After a long hiatus, Superman returns to a different world than the one he left, and must adjust to a new life without the things he once knew, even as Lex Luthor plots his demise.
Legacy sequels are nothing new. It seems like they are because the market is oversaturated with them, but they’ve been around to take our money for decades. And one of the most notable of those was Superman Returns, the 2006 legacy sequel to the Christopher Reeve series of Superman films that ended in 1987. Conveniently timed for production right after Reeve’s death, Superman Returns is one of the most blatant money grabs to ever have been made, taking everything that made the original spectacular and cheapening it to the point of insult. There’s a reason this film never received a sequel, and the fact that it was greenlit at all is a poor reflection on the studios involved, and an offense to Reeve’s legacy, even if his last Superman installment was less than spectacular in its own right. It’s bloated, too long, effects heavy, and just bad in pretty much every way possible.
I can’t really blame it on Bryan Singer, though. As a director, Singer is fantastic when he’s given the right materials and the right project. His X-Men films are fun and entertaining, and The Usual Suspects has left a lasting legacy in the world of cinema. But Superman Returns is quite possibly the biggest black mark on his career. It’s uninspired, boring, flat, and unfortunately takes too many ideas from the original series and essentially squanders them instead of building upon them. Michael Dougherty and Dan Harris gave us a script that basically sticks a hand out and asks for your money, without any substance or importance. In fact, I forgot it existed until a few hours before writing this review.
The performances are lackluster, too. Brandon Routh tries, but he’s not Christopher Reeve. No one is, and it was unfair to put him in those shoes. His Clark Kent isn’t bad, he’s just unfortunately shackled at the wrist to a franchise series that couldn’t be topped. It’s just not possible to expect anybody to compete. Kate Bosworth is an emotionally blunted Lois Lane, feeling about as shallow as a puddle on a hot July day. And Kevin Spacey is, well, Kevin Spacey. He’s definitely not a good Lex Luthor, even though one might expect him to play a bad person better than this, given his life experiences. The only standout is James Marsden, but he can’t save the whole sinking ship.
Effects look good. Not great. But considering the entire film relies upon them, they should be better. The score is rather unnoteworthy, too. Newton Thomas Sigel’s cinematography is pretty enough, but there’s just something missing from the entire film, and I think it’s the heart and soul that was present in the predecessors. It feels like everyone involved knew what it was, and they all phoned in their jobs just for the sake of a paycheck.
Overall, Superman Returns is an uninspired slog of undercooked ideas and concepts. Even Smallville was a grander follow up to Reeve’s Superman, and Superman Returns is just a hollow attempt to profit off of a legacy.