Superman Returns (Widescreen Edition)
by Bryan Singer
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DVD Cover Information
Actor: Brandon Routh, Kate Bosworth, Kevin Spacey, Parker PoseyDirector: Bryan Singer
Brand: DC Comics
DVD: Region Code 1
Audio: English (Unknown), Dolby Digital 5.1; English (Subtitled); Spanish (Subtitled); French (Subtitled); English (Original Language), Dolby Digital 5.1; French (Original Language); German (Original Language); Spanish (Dubbed), Dolby Digital 5.1
Format: Closed-captioned, Color, Dolby, Dubbed, DVD, NTSC, Subtitled, Widescreen
Picture Format: Widescreen, 2.40:1
Running Time: 154 minutes
DVD Release Date: 2006-11-28
Audience Rating: PG-13 (Parental Guidance Suggested)
Model: 72351
Studio: Warner Home Video
Product features:
- He's back. A hero for our millennium. And not a moment too soon, because during the five years (much longer in movie-fan years!) Superman sought his home planet, things changed on his adopted planet. Nations moved on without him. Lois Lane now has a son, a fiance and a Pulitzer for "Why the World Doesn't Need Superman." And Lex Luthor has a plan that will destroy millions - no, billions - of lives
Movie Reviews of Superman Returns (Widescreen Edition)
Movie Review: Bryan Singer's Superman returns with a bang
Summary: 5 Stars
I'm fortunate enough to have seen the original Superman and Superman II in the theaters when they were first released. Those two films introduced me to the fantasy world of comics and I haven't left since. Those first two films were followed up by two more inferior sequels that I don't even want to acknowledge. Since then the franchise has languished in development hell for almost two decades. Even with the early success of Tim Burton's two Batman films (again I shan't acknowledge the three inferior sequels afterwards) the Superman franchise still couldn't get back onto the silver screen. With comic book film adaptations all the rage and Batman even getting its best and truest film adaptation from 2005's Batman Begins, Superman finally gets back into the theaters within the capable hands of Bryan Singer (director of the first two X-men films).
Bryan Singer must've felt like the rest of the Superman's fans since he clearly establishes the timeline of Superman Returns after Superman II. Nowhere to be found were any hints or talk of Richard Pryor's character and the evil-inducing kryptonite or any mention of Nuclear Man. No, Superman Returns follows-up Superman's climactic fight against General Zod and his followers with a sudden jaunt out into the deepest reaches of space to find his home planet of Krypton. He leaves Earth and its people without a hint of goodbye and most of all leaves the woman he loves without any warning. Lois Lane wasn't very happy about that turn of events and she tries to move on with her life partly by writing a Pulitzer Prize winning editorial proclaiming the reasons "Why the World Doesn't Need Superman". The film doesn't dwell too much on Superman's trip back to Earth after discovering that Krypton's not much more than a cosmic graveyard and that he truly was the Last Son of Krypton. The rest of the film was pretty much Superman trying to reintegrate himself both as Superman and as Clark Kent within Earth's society. The film does show that the world may have changed since he left for Krypton five years prior, but in the end the world truly does still need Superman.
Bryan Singer tried to balance continuing the franchise as a direct sequel thus minimizing exposition and sequences introducing the origins of Superman. When he does fall back on origin themes he does so through flashback and dialogue that seemlessly blends in with the rest of the story. He also uses to great effect the late Marlon Brando's speech to his son Kal-El about his purpose and destiny. If there's a flaw to be seen in the overall product it would be the plot concocted by --- the recently released from prison --- Lex Luthor to use Superman's Kryptonian legacy to make himself ruler of the world. It's not a small feat, but the overall feel of this part of the story seems abit too much of a rehash of the original plot Luthor came-up with in the first film. This time Luthor doesn't just go for just one coastline of the Continental US, but the whole world. One would think that Luthor would've come up with something abit more creative while he was in prison. I can't fault that part of the storyline too much since it had one of the awe-inspiring sequences showing Superman's true power levels. I won't spoil the sequence, but that scene Superman showed that Superman really has earned the label he's been given since the first two films: Superman as godlike.
Really, Superman Returns shows less of Superman's human side, though it shows through when he's Clark Kent, and more of his alien legacy as an outsider whose abilities and unflinching principles makes him out to be some sort of alien Messiah. This was clearly evident in Brando's speech as Jor-El in how Kal-el (Superman) was his only son and his gift to humanity who has in them the capacity to do greater good if only shown the light. I'm sure I won't be the only one to pick up on this. But it's not a wrong conclusion to arrive at. Superman's always been seen throughout his history as some sort of Christ figure. There's a scene in the film where he flies out of Earth's gravity and just floats in space looking down on Earth. It's a scene that evokes a god looking down on his charges. This has always made Superman even more of an outsider than Batman. Batman has his humanity to keep him grounded. Superman doesn't play on being human, but he knows that he'll never truly be one with the people of Earth yet he still protects them as if he is one. If there's a sequel to this film, I would dearly like to see how they take this messianic complexity of Superman and continue exploring it.
But enough with the serious part of the film. Despite the flaw in parts of the film's plot, the audience reaction to the film was definitely positive. We cheered and laughed and clapped throughout the film. The action sequences didn't overwhelm the picture, but when they were there it seemed seamless. I didn't nitpick once about how Singer and crew portrayed Superman's abilities. Two action sequences --- one in the first half and the other close to the end --- had me cheering and speechless at the same time. Whatever amount of money they spent creating those scenes were money well-spent. In the end I wished that they'd added a few more action-oriented scenes, but I was glad they pulled off the ones they did have with aplomb.
The performances by the two leads, Brandon Routh as Superman and Kevin Spacey as Lex Luthor, were more than adequate. One could see that Routh tried channeling Christopher Reeve as Superman and Clark Kent and to some success. But at times it showed too much like mimicking and less a creative impulse. I'm sure if the franchise gets a go ahead ofr a sequel Routh will get a chance to make the character his own. But his performance was well done in any case and he showed a presence that befit a Superman. Kevin Spacey as Lex Luthor would've been brilliant if he'd decided upon one look for Luthor. At times he looked like an extension of Gene Hackman's diabolical car-salesman performance. Then there'd be times he resembled something close to the characterization similar in theme to Lex Luthor as savior of mankind against a godlike alien being whose mere presence hinders humanity from reaching beyond its mortal ken. In the end, Spacey's performance was great for pulling off Luthor as Superman's greatest arch-nemesis, but it would've been even greater if he had settled on which Luthor-persona to portray. Kate Bosworth as Lois Lane was serviceable. Again she didn't perform badly, but she didn't put a stamp on the character to make it her own. I think that was one thing I noticed in all the performances. They were well done, but in the end they seemed to honor the past performances of the cast from the first two films abit much instead of taking their roles and running with it. Hopefully this will change with any subsequent sequels.
Even with these flaws in the film I cannot give Superman Returns a grade less than great. For even with the flaws, Superman Returns didn't disappoint and followed through on the hype surrounding it. It might not have reached the pinnacle and bar set by Christopher Nolan's Batman Begins, but it does reintroduces with a bang an iconic figure in pop-culture history back into the limelight. Superman the film franchise might have been gone from Earth far longer than the character was in the film, but he was welcome back with cheering applause from an audience both young and old. Despite the current generations ambivalence towards straight-laced heros and types, Superman Returns showed that the world truly does need Superman.
Summary of Superman Returns (Widescreen Edition)
He's back. A hero for our millennium. And not a moment too soon, because during the five years (much longer in movie-fan years!) Superman sought his home planet, things changed on his adopted planet. Nations moved on without him. Lois Lane now has a son, a fiance and a Pulitzer for "Why the World Doesn't Need Superman." And Lex Luthor has a plan that will destroy millions - no, billions - of lives.
- Product Measures: 0.5 x 5.5 x 7.5
If Richard Donner's 1978 feature film Superman: The Movie made us believe a man could fly, Bryan Singer's 2006 follow-up, Superman Returns, lets us remember that a superhero movie can make our spirits soar. Superman (played by newcomer Brandon Routh) comes back to Earth after a futile five-year search for his destroyed home planet of Krypton. As alter ego Clark Kent, he's eager to return to his job at the Daily Planet and to see Lois Lane (Kate Bosworth). Lois, however, has moved on: she now has a fiancé (James Marsden), a son (Tristan Leabu), and a Pulitzer Prize for her article entitled "Why the World Doesn't Need Superman." On top of this emotional curveball, his old archrival Lex Luthor (Kevin Spacey) is plotting the biggest land grab in history.
Singer, who made a strong impression among comic-book fans for his work on the X-Men franchise and directed Spacey in The Usual Suspects, brings both a fresh eye and a sense of respect to the world's oldest superhero. He borrows John Williams's great theme music and Marlon Brando's voice as Jor-El, and the story (penned by Singer's X-Men collaborators Michael Dougherty and Dan Harris) is a sort-of-sequel to the first two films in the franchise (choosing to ignore that the third and fourth movies ever happened). The humorous and romantic elements give the movie a heart, Singer's art-deco Metropolis is often breathtaking, and the special effects are elegant and spectacular, particularly an early airplane-disaster set-piece. Of the cast, Routh is excellent as the dual Superman/Clark, Spacey is both droll and vicious as Luthor, and Parker Posey gets the best lines as Luthor's moll Kitty. But at 23, Bosworth seems too young for the five-years-past-grizzled Lois. It's nice to see Noel Neill, Jack Larson (both from the classic Adventures of Superman TV series), and Eva Marie-Saint on the screen as well. Superman Returns is one of those projects that was in development for seemingly forever, but it was worth the wait -- it's the most enjoyable superhero movie since Spider-Man 2 and The Incredibles. --David Horiuchi
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