Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #12587 in DVD
• Released on: 2006-12-04
• Rating: Suitable for 12 years and over
• Formats: Box set, PAL, Special Edition
• Original language: English
• Number of discs: 2
• Running time: 148 minutes

Amazon.co.uk Review
It's fair to say that Superman Returns probably wasn't quite the blockbuster many were expecting. It concentrates its action on a handful of dazzling, audacious sequences, it spends time working with its characters, and it deliberately pays homage to the heritage of the source material. Knitted together by Bryan Singer, the man behind the camera for the first two X-Men features, it's some distance away from the last time the Man of Steel appeared on the big screen.

But that's very much a good thing. Whilst it doesn't quite, and nor did it need to, perform the major surgery that Batman Begins had to undertake on the Dark Knight's adventures, Singer nonetheless leaves distance between his film and some of its predecessors (although there are respectful tips of the hat to the first two films, not least the nostalgia-inducing credits sequence).

The plot finds Superman returning to Earth after several years away, to discover that the world has moved on in his absence. It's not as safe, Lex Luthor is out of prison, and Lois Lane now has a family. Which is the cue for a lot of soul searching, slower, tender moments and character development that divided some sections of the cinema audience.

Yet, thanks to a stirring cast, led by newcomer Brandon Routh, the end product gels extremely well. Routh's performance is a fitting tribute to the late Christopher Reeve, while Kevin Spacey chews up anything he's allowed to as key villain Lex Luthor. Further, credible, support comes in the form of Parker Posey, James Marsden and Kate Bosworth.

It'd be remiss to call Superman Returns a flawless film. After all, the running time could use fifteen minutes taking off, there's not enough Kevin Spacey and there are occasional moments when the pacing feels a little off. But it is a superb return to form for the classic superhero, with the modern day blockbuster ingredients of some meat to go with the action firmly in place. Further instalments, Mr Singer, will be more than welcome. --Simon Brew

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

So disappointing
Let me start off by saying that the lead actor Brandon Routh is a surprisingly good Superman who looks hauntingly similar to Christopher Reeve. However that's where the similarities to Superman (the original) unfortunately end.

In todays age special effects are common place enough that only a good story could save this movie, and this is where the fundamental flaw is. The film picks up as though it is essentially Superman 3 (after Superman left for Krypton in Superman 2) to return to earth to find the people have learned to live without him, much to the dismay of his ego. This is where my major criticism is. Batman Begins in the same year of release showed that a restart works, and works well. However this film assumes you've seen the first two films, which may not be the case and it doesn't even have a quick prologue explaining who Superman is, how he got his powers and why he left in the first place.

Anyway my greatest gripe regards the characters of Lois Lane and Lex Luthor. I'm sorry but the actors just do not do justice to the characters. Kevin Spacey is about as menacing as a Smurf and Kate Bosworth as feisty as a tele-tubby. As for the supposed plot twist they were pretty much throwing hints into your face throughout the film and frankly I don't think the character involved was necessary (sorry but to tell you would reveal the twist).

Watch it by all means as you may enjoy it, but I just watched it with the feeling this could have been much better as a restart for the new generation.

Far too interested in paying homage instead of being its own film
For me, something just didn't seem right when I read about this movie in the months before its release. The director, Bryan Singer, was being too reverent, too enthusiastic, too much of a fanboy. The whole thing smelled of self-indulgence, mostly due to his intention to both pay homage to Richard Donner's original Superman movie, and re-write everything that came after it, as if trying to convince the audience that the earlier sequels hadn't happened. What is the point of that? He should have either made a sequel to all of the previous four movies, or gone back to the start and told the story over again, like Batman Begins. Whilst Donner's Superman is undeniably a great movie, I also wasn't fond of the way in which Singer focused totally on Superman's cinematic heritage in order to tell his story, and drew nothing new from the original comic books; everything in Singer's movie is a direct extension of ideas from Donner's. Now, whilst I'm not opposed to this in principle (I've always liked the Superman movies, but have never had any time for the comics), it does seem quite a lazy course of action to take when attempting a Casino Royale-style re-boot for the series. Far too much gravitas is placed on the use of footage of Marlon Brando that didn't make the original cut of Superman, but it's a creepy idea, considering he's dead and would never have given his consent to use it if he was still alive. The performances are nothing to write home about, with the one unlikely exception of Brandon Routh, who manages to follow Christopher Reeve's example and draws a definite distinction between the characters of Clark Kent and Superman. Kate Bosworth is a limp Lois Lane, not as funny as Margot Kidder, and certainly nowhere near as sexy as Teri Hatcher, whilst James Marsden (who Singer must fancy to keep casting him) gives another anonymous turn in the thankless role of Lois' beefcake husband. But the big disappointment is Kevin Spacey's Lex Luthor, which is never as distinctive as Gene Hackman's take on the same part, and just feels like every other Kevin Spacey villain. In fact, it's a bit of a letdown to find the filmmakers once again using Luthor as the movie's bad guy, considering all the other adversaries they could have plucked from the comics. All these objections to the movie are purely cosmetic, though; the real problem with the film is that it just didn't hang together in any way that made sense. Superman returns to Metropolis after a five-year absence, and so does Clark Kent, after a `trip' of the same length of time, and nobody notices the connection? Please. The big action set piece, in which Superman stops a plane from crashing, is fantastic, but it happens half-way through the film, and nothing half as exciting happens again. The narrative is left deliberately open-ended, presumably because, like every other super-hero franchise currently being mined, the producers are counting on sequels. But if they let Singer loose on Superman again, they had better make sure he has a tighter script, and brings in some fresh inspiration from the source material. It's amazing that Singer abandoned the X-Men franchise to make this film, and yet it somehow managed, against the odds, to be less entertaining than the substituting Brett Ratner's X-Men movie.

The man of steel returnzzzzzz
Maybe it's the Krpytonite talking, but this has to be the most pointless movie since...well, Superman 4.

In a nutshell, it's a virtual sequel to the first movie, featuring much the same design, Marlon's dulcet tones, a hero who looks like Reeve and a Lex played almost exactly the way Gene Hackman played him (although, unusually for Spacey, slightly less camp.) Oh, and a plot that still relies on the appearance of YET more Kryptonite. Given the wealth of great storylines to be found in the comics (the awesome Darkseid Apocalypse saga springs to mind) you've got to wonder how many Hollywood rewrites it took to produce this much waffle

Dull acting, lazy plotting, passable special effects - Brian Singer proves yet again that directing The Usual Suspects doesn't make up for the celuloid muzac he's produced ever since.