Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #1172 in DVD
• Released on: 2006-12-04
• Rating: Suitable for 12 years and over
• Format: PAL
• Original language: English
• Number of discs: 1
• Running time: 154 minutes

Synopsis
For five years, Superman (Brandon Routh) has been away from Earth, coaxed into space by a belief that Krypton may still exist. Finding nothing, he comes back to a changed world--not only has terrorism become rampant, but Lois Lane (Kate Bosworth) has married, started a family, and won the Pulitzer for her piece 'Why the World Doesn't Need Superman'. After a stop in Smallville to see his adopted mother (Eva Marie Saint), Superman is back in Metropolis, and Clark Kent has his old job back at the Daily Planet, with everyone still incredibly oblivious to his alter ego. But where there's Superman, there's Lex Luthor (Kevin Spacey), and he is likely to be planning something dastardly--in this case, using a piece of pilfered kryptonite to grow an entirely new continent that he will control. Bryan Singer (X-MEN 1 and 2), armed with a script by Dan Harris and Michael Dougherty, approaches the red cape with reverence for the lore of the character, and respect for Richard Donner's SUPERMAN (1980) and Richard Lester's 1980 sequel, films that ushered in the era of the modern superhero film. Singer's SUPERMAN is filled with melancholy, and not so subtly suggests the notion of Superman as a Christ figure, sacrificing himself to save mankind. But there are still laughs, mostly courtesy of Spacey (clearly having a blast) and Parker Posey as his moll, Kitty Kowalski, as well as plenty of gasp-inducing set pieces, including a spectacular and terrifying near plane crash and a sinking boat. While modern visual effects have allowed Superman to reach entirely new realms, Singer keeps them from becoming the film's raison d'etre, thus keeping the Man of Steel's gigantic heart intact--heavy though it may be.

Customer Reviews

Great comeback
After such a long time away from the big screen and with no Christopher Reeve there was a chance this could have been a big disappointment- no chance! Every thing about the movie is good, the action scenes are as you would expect and demand from a Superman movie and the effects are fantastic. The script is also intelligent and in much the same style as the original movie, which means you are engaged throughout.

I can't understand the reviewers who have criticised the acting, Brandon Routh does a magnificent job as Kent/Superman and has perfected Christopher Reeve's mannerisms so well that it's scary. Kevin Spacey is good as Lex Luther but admittedly doesn't have quite the same presence as Gene Hackman, and Kate Bosworth slips comfortably into the role of Lois.

As far as I'm concerned the picture looked sharp throughout (I use a component HD lead through my Xbox 360 hd drive); I don't claim to be an HD purist but it's certainly far better than the standard DVD transfer and your everyday film buff like myself will appreciate the improved quality.

What Donner & Mankewicz avoided in 1978 ie. CAMPY NONSENSE
A big let down in the same vein as with the Star Wars prequels.

Bryan Singer's take on the Superhero franchise kills the whole return of Superman. Over reliance on CGI SFX and it's a flop IMHO faster than a speeding bullet!

Absolute campy ott nonsense, effects, and storyline. Terrible acting from most of the cast.

I'm sure Richard Donner and Tom Mankewicz who were the visualists on the 1977 filming of Superman The Movie and Superman II must have quietly cringed at the premiere of this. Their saga was sucessful because they minimised the comic book cartoonishness for a serious, well acted and put together movie with pioneering special effects and a wonderful John Williams score.

I would of given this a nice 5...
The problem I had with this is that only certain scenes are in HD and the rest are blurry, the black is greyish, and colours are drained out.

There's good reason why... they decided to shoot the film with brand new HD camera's... so far they have done the opposite with these new cameras, the reason this film cost a lot of money was renting these top of the range cameras that give off a rubbish picture... the film is one of the best superman films, and one of the best comic book films to date, easily worth a rent!

shame about the camera issue.