Jul 15, 2006 06:57 PM
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Dir: Bryan Singer
Cast: Brandon Routh, Kate Bosworth, Kevin Spacey, James Marsden, Eva marie Saint.
IS it a bird? Is it a plane? No it’s the Man Of Steel, back after 20 years in the eagerly awaited epic Superman Returns.
Donning the late Christopher Reeve’s old outfit was always going to be a big call, but hunky newcomer Brandon Routh does an impressive job that succeeds in reinventing our hero for a new generation. Director Bryan Singer’s £120million blockbuster follows on from the 1980 sequel Superman II. Our hero is back on Earth five years after flying to the outer reaches of the galaxy to find the wreckage of his home planet Krypton. And he soon finds life has changed for his alter ego Clark Kent’s old buddies on Metropolis’s Daily Planet newspaper.
The love of his life, ace reporter Lois Lane (Kate Bosworth), is now a single mother and engaged to the Planet editor’s nephew, Richard (James Marsden). Lois is about to receive an award for an article on why the world doesn’t need Superman. It’s fair to say she’s bitter about why he suddenly abandoned her without a single goodbye or leaving a forwarding address. If that wasn’t a big enough blow, Superman’s bald arch enemy Lex Luthor (Kevin Spacey) is released from prison on a technicality (witness Superman never showed up for the hearing).
With dizzy dame Kitty Kowalski (Parker Posey) by his side, Lex travels to the Fortress Of Solitude — Superman’s North Pole hideout — and snatches up the sacred crystals needed to wipe out the United States and build an entirely new continent on the Atlantic Ocean. When Lois and her son Jason stumble on to Lex’s plan, they are kidnapped. Naturally, Superman is their only saviour but is he any match for a megalomaniac carrying the Kryptonite necessary to kill the otherwise unstoppable caped superhero?
On the acting front Routh does a great job as the sensitive, lovelorn superman.
The resemblance between him and Reeve is uncanny. My only complaint is that Routh — although the same age Reeve was in the original, 26 — looks too young. Bosworth is adequate as Lois but plays her too seriously. For me, Margot Kidder had more personality. And Bosworth just isn’t given the lines Kidder had, such as when her Lois asks Reeve’s Superman, “How big are you? I mean, how tall are you . . . ?”
That said, the greatest improvement over the Reeve Superman movies, is Spacey as Lex Luthor. While I’m a huge fan of Gene Hackman, his Luthor was played much for laughs. Spacey’s Luthor has an edge that actually makes him dangerous. When he is kicking the c**p out of Superman on the island made of Kryptonite, he is a truly convincing psychopath.
The action sequences are awesome. The special effects have advanced to the point where, not only can Superman do the impossible, but he can look damn good doing it too. The plane/shuttle rescue is breathtaking, edge-of-your-seat entertainment. Likewise the terrific Superman-saves-Metropolis sequence.
At a bladder-busting 154 minutes, you’d better go easy on the fizzy drinks, but for pure entertainment value you’ll get your money’s worth.
