Superman Returns (2006)

Dir Bryan Singer

Brandon Routh, Kevin Spacey, Kate Bosworth, James Marsden, Parker Posey, Frank Langella, Sam Huntington, Eva Marie Saint, Marlon Brando.

Superman returns (oh, I see what they did there) to Earth after being away for 5 years travelling space to see what is left of his home planet. Lois Lane is now married (to Perry’s nephew), and Lex Luthor is now out of prison, and recently ‘widowed’ from an elderly billionaire, with another dastardly plan.

Taking off (no pun intended) from where S2 left off (omitting the dreadful 3&4), Routh does a pretty impressive job of the duel role of Superman/Clark Kent – with both the boyish meek charm of Clark, to the confident Superman. He does just as good a job as the Clark role, but just struggles a little with convincing us as Superman – despite possibly being the ‘strongest’ we have seen him on screen. Some impressive moments include lifting a 100ft yaught out of the ocean, lifting a island out of the ocean, and stopping a bullet with his eye!

Spacey does a great job as the villain Luthor, and is possibly more aggressive than his predecessor. Posey is brilliant as the ‘Miss Tessmacher’ substitute Kitty. Bosworth however is a little miscast as the now married, mother and Margot Kidder replacement in Lois Lane. She was just a little young for the role.

While I’ll always be a fan of the nostalgic Reeve era, this was a pretty decent sequel, and its always amazing to hear John Williams fantastic score over the opening credits.

3.5 /5