Superman Returns picks up after Superman’s (Brandon Routh) five-year journey to find what might be left of his home planet. His return also brings back his alias, Clark Kent, who returns to his position at the Daily Planet. It doesn’t take long for him to discover that while he was gone, Lois Lane (Kate Bosworth) moved on, had a child, and got engaged. Somehow, everyone, including Lois, seems oblivious that Superman “coincidently” appears shortly after Clark Kent does.
Meanwhile, Lex Luthor (Kevin Spacey) has been released from prison and wastes no time in going back to his usual criminal activities. He discovers a crystal capable of growing whole landmasses and hatches a devious plan to do so off the coast of North America. However, such a drastic change in the coastal geography would flood the United States. Superman rushes to stop this atrocity, nearly losing his life in the process.
Perhaps this will entertain those who never saw the original Superman films starring Christopher Reeves. In Superman Returns, Superman is played by Brandon Routh, who overall, lacks charisma as both Clark Kent and as Superman. His physical appearance also undergoes noticeable change when he goes from being Kent to Superman. Most scenes where he is featured as the latter have him looking as though he is computer generated.
The way the film is written and directed, people who never read the comics or really kept up with the previous movies will probably be a little bit lost. The film also missed a big chance at developing Lois’s child’s character. He does very little in the entire film other than push a piano across a room and stare despondently. If the child is Superman’s, as the film somewhat implies, why isn’t there more character development in this 140 minute movie?
The special effects are satisfactory, but not particularly memorable. The music seems to work, and is unfortunately one of the few things about the movie that does. Several scenes are dragged out far too long, to the point of boredom on occasion. Overall, Superman Returns is just not as impressive as audiences might have expected to be.
