Returns" did squeez some enjoyment out of me, and I kind of liked it in the end. On the other hand, I can't say I'm in a hurry to see it again either.

- -Review By Kevin T. Rodriguez- -