Superman Returns Movie Review. First off I am going to say that the film didn't have a lot of religious undertones UNLESS you put them there yourself. Apparently some people think Superman is Jesus and can't be touched with criticism. To that I say screw off. I went to school to ruin films for me and by fake God I will ruin whatever movie I choose. Luckily for me Superman Returns did it all for me.

Is this film enjoyable? Sure. Is this film shot well? Yes. Did Singer do a respectable job representing Superman? Not sure. I'm not a comic book expert, but this actually might make the review more sensible since I guarantee you most people who will see this movie probably don't know every single storyline of the comic book Superman, but most likely have the image of Christopher Reeve in their head. I think Singer took Superman and got lazy. This isn't to say he ruined it totally, but definetely got lazy.

So where does this film fall short? Brandon Routh did a decent job for Superman. He almost mirrors Reeve and his nature in this film and that makes me happy. I was a little scared for Bosworth as Lois Lane, but they did need a woman that could somewhat stand on her own two feet as a hard nosed reporter willing to go the distance for a story and who better than to get someone who sailed some legendary coast with crazy waves in Blue Crush? Although at times she was very timid and I'm thinking someone along the lines of Rachel McAdams would have done a better job in bringing an edge to Lois. As long as it wasn't Dunst I'm happy. Kevin Spacey was pretty good as Lex Luthor also. I thought he might be too over the top with that "WRONGGGGGGG!!!" line, but he seemed to have the part under control. HOWEVER, almost every single actor interview I watch on Inside Actor's Studio always thank a script for the awesome job they did in the film. Basically none of these actors had a chance to shine in this script.

I am with Andy 100 percent. Let me set aside the obvious physical bullshit of the film. I'm not asking for realism here. I mean this guy in tights gets his power from the sun and is fucking invincible. Obviously any universe that allows such things can't be expected to yield to realism. So besides almost every single action scene having a moment of "Yeah okay..." vibe the story and character developement is where this shit falls short.

The story line is absolutely retarded. Apparently me saying so means that I am saying if you believed the storyline you are retarded also. This isn't the case, but to each his own. Walking out of the movie theatre, a piece of me almost wished there was more blatant religious undertones if it would at least somehow put a more symbolic plan into action on Lex Luthor's part in his part of EVIL vs. GOOD. So let me get this straight...Lex Luthor who is a criminal mastermind wants to kill billions of people to make new land...just so he can turn around and make money legally by charging rent? Ridiculous.

I was laughing inside because there is this one part (don't worry not a spoiler) where Superman can hear everything in the world. Apparently this is why he needed a break from Earth and decided to cut out for five years. Quitter. But anyway, he hears all sorts of explosions (terror attacks perhaps?) but he decides to go stop a bank robbery instead. His bar for justice has gotten way lower in the past 20 years or so...

For a film that is going to spend 2 hours of my time...don't tell a story that could have been told in a cartoon segment. Or at the very least have some character development. Most of these characters just drift through the script and its actions scenes (perhaps the movie studio had to have a certain quota of action) until it reaches the end and like Andy I feel that Superman could have used more of his powers to "defeat" Lex. Also I thought Kryptonite made Superman cringe. I guess Lex Luthor creating more land out of Kyptonite doesn't effect Superman until Lex is able to push him down some stairs? Superman is even suprised to think that Lex could even do something...man you would think that you would have felt a little queezy flying over the HUGE ASS KRYPTONITE ROCK. Even Lex Luthor at the end seemed more like, "oh well...that damn Superman...he can really be a tough guy!" rather than revengeful and full of determination to really kill him in the next film.

I wish I could comment more on the character arcs, but the film did such a lackluster job in doing so that I have nothing to comment on. It really suprised me that Singer who did Usual Suspects with interweaving storylines and a film that relies on nothing but character development to drive the story would be happy with this script.

So in conclusion the film is a good popcorn movie. I myself might be getting a little anal about shit, but I don't go into what you went into school for and say, "why don't you just plug in these numbers here, what difference does it make?" I think I've been trained to see past all the hype and am sick of the excuse of, "It's just a movie" to answer all the reality problems and lack of certain things in a certain film. That isn't to say that you can't enjoy the film fully if you didn't go into my major, but the bar is definetely higher for me personally when it comes to films.

Superman Returns was an okay movie. You could easily enjoy it don't get me wrong. The main problem I have with it is that the story (better one) and perhaps more realism here and there could have made this film awesome. They had a good director who was able to appease the Xmen fanatics and they had good talent on their hands. The time was right where even 5 years ago I think the special effects would have looked shitty...but this film did a decent job in it's special effects. The cinematography was done by the same person who did Confessions of a Dangerous Mind and Three Kings who I thought did an awesome job at both. He also did Xmen, but those didn't really impress me that much...as did Superman Returns.

The film will probably be okay for comic book fans. It doesn't shit on Superman, but it doesn't really bring Superman into the present day. I think him leaving for five years was the perfect catalyst for him to come back to a darker reality. Perhaps being symbolically linked with today's real life...instead Superman is back to his old antics as if it was in the past. I think it instead it would have been cool to come out of the theatre saying something along the lines of, "Man, perhaps there is hope for mankind...(Show that Superman needs humans just as much we need him)" rather than "That was a way to escape reality for 2 hours...but if I wish it would have been shorter so I could return sooner to reality...the film must be hugely flawed for me.

I find it ironic that I say the film is flawed, but in my opinon there is nothing more boring than a perfect superhero with no flaws to speak of. Unless you count voyeurism.