Dropped by GH to spend the Saturday and we went out to catch Superman Returns. The greatest superhero of them all returns to Earth after having disappeared for 5 years (the movie continues from Superman II). In his absence, his love Lois Lane has engaged and has a child. As Superman goes around saving ladies, children (and such ho-hum activities) his arch nemesis Lex Luthor is planning to grow his own country in the Atlantic using crystals from Krypton and plunge America into the sea. It is upto to Superman to settle his relationship with Lane and save the world (again).
The movie is directed by Bryan Singer who is quickly becoming the default comicbook-superhero-movie director. A considerable length of the movie is spent in establishing Superman’s character, to show Lane’s married life and to build Luthor’s character. The movie was quite long at ~2½ hours (with no intermission) and the audience rushed to the loos after it ended! Brandan Routh fits the role of the hero. Kate Bosworth is ultra cute as Lois Lane! But, the real hero of the movie is Kevin Spacey as Luthor. Superb performance which brings both a grandness and sense of humour to the role. Superman’s new cape looks good and the colors are (thankfully) muted. If there is a superhero who can be compared to God, it is Superman. There are scores of scenes (watching over planet Earth, taking energy from the Sun etc) where he does look like one. Yet, all this doesn’t make the movie memorable since the story is a letdown. Or maybe because I like down-to-earth superheroes like Spiderman over Godly ones.