The ultimate iconic superhero is back. The king of 'em all, the master of all superheroes returns. And I shall say with a great wham-bam of entertainment. As we know Superman has his own flaws: kryptonite. This film, Superman Returns, has also its own kryptonite, or shall I say kryptonites.
Let's start with the bad side of the film. One, it's not a perfect movie. It has so many noticeable flaws, and only a blind person wouldn't notice such things. The script was like hurriedly written; there wasn't so much memorable lines that were supposed to expect such a majestic superhero atlas flick like Superman, probably the Godfather of Batman, Spiderman and all those silly heroes in costume with dual personalities. The dialogues were tightened that even Brandon Routh's character Superman itself felt too monosyllabic or even mute in some instances. He delivered only a few little lines; the longest line he delivered, as far as my memory could recall, was the final scene in the bedroom in which he was talking to the "kid" about strength and the future. And the only character that did all the talking was Lois Lane, and a bit of Lex Luthor. Another thing, why do villains really have sidekicks, that even most of them were almost too useless for the most part of the movie? And also, about Lois Lane's kid, why does he have to stare around like some creepy Damien kid from the Omen? And why does the scene in which the kid pushed the piano with unimaginable strength seemed a bit lackluster, as if he never moved or even winced at all? About the "New Continent" that Lex Luthor was staging, why does it looked like all gray? I remember him saying that the land would be the new continent that humans would die for to step onto it. So why does it have to be gray? In my own opinion, such land wouldn't even be habitable by humans, not to mention a cow could survive in such lifeless place. Also, Superman felt like a new savior sent from outer space to save mankind. Ring a bell anyone? Jesus Christ perhaps. Superman, as what I realise is an allegory of the Messsiah. Finally, why does the romance between Lois Lane and Superman seemed too quiet, or even though about without words?
Now, that's how I become to understand Superman himself. He was a man of few words (alright, I accept that he was the character that doesn't really voice out his feelings and emotions and keeps it in himself) and he's a superhero who lives in lies and also lives inconspicuously. It's difficult indeed, and the way they portray the love story between Lois Lane and Superman was a bit painful at certain points in time.
So let's talk about the stronger side of the film. First, Superman Returns boasts a very good direction by X-Men revolver Brian Singer. He brings so much intensity on the superhero and a different feel of the Superman franchise in which I like. He also did a quite dramatic edge to Superman that most of us wouldn't expect. More importantly, he mad Superman more human this time. The last time I remember Superman became more human was when Christopher Reeve still played and he lost Lois Lane and he flew around the world and turned back time due to anger and sadness. Now, Superman feels the pain of broken hearts and broken families. And he also struggled to save the world 24 hours. That's why we symphatize him and we feel his pain. Second, the special effects were solidly genre-defining. The action sequences were justifiably an oh-my-god-i'm-gonna-drop-my-mouth-to-the-floor kind of entertainment. They were all thrilling, and what they have done to the airplane-gone-wrong sequence was simply astounding and thrilling. There were many visually amazing scenes, like when Superman flies, with the surrounding sky shining in all its glory. Also, the characters shine. Brandon Routh was a definite non-disappointment. I shall say the late Christopher Reeve would be pleased by this lad. He has little lines, yeah, but he was able to portray the Man of Steel the way we wanted it to be portrayed and he has done fairly well on the process. He has charms that would capture the audience and poster-boy good looks that would squeeze out ladies out of hard-headed lesbians (laughs!). Kate Bosworth was surely stunning as well. Choosing her as Lois Lane was perfect; her beauty shines as well as her talent, and she's - ahhh.. beautiful. Kevin Spacey as Lex Luthor was deliciously played. It wasn't over-the-top but it was the right kind of being evil, just rightly mixing the sarcastic tones of him. It was obvious Kevin Spacey played with the role and he enjoyed it as much as we did. It's just so fun watching him.
So if we try to bring this all to a balance scale, I think the brighter side of the film weighs more. After all, who could say movies are perfect? Even Superman isn't all that perfect himself.
Final question: does Superman Returns bring justice to the franchise? The answer is of course yes. It's not perfect, but it defines a perfect summer popcorn movie. It's entertaining, thrilling, with a bit of emotional tones, with Brandon Routh wearing the bathroom-mat-like costume, with a bullet being shattered as it shot straight against his eye, with his smirk saying to the man holding the gun, "I'm Superman, duh..."
I enjoyed the film. And I think Brandon Routh did justice to one of history's most iconic figures.

Rating: A-