This movie was a long time coming. Warner Brothers had bought back the film rights for Superman from Alex Salkind in 1993. However, at this time, Warner Brothers had no storyline for another Superman film. The first Superman story thrown around began with our hero dying after getting Lous pregnant followed by Lois giving birth to a baby that is even more powerful than Superman. In fact, the baby was so powerful that it grew to adulthood in weeks. Warner Brothers wisely gave up this idea. The scripts that followed differed greatly from one another. Story ideas ranged from Superman trading his familiar costume for an all-black one to him building a robot named L-Ron to him fighting Batman and Brainiac to the resurrection of his birth planet to a movie that directly talked about 9/11. Titles for these scripts included Superman Reborn, Superman: Flyboy, Batman Vs. Superman (thank God nobody ever made a dumb movie like that), Superman V and Superman Lives.
In 2004, Warner Brothers hired Bryan Singer to direct his own idea for a story (Bryan Singer would co-write this film with Michael Dougherty and Dan Harris). This resulted in the film we know today as Superman Returns. Singer was the perfect choice for a director. He had already shown that he knew how to handle a Superhero film having already directed two X-Men movies. He is not only a massive fan of Superman: The Movie (1978) and Superman 2 (1980) but he knew Richard Donner (who directed Superman: The Movie and began directing Superman 2 before that film would be taken over by Richard Lester). He personally talked to Donner about his various ideas for this film. The result was a movie that would be very much a spiritual successor to the two Superman movies that Donner worked on.
The storyline of this movie involves Superman returning to Earth after having been in space for five years (after some astronomers believed they found the remains of Krypton). After returning, he finds that much has changed. For instance, Lois Lane has settled down and has a kid. She also won the Pulitzer Prize for writing an article entitled "Why the World Doesn't Need Superman." However not everything has changed as Lex Luther has another evil plan.
This is one of the most underrated superhero films and just simply a delightful movie. Pretty much everything about this movie works. The casting is fantastic. Though he may never get the attention given to George Reeves, Christopher Reeve or Henry Cavill, Brandon Routh is a truly wonderful Superman. Fitting for this film, he feels almost like a spiritual successor to Christopher Reeve. Yet he never copies or tries too hard to be Reeve, he just simply has the same type of charisma and charm about him. Like Reeve, we don't feel like we are watching an actor but feel as if we are watching the comic book character come to life. Kate Bosworth is quite good as Lois Lane offering the type of tough girl with a good heart feel to this character that makes her comic book counterpart so popular. However, the real scene stealer is Kevin Spacey. Spacey is the best live action Lex Luthor, making the character a lot of fun to watch, while also feeling completely evil and threatening. The wonderful dialogue this character is given also helps a lot. A supporting cast that includes Frank Langella and the legendary Eva Marie Saint doesn't hurt either. What also makes this movie work so well is that the focus is not on the action or super-heroics. Instead, this is a film that is mostly about the characters. This film puts us in Superman's shoes as he returns home after five years. The filmmakers take their time telling this story rather than rushing from one action scene to the next. Because of this we feel like we really get to know and understand these characters. Clark seeing that the love of his life has moved on and coming to terms with this allows for some very emotion moments that stay with you. In fact, this past romance remains the true heart of this film. The relationship here would also give this movie an emotional maturity that was missing from the last two childish live action Superman films. This movie's look at if the world really needs a Superman is very intelligently written and surprisingly thought provoking. Without once mentioning the tragedy this helps bring Superman into a post 9/11 America and makes us wonder if we can still find the same childlike faith today as when people first believed a man could fly. It also makes us wonder if in this more cynical world such a character like Superman could still matter to people. If I had one complaint it would be that the climatic action sequence goes on too long and loses momentum part-way through. Still, this is a small complaint in what is otherwise an excellent movie.
Brandon Routh was very honored for the chance to play the man of steel. He remembered how excited he got his first time seeing Superman: The Movie, "I gave myself a migraine. I was puking through half of the movie." When he was given the role Chrisopher Reeve's widow told him that she was amazed by the resemblance and gave Routh her blessing. Routh would later say, "I can't tell you what it was like to get her blessing. It's frightening trying to fill Christopher Reeve's shoes."
The casting in this movie paid tribute to older eras of Superman's rich history. Noel Neill, who played Lois Lane on the classic 1950's TV show, The Adventures of Superman, played Lex's dying wife. Jack Larson, who played Jimmy Olson on the 50's TV show, had a cameo as Bo the bartender. They were both delighted to be in this film though Neill would state, Our George will always be Superman to us."
Co-writer Michael Doughtery had a passion for this character and this story. He stated, "Writing a story like this is almost biblical, when you hear how the Bible was passed down orally year to year. The Superman character has been passed from one person to the next and one generation to the next. My grandmother still loves more than anything the black and white George Reeves show. For Bryan and I and Dan it was the Donner films, and today's teenagers gravitate towards Smallville, which I can appreciate simply because I love the character. There's a Superman for every generation."
Things didn't start out well from composer John Ottman. Ottman remembered this experience stating, "I was practically getting death threats from fans of the Donner version. They worried I wouldn't do the right thing with the music and asked why John Williams wasn't writing the scores the way he had for Donner. I started getting crippled, worrying what fans were thinking. Finally I said to myself that I have to ignore all that and weave in my own sensibilities and style, and of course nod to the Williams theme, which I'd always intended to. The fan reaction was that if they could have sent me flowers they would have. They were all very happy."
This film was not without its controversy. With director Bryan Singer being openly homosexual and having put homosexual themes into his previous movies, many felt that he might make Superman gay. This made Singer feel the need to public say that this was "the most heterosexual movie I've ever made." After the movie came out there was controversy over a line where Perry White says, "... does he still stand for truth, justice, all that stuff?" Conservative commentator Bill O'Reilly responded, "Warner Brothers, the studio distributing the movie, doesn't want to tee off any foreign viewers with Pro-U.S. sentiments. It's bad enough Superman was raised in the Midwest; we can't be having the hero actually standing for the American way now, can we? Some jihadist in Pakistan might throw popcorn at the screen." A more liberal commentor Erik Lundegaard responded in a commentary for The New York Times, "There's no reason to be upset. Superman is right back where he began: fighting a never-ending battle for truth and justice. That should be enough to occupy any man. Even a Superman."
Critical reception to this film was mixed with some believing it to a great addition to the man of steel's already rich history and some feeling that it tried too hard to feel like Donner's films as to have no identity of its own. The movie did well at the box office but at the same time did not reach the level of financial success that of the recent Spider-man and X-Men movies. Former Warner Brothers president Alan Horn stated that Superman Returns "was a very successful movie, but I think it should have done $500 million worldwide. We should have had perhaps a little more action to satisfy the young male crowd." Unfortunately, this was not enough to allow Singer and Routh to continue making films with the caped superhero as they planned to do and when the next live action Superman film came out neither of them would be involved. Both would however have fond memories of making this movie and would remain proud of the result.
Resources Used
Superman: The High-Flying History of America's Most Enduring Hero by Larry Tye.
https://collider.com/superman-returns-review-2016/
https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0348150/?ref_=nm_flmg_job_2_cdt_t_10
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