After 5 years away in space, the Man of Steel (Brandon Routh) returns to Earth. He finds Lois Lane (Kate Bosworth) in a serious relationship and with a young son and Lex Luthor (Kevin Spacey) released from prison and typically up to no good.
The long awaited return to the big screen for the world's most famous comic character is a fun, exciting film with magnificent special effects that befit this great character. Terrific scenes with Superman trying to stop an out of control airplane (with Lois Lane aboard of course), a slow-mo scene with a bullet that bounces off his eye and various other rescue moments show how far effects have come (even in the last 6-8 years). The casting is generally good. Routh is solid but can't match Reeve, particularly in the scenes as Clark Kent. However, he does look the part and his naturally deeper voice fits Superman more naturally than Reeve's softer voice. It was also a fine idea to cast an unknown (who thankfully was capable in the role)who had no baggage or persona from previous films. Spacey is typically good as Luthor and, like Hackman in the previous films, brings a nice balance between tongue in cheek and the sinister. Langella is fine as the gruff Perry White, but Bosworth is a little weak. She's simply too young for Lois and, fault the writers here, shows little genuine concern or interest when Clark returns (his absence is fleetingly mentioned; he was on sabbatical). What's most interesting and challenging for fans of the previous films is trying to work out which elements the writers here have decided to keep and expand upon. There's no real consistency in this regard; it seems to be a matter of a taking what's convenient and discarding what isn't. This itself is fine, but why be so covert about the elements that were taken from the previous films (e.g. Luthor returning to the Fortress of Solitude but not explicitly saying so, or Lois and Clark explicitly mentioning moments that they had together in Part 2). Personally a bigger annoyance for me was the soap opera moment where we learn that Lois' son is also Superman's. This aspect was just so unnecessary. That and a few other minor quibbles aside, such as Supeman's costume being darker than it has been previously, this is terrific fun and well worth seeing for fans old and new. Let's hope this does well enough to lead to sequels with some of Superman's other villains such as Braniac, Parasite etc.
The long awaited return to the big screen for the world's most famous comic character is a fun, exciting film with magnificent special effects that befit this great character. Terrific scenes with Superman trying to stop an out of control airplane (with Lois Lane aboard of course), a slow-mo scene with a bullet that bounces off his eye and various other rescue moments show how far effects have come (even in the last 6-8 years). The casting is generally good. Routh is solid but can't match Reeve, particularly in the scenes as Clark Kent. However, he does look the part and his naturally deeper voice fits Superman more naturally than Reeve's softer voice. It was also a fine idea to cast an unknown (who thankfully was capable in the role)who had no baggage or persona from previous films. Spacey is typically good as Luthor and, like Hackman in the previous films, brings a nice balance between tongue in cheek and the sinister. Langella is fine as the gruff Perry White, but Bosworth is a little weak. She's simply too young for Lois and, fault the writers here, shows little genuine concern or interest when Clark returns (his absence is fleetingly mentioned; he was on sabbatical). What's most interesting and challenging for fans of the previous films is trying to work out which elements the writers here have decided to keep and expand upon. There's no real consistency in this regard; it seems to be a matter of a taking what's convenient and discarding what isn't. This itself is fine, but why be so covert about the elements that were taken from the previous films (e.g. Luthor returning to the Fortress of Solitude but not explicitly saying so, or Lois and Clark explicitly mentioning moments that they had together in Part 2). Personally a bigger annoyance for me was the soap opera moment where we learn that Lois' son is also Superman's. This aspect was just so unnecessary. That and a few other minor quibbles aside, such as Supeman's costume being darker than it has been previously, this is terrific fun and well worth seeing for fans old and new. Let's hope this does well enough to lead to sequels with some of Superman's other villains such as Braniac, Parasite etc.