Hey folks, Harry here... I've seen the film twice, plus this morning I saw a bunch of the IMAX 3D footage that was fucking unbelievably awesome. The shot of the glasses on the floor of the barn - where we see through them at the floaty Clark... amazing. Flat out jaw-dropping 3D shot. The plane stuff was the stuff of wet fanboy and fangirl dreams. Just Amazing. When you see this - you will pang to see this process done to something like THE WIZARD OF OZ. Just holy fuck cool. Anyway - seems Capone loves the movie even more than I do... which is kinda amazing. Here ya go...

Hey everyone. Capone in Chicago here. When I interviewed Bryan Singer back in October 2004 ( http://www.aintitcool.com/display.cgi?id=18610), it was less than a week before Christopher Reeve's death. It was several weeks before he named the actor playing this latest incarnation of Superman. In fact, Singer wasn't even sitting across from me to talk about any superheroes; he was on a promotional tour to talk about his soon-to-be-launched T.V. series "House." But in looking back at his comments the during the pre-production phase of Superman Returns, it astonishes me (even though it probably should not) how faithful and clear his vision was even that long ago. But not even Singer's detailed descriptions and enthusiasm for the project prepared me for seeing the final product.

The most difficult part of this review will be not getting lost in all the history of this franchise or the long road taken to get Superman Returns made. No, the hardest part about writing this one will be not getting lost in how much the 1978 Superman changed my life. The Richard Donner-directed masterpiece may have been the first film I ever completely obsessed over. I knew/know all the dialog, found all the plot holes through repeated viewings, marveled at the then-state-of-the-art special effects, and desperately tried to understand why Marlon Brando and Gene Hackman got top billing over the unknown actor played the Man of Steel (I was young, what did I know about billing?). Time and study has revealed all to me over the years, and upon rewatching the first two Superman movies again recently (since this new version has been said to pick up five years after the second film), I now appreciate how epic and wonderful the first film is and how underwhelming Superman II is to me now, despite my childhood memory of it being the best of them all.

Upon writing this review, I've already seen Superman Returns twice and will be seeing it two more time before its release (the final time being the partially-3D IMAX version). The first time watching director Bryan Singer's utterly faithful rendering of the Superman character (perfectly inhabited by newcomer Brandon Routh) and legend, I was deeply entranced and touched watching Singer recreate (but not re-imagine, thank god) the universe these characters inhabit: Metropolis (no longer a stand-in for New York City, but close), the Arctic-located Fortress of Solitude, and the Kent family farm in Smallville, Kansas. I also loved searched and usually finding the little things that Singer has carried over from Donner's work: Lois Lane (Kate Bosworth) is still a terrible speller and smokes on occasion; Clark Kent still can't negotiate a revolving door and still loves the word “swell.” This is the Superman I grew up loving. Rather than change everything, Singer adds to it in ways that I couldn't help but be in awe of the first time through.

The second viewing, I was determined to actually judge the movie as a movie, as an entertainment machine for people not as familiar or enthused about Superman. I found myself even more drawn in by Singer's take on these familiar characters and themes. Superman has been missing from the world for five years after astronomers believed they have found remnants of his homeworld Krypton. Using the spacecraft he was sent to earth in as an infant (which is apparently reusable), Superman leaves his adoptive earth to found out something about who he is. Singer never misses an opportunity to cast Superman as the outsider, the man alone; earthlings love him, but that doesn’t make him one of them. Although he doesn't approach the darkness of, say, the Batman, Superman is far more brooding, contemplative, and desperate for love than we've seen him before on film. There's almost an indication that he performs his heroic deeds because the adoration of the people fuels him. He can't help but smile at the TV reports of his crime- and disaster-stopping ways.

Assuming that the film takes place in the present day, Superman being gone from the earth for five years also implies (although it's never specifically said) that he wasn't here to stop the events of 9-11 from happening or the war that followed. (A similar device was used in the last James Bond movie.) Upon his return to earth, he spends some time with his mother Martha (Eva Marie Saint) on the farm, remembering more innocent peaceful times as a young boy when he was just discovering his powers. These are moments we never saw in the first Superman (the Clark Kent we see here in flashbacks is younger than the high schooler in Donner's film), and they are simply beautiful.

But the stuff most people care about begins with Clark's return to Metropolis and to his old job at the Daily Planet. It doesn't take long for him to see how much things have changed. Lois has a young son and a fiancé (X-Men's James Marsden), Richard White, nephew of Planet editor Perry White (Frank Langella). And on his first day back in town, Superman already has a catastrophic event to deal with: the crash landing of a plane full of reporters, including Lois. Holy living crap, I can't wait to see this sequence in 3D. With the full power of CGI and infinitely better blue screen technology, Singer cuts loose on showing us just how agile and powerful Superman truly is. His strength, speed, and heat vision are all on full display in this sequence, and it will melt your mind how cool it is.

The flip side of this equation is the story of Lex Luthor (Kevin Spacey) and his gang of henchmen. Spacey's Luthor is still playful like Gene Hackman, but he's far more menacing and dangerous, less of a jester. In other words, he's as evil as they come, and his King-of-the-World plan to essentially grow a continent in the Atlantic Ocean using crystals stolen from Superman's Fortress of Solitude is as ingenious as it is impractical. (If you drown billions of people by growing a new land mass, who would be left to actually purchase your real estate? And Al Gore thinks global warming is a problem!) And I found it fascinating that Luthor once again (as he did in the first two films) devices an evil scheme that involves creating valuable real estate where once there was none. Blessedly, Luthor's supporting cast is not all about broad humor and dumb jokes, although the casting of Parker Posey as his assistant Kitty Kowalski comes close sometimes. I did find it strange that Luthor's technical wizard is played by Kal Penn (Kumar of Harold and Kumar fame); not only is he not called upon to be funny, he also isn't given a single line in the film.

In one of the film's most talked about and fascinating scenes, Luthor and his crew must travel to the Fortress of Solitude to gather the crystals. Lex stands before the control panel where the younger Clark stood years earlier to learn all about who is really is. The face of Superman's real father Jor-El (a resurrected, god-like Marlon Brando) appears to provide whoever is watching with information on any subject. Luthor utters the spine-chilling line “Tell me everything, starting with the crystals.”

If you thought it was tedious that we don't even see Superman in costume until about an hour into the first Superman, don't be too freaked out that Superman and Luthor don't actually come face to face until the top of hour two in Superman Returns. But when they meet, their battle is sensational and brutal. And I enjoyed the way Singer incorporates most of his major characters into the final scenes. Richard's skills as a pilot come in handy; Lois never forgets that she's a journalist and uses her investigative skills to track down Luthor (albeit inadvertently); and her son...well, he helps out to. No one is left just standing around waiting to be a hapless victim waiting to get saved or taken down.

Today's world is a place in which nearly every news event is captured on amateur video tape or on someone's camera phone, and this fact isn't lost in this film. This is also a world desperate for someone to fly in and save it, and while that will never happen in the real world, it's nice to know there are places where a savior to all humankind exists. On more than one occasion, Singer shows us Superman hovering over the earth, listening to every single sound coming from it just so he can single out those voices in need of help. Superman floats in space, arms slightly extended, brow furrowed, cape billowing around him like a red aura. Never on film has he seemed more Christ-like (the tortured only son of a white-haired disembodied figure who apparently has infinite knowledge? Come on), and it suits him. On the flip side, Superman has never seemed more human. He relentlessly comes on to Lois, stalks her a little, and practically begs her to leave Richard and be with him. But a part of us (and him and her) knows this can probably never be, and you actually feel kind of sorry for the man who can do everything but not have what he truly wants.

As good as all of the actors are here, let's face it: the film lives or dies on Routh's performance. Some will say that he's the embodiment of Christopher Reeve's portrayal of Superman, but this isn't entirely true. He does resemble him, I'll give you that, and there are times while he's playing Clark Kent that it scared me how much he acting and sounded like the late actor. But when he reveals the blue costume and red accessories, he's his own man. This is not the same Superman of your youth, and I'm not completely sure I can explain why. He's more mature. The trip to find the remains of Krypton has changed him, hardened him significantly. He's still a genuinely good and kind person, but he gets lost in his own mind and shadowed thoughts more often, and Routh adds a subtle and necessary weight to the proceedings.

Superman Returns is the finest and most well-rounded film about superheroes ever made. This is a film that doesn't skimp on the action, but also bothers to take the time to develop and grow its characters. To those who say the film is flawed or that they were disappointed, I say that you need to remind yourself what made the original Superman so important. It wasn't just the behavior and actions of the super-powered beings, it was the way the rest of the world incorporated them into the culture. When Singer directed the first two X-Men movies, he put a great deal of emphasis on how the world's mutants are feared and hated by most. Here, Superman is revered and loved, something the lonely Clark Kent desperately needs, but he's still very much alone in the world. Superman Returns isn't simply good, it's damn near perfect, and it gets better with repeated viewings.

Capone

Send Your Kryptonite Here, Bitch!