10 Reasons to Revisit "Superman Returns" on Its 10th Anniversary

[CBR News]

A decade after its release, we look back on the much-maligned Bryan Singer film and discover it's better (and weirder) than we remember.


Full article here.

[dittobeetle]

I'll always have a soft spot for Superman Returns. I've never thought of it as belonging on a list of 'worst superhero films,' though. A lot of really talented people made some fine efforts and got mixed results.

I think the film suffers from two huge conceptual mistakes: 1) rather than compose an elegy for the Donner/Reeve films, and try to build on the old continuity, the 2006 audience would've been better served by a fresh start. Reeve's ghost haunts that film. And 2), there's no way that Superman would leave the Earth for five years, simply to find his home. The whole point of Superman is that he's an immigrant and that he's chosen the Earth as his home. It's just a massive dereliction of duty, particularly in a continuity that has no other super heroes around to pitch in when he's gone. (Third prize for big mistakes goes to the massive kryptonite mountain; fourth prize to super-stalker creepin' on Lois with X-Ray vision...)

On the other hand, Routh is well cast and he's surrounded by some amazing actors. There are some great sequences (the airplane, the big gun, and the movie has bags of nostalgia and charm. Batman and Robin, it ain't.

[Guapo Méndez]

It had a solid cast (but Lois looked too young), but the story was full of missteps and errors: Superman leaves, he got Lois pregnant and gave her the roofie kiss, he destroyed the relationship between her and Richard, the kid kills a henchman, they made the ultimate orphan miss the birth of his son, he was made a creepy, stalkerish deadbeat dad.

And worst of all: the movie gave us Man of Steel, which was a total and complete overcompensation to th perceived lack of violence this Superman failed to show.

[Derek Metaltron]

I still think that Kevin Spacey might be the best Lex Luthor the movies have had, and the fact he played it a little ott yet still threatening works far better to me than Eisenburg. Whenever I see House of Cards I can easil see him being a more ruthless President Lex Luthor instead. And listen to this Call of Duty: Advanced Warefare trailer where this could easily be a Lex Luthor speech...

[ospfwildcard]

I really dug the homage feel to the film. it really captured what i feel is totally lacking in snyders superman, hope and inspiration and awe of the man of steel. the story though was totally lacking and lame. i dont know if i can blame singer on this failure but since he makes a good scapegoat why not.

[He-Kal]

I always thought this movie got a bum rap, and ironically some of the themes you touch
on are what people complain about NOW about the current Superman movies (about their being no light heartedness,humor etc and too dark).
Yeah, there are missteps in the movie but I think the overall theme is better that what were getting now. Like another poster said, it would have been better that this was a fresh start and not a continuation of the Christopher Reeve movies since Brandon Routh could never possibly live up to that (expecially when he is supposed to BE that Superman).

[MikeSooch]

The good elements of "Superman Returns" outweigh the bad, but the thing that bugs me most about the film is the insistence by the director that the movie be considered a sequel of sorts to Christopher Reeve's Superman and Superman II. In fact, Brandon Routh made such a good Superman that it was a shame that he was forced to do a Christopher Reeve impersonation throughout the film. There were so many good elements to this movie that it would have been much better as a total reboot, in it own universe, without homage or call-backs.

[Dazzler]

it's greatest sins were Lois and the kid being terrible. the overall film was more boring than bad...I'd call it one of the most forgettable superhero movies of all-time before I called it one of the worst.

[codystarbuck]

it's greatest sins were Lois and the kid being terrible. the overall film was more boring than bad...I'd call it one of the most forgettable superhero movies of all-time before I called it one of the worst.

Kate Bosworth was by far the worst attempt at Lois Lane. She was beyond bland and Lois should be a firecracker. The kid I give a pass, because he is a kid. I hated the idea of a Superman love child; but, that isn't the kid's fault.

I always felt it spent too much time paying homage to Donner, with that ending up being the best parts. Brandon Routh is good; but, he needed a better written role. Singer also drove the Christ metaphor into the ground. The second half felt very disjointed and the quasi-death should have been saved for a different movie. It just felt like the movie ground to a halt, until he's back in action. It seemed like 3 different scripts were spot-welded together.

What's good? Routh, Spacey, Posey, Diane Lane (to a limited extent). Routh handles the physical stuff well and is a good Clark Kent. The plane rescue is fantastic, as is the expulsion of the island. There's a lot in between that just needed to go and they needed to decide if they were going to do the Death f Superman, or a confrontation with Luthor. Meanwhile, just once, I'd like to see a Luthor who I really believe is a scientific genius. Hackman, Spacey, and Rosenbaum all played the character well and Hackman came close to conveying the genius. I just keep waiting to see someone capture the Lex of Elliot Maggin, which so greatly informed the Lex of Grant Morrison's All-Star Superman.

[dei1c3]

I'm glad that some people got some enjoyment out of this movie because I certainly didn't. Ironically, though, I would take a thousand Superman Returns over Zack Snyder's MoS/BvS Superman. Singer missed the mark in a lot of ways, but at least he understands what a superhero is.

[Popninja]

It definitely wasn't one of the worst superhero movies, but its budget warranted much more awesome Superman moments. That was the biggest problem I had with it; that it didn't have more than one single awesome Superman moment.

[superduperman]

I kind of liked it. It certainly isn't the best Superman movie but it also isn't the worst by far. Spacey killed it as Lex! He does great bad guy and he let it all hang out here. Overall the movie is a mixed bag. The scene in the hospital to me perfectly encapsulates how the world sees Superman and should see Superman. With the world waiting outside his room to make sure he is okay. But the deadbeat dad angle is distressing no matter how you slice it. So is his son killing that guy. For all the grief I gave MOS for killing Zod, I can't let this one slide. The plot is probably the movies biggest flaw. It's basically a rehash of the first movie's plot. Another Lex real estate scam. Yawn. The Donner homage is also a problem in hindsight but keep in mind, a lot of people at the time thought it was a good idea to at least try to connect it to the original movies. Now I see why it's a problem. It has to live up to the previous movie's reputations and that's an unfair comparison. Especially since some of the stuff it gets criticized for are stuff that would have worked in the Donner movies. Like the one dog eating the other and the train set.

No fight sequences, the dark costume, and the fact that both Superman and Lois looked too young to have a kid that age all contributed to the problems in this movie. But, hey, at least he still had his underwear! And nobody can say that the shooting him in the eye sequence wasn't awesome! Ditto the catching the plane!

[Pandarifically Delusional]

I still think that Kevin Spacey might be the best Lex Luthor the movies have had, and the fact he played it a little ott yet still threatening works far better to me than Eisenburg. Whenever I see House of Cards I can easil see him being a more ruthless President Lex Luthor instead. And listen to this Call of Duty: Advanced Warefare trailer where this could easily be a Lex Luthor speech...

Indeed! See, Snyder should have looked at Spacey's Lex Luthor instead of the approach that Jesse Eisenberg brought to the character in BvS.

[Doctor Know]

I always thought this movie got a bum rap, and ironically some of the themes you touch
on are what people complain about NOW about the current Superman movies (about their being no light heartedness,humor etc and too dark).
Yeah, there are missteps in the movie but I think the overall theme is better that what were getting now. Like another poster said, it would have been better that this was a fresh start and not a continuation of the Christopher Reeve movies since Brandon Routh could never possibly live up to that (expecially when he is supposed to BE that Superman).

Weird thing is, SR also had a muted color filter for it's film as well.





I don't even consider SR a Superman movie. It's a Lois Lane movie featuring Superman, and the story Singer told about them was boring. It's just Lois' life drama. How she copes with her job, how she copes with receiving an award for trashing Supes, how she copes with her old flame coming back into her life, who she copes as a mother to Superman's child, how she copes with being engaged to a man who is the son of her boss, and how she copes with realizing she was wrong for writing that editorial about Superman (over her own bruised feelings). Two hours and 35 minutes of this. No thanks.

[DayoftheHero]

Superman Returns is definitely an Elseworlds story for me. There are parts I really liked; the whole plane sequence was cool... although I haven't seen it in 10 years. That being said, the whole kid angle just didn't really resonate with me. I see and respect what they were trying to do, but it was a miss. I feel like there were some better Superman stories to tell at the time before doing the whole kid arc.

I'll always have a soft spot for Superman Returns. I've never thought of it as belonging on a list of 'worst superhero films,' though. A lot of really talented people made some fine efforts and got mixed results.

I think the film suffers from two huge conceptual mistakes: 1) rather than compose an elegy for the Donner/Reeve films, and try to build on the old continuity, the 2006 audience would've been better served by a fresh start. Reeve's ghost haunts that film. And 2), there's no way that Superman would leave the Earth for five years, simply to find his home. The whole point of Superman is that he's an immigrant and that he's chosen the Earth as his home. It's just a massive dereliction of duty, particularly in a continuity that has no other super heroes around to pitch in when he's gone. (Third prize for big mistakes goes to the massive kryptonite mountain; fourth prize to super-stalker creepin' on Lois with X-Ray vision...)

On the other hand, Routh is well cast and he's surrounded by some amazing actors. There are some great sequences (the airplane, the big gun, and the movie has bags of nostalgia and charm. Batman and Robin, it ain't.

I can see Superman being lost in space (not by his own choice) but you're right, I don't see Superman leaving for five years.