 | |  | | Media: | HD/SD Combo DVD | | Region: | 0 (USA) | | Studio: | Warner Home Video | | Cert: | PG-13 | | Discs: | 1 |
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Screen captures are for illustration purposes and may not originate from the item reviewed. | | Superman Returns Review| HD/SD Combo DVD review written by Simon Crust, published 1st November 2007 | Supplied for review by  | Welcome to another in the small season of shorter reviews of older discs that have been on the shelves now for some considerable time, but help to fill the back catalogue HD material. Please note that this combo disc is now unavailable as it has been replaced by a single sided version.
After five years of searching the galaxy for his doomed planet of Krypton, Superman returns to Earth, but finds things have changed somewhat since his departure. His love, Lois has married with a child and the people of the planet seemed to have managed without his help just fine; even to the point that Lois’ Pulitzer winning paper ‘Why the world doesn’t need Superman’ sums up the ambivalence of the worlds population. However, the world didn’t recon on Lex Luthor, at once Superman’s nemesis, but now driven by revenge due to his imprisonment for five years. His latest scheme is to utilise Kryptonian crystal technology to build an entirely new continent which would lay waste the United States, a plan that Superman has to foil even if it costs him his life.
Bryan Singer is fast becoming known as the comic book guy of film making. With his input the first two X-men films became two of the best adaptations, not only terrific superhero films, but terrific films in their own right. So when Warner brought him in to realise their Superman project, a project that had been bobbing about for over ten years, he managed to cut through all the red cape, sorry tape, and finally bring a worthy film to the screen. By adhering strictly to the source material and paying close attention to the first two Richard Donner Superman films of the late seventies/early eighties, Singer crafted an all round character, rich in history but new enough for a modern audience to appreciate.
He concentrates on the interaction with the characters and the mystery surrounding them rather then the super powers; Superman alienates himself with his self imposed exile; he hovers above the atmosphere listening to the cries of anguish in a world that says they don’t need him. He tries to breach that contact by reaching out to the one human that means more to him than the world, Lois; she, representing everyone, is understandably untrusting but through a series of heroic efforts, his own sincerity and a genuine desire to win the hearts of the world, specifically Lois, back, very soon the world once again realises they are better off with him. Singer casts strong leads, Brandon Routh as Superman is uncannily similar to Chris Reeves in stature and delivery yet different enough to show that Superman is an alien and set apart from the world; Kate Bosworth as Lois is spunky and hard, but with a tender and forgiving side; and Kevin Spacey plays the villain with relish, a twisted controlled insanity, particularly his vicious attack on Superman. These three main characters hold the film aloft. The script does a pretty god job of tying all the elements together, there is a deliberate slow pacing, but its not meandering, plot holes such as Superman returning the day Clark Kent turns up and no one noticing notwithstanding. However, as good as everything I’ve mentioned is, as a whole the film doesn’t quite have what it takes to revitalise the franchise; there is a huge amount of potential, but it is lacking that something special; perhaps it gets bogged down too much in the ‘return’ aspect and there is not enough action until later on, perhaps its too Singer specific with the religious imagery, perhaps because, in reality, we’ve seen it all before in Donner’s original film. Yet amazingly the film is still a very enjoyable romp capturing the look and feel of Saturday morning cinema and I for one sit down to watch it on a fairly regular basis.
Movie score : 6 | | 661 word review written by Simon Crust. |  | To comment on this review, click here and post a reply.
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