Published in The Post-Star (D7)
7/6/06
Superman Returns (2006). Written by Michael Dougherty and Dan Harris, directed by Brian Singer. Starring Brandon Routh, Kate Bosworth, James Marsden, Frank Langella, Eva Marie Saint, Kevin Spacey and Parker Posey. 153 minutes. Rated PG-13 (for some intense action violence).
Superman's back in Metropolis, and back in the box office.
Don't care for men in Spandex? Keep an open mind. This cotton-candy comic-book plot probably won't inspire anyone to save the world, but it's certainly an entertaining way to watch a few hours fly past.
As the film begins, Martha Kent (Eva Marie Saint) is immersed in a homey scene of dishwashing and Scrabble (look quick, and you'll notice words like "alienation" on the board) when a hunk of flaming meteorite lands in her cornfield.
Make that, a hunk and a flaming meteorite. It's her son Clark (Brandon Routh), aka Superman, returned from an unproductive voyage to the ruins of his home planet. His mom welcomes him back, but he soon discovers that not everyone feels the same way.
Reporter Lois Lane (Kate Bosworth) was justifiably peeved when her super-studmuffin flew off to a distant galaxy without so much as a goodbye kiss. Talk about a man who can't commit, right? He seems to think he can just swoop in and sweep her off her feet after five years of silence -- but alas, the Man of Steel has a lot to learn about the women of this planet.
Lane has moved on -- or at least, tried valiantly. She has a son (he's about 5 years old ... hmmm), a supportive, down-to-earth fiance (James Marsden), and a freshly won Pulitzer Prize for an editorial titled "Why the World Doesn't Need Superman."
And then there's his old nemesis, Lex Luther (Kevin Spacey), who has escaped life behind bars because Superman failed to appear as a witness at his trial. He's plotting another earth-shatteringly evil caper, and only a caped do-gooder with a weird little curl in the middle of his forehead can stop him.
The movie has all the elements of a blockbuster -- humor, romance, drama and action -- but something about it feels a little too airbrushed to evoke real emotion.
Cartoonish, you might say.
But I guess that's not such a bad thing. If you can't save the world, you might as well entertain it.
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