Dustin wrote: Just to clarify my opinion, I absolutely loved Spacey as Lex, but I'm ready for a few new villains.  Keep him in the mix, sure, but bring on Braniac, Mxyztplk, Bizarro, General Zod, and when it's time for Supes death, bring on Doomsday.

I'm not sure how well the rest of the villians would transfer to the big screen.  You never know.  Singer has done a pretty good job up to this point.

Spoiler And to the other argument, there is no doubt that the kid is Superman's kid.  Do you think a normal human child could use a grand piano to kill someone?

My late (since I just saw it today) and overlong review:

This is a very good movie but it's not great. The pacing of the story works, it never felt long like Peter Jackson't King Kong remake did. In fact, I think SR should have been longer. The Smallville scenes should have been expanded, I wanted to see more of Martha Kent and her reaction to Clark's return, plus more flashbacks. The actor playing the young Clark was really good. I don't know if the scenes after Young Clark falls through the barn were edited poorly but it looked like the film had been spliced together after it had broken, from the way the images jumped back and forth so quickly from young and older Clark. I would like to have seen a better transition from Smallville to Metropolis.

I don't mind the Donner movie influences, the opening credits were great and I liked the use of the Williams' theme. Even though there was less to the Jor-El footage than I expected, what was there worked and I liked how it was used. I've always loved the look of Krypton and the Fortress of Solitude from the '78 film, it has a unique and original look and I'm glad the design was carried over. I enjoyed all of the dialogue references too. While Luthor's plan was too similiar and the story somewhat weak, things like this have never bothered me before.

I can deal with weak plots and story if the characters are interesting. I never watched all 4 seasons of Lois & Clark for the stories. For the most part, the characters in SR were well done. Kate Bosworth was better than expected as Lois, she was very believable as being hurt by Superman's leaving and abandonment of her. Spacey was great as Lex, he wasn't over the top and was very menacing. He was the best cast actor in the movie. Huntington was really good as Jimmy and Langella took time getting used to. I liked his lower key approach to the role, Lane Smith is the best Perry in my opinion. Parker Posey was good as Kitty, I've never liked her before.

I like how Jason White was used, I like how certain things about the character were downplayed. Marsden was really good, seeing him in a hero role makes me wish his part in the X-men movies was larger. Routh was excellent as Superman, His Clark was good but could have been better. The problem is that the character was under used in the movie. He (Clark) spent most of the movie just sitting around. He's supposed to be a reporter but we don't get to see him do anything but sit and look around the Planet offices.

The movie would have worked better if Clark and Lois had more screen time together, they should have investigated the blackout together. Lois is the one who does all of the work. I didn't like how she and her son just walked onto Lex's yacht and we captured, it was too anti-climatic. What worked the best were the scenes between Lois and Superman. I felt their pain. I really cared about the characters in general in this movie, even though many of them (Clark, Jimmy, Perry, etc.) were underutilized. Seeing Kitty in tears as Superman was being worked over by Luthor's Henchmen was well done. I believed that she was sorry for what was happening.

The visual effects were well done for the most part, except for Superman's cape. It looked animated to the point of being distracting in a few shots. The action scenes were also well done, I felt the characters were really in danger, some of the other Superhero movies lacked this sense of feeling in the fight and action scenes. Visually the movie was superb. The costume looked better on screen than the still did. The colour of the red still takes a little geting used to but it wasn't distracting.

The extended ending was good for the most part, the hospital scenes were the weakest and the Lex/Kitty scene was my favourite. The movie could have used more humour and it lacked the excitement of the other Superman incarnations. What I liked the most was, that for the first time, I actually felt Superman's feeling of being an outsider and his alienation, this added a lot to the movie. The movie was about choices and consequences and how his decision to leave affected his life. I think this added some depth to the character. Singer and co may have painted themselves into a corner but I look forward to seeing how things turn out in a sequel. I also think that this is a movie that will get better on repeat viewings.

I give it a 9/10

I personally loved the movie, but it definitely suffers from being too long.  I could have cut a half hour and it would have been good.  Of course, I loved The Punisher and The Hulk.

Trap Door wrote:

Spoiler what would you think would happen to a Piano on a Boat in Rough seas? :p


Spoiler
At the moment that happened, I don't think the seas were very rough. Also, the piano would be bolted to the floor in such a way to withstand rough seas, so something extraordinary would have to happen to move the piano

Superman returned and I returned the favor by seeing it three times…so far. I loved every minute of the film and suffered no ill effects even after the third go round. It moved faster than a speeding bullet. If a director can keep me from squirming in my seat after 2.5 hours and gets me to see the film in a theater more than once, he did a tremendous job in my book.

Ok, The Matrix Revolutions was rubbish but when I first saw the fight scene between neo and Agent Smith towards the end my first thought was that this is what a Superman move should have in it - a great big ball-busting, buildings being knocked down, fists breaking the sound barrier, punch-up.

But we got Lex Luthor again....

The film is also too dark and gothic-y. I can appreciate Bryan Singer stylising the film like an old 1940's ish matinee movie however whilst this works for The Rocketeer for example, it is better suited to Batman - a dark and brooding character - rather than Superman, who should be portrayed in a bright and colourful world.

And what's with the costume (NEVER mess with the costume!!) and Lois Lane having a kid?!?

I loved Superman Returns!

Bryan Singer and Brandon Routh did a Excellent job!

Intergalactic Ponce wrote: Why do they do it. Come the sequels, they've got to put kids in them. When I first heard (and this isn't a spoiler) that Lois Lane was married and had a kid, I thought that could be interesting to see it played out and how it would affect Clark/Superman. Now having seen the film, and seen how they use the kid, NOOOOOO! I definately don't want to see that storyline played out. Cheesy. Other than that, a good attempt at the thankless task of bringing Supes back to the big screen.

Uhm, because most grownups eventually go on to have relationships that bear children.  That's why they do it.

Intergalactic Ponce wrote: Those same parents go to the cinema to get away from their kids though. The last thing they need is kids in the films as well. Just joking. I have two of my own.

But by that logic, do old people crave films about old people with their ilnesses and complaints? Mmm. I wonder.

The UK must be different because it seems like no one springs for a babysitter stateside anymore.  I can't tell you how many times I've seen toddlers at 10 pm showings of stuff like Hostel.  (Well, not Hostel, in particular, as I seem to recall I was the only one there for that movie!)

Intergalactic Ponce wrote: Way off topic but no babysitter. My wife was good eneough to let me go see it. Intended to see a digital screening of it but there didn't appear to be any so I went to local multiplex. Needless to say, the print was scratched. It seems too much to expect these days to hope for an undamaged print 1st Monday after opening weekend. What do we want? Miracles?

DLP to really take off.  I saw the movie in it's third week of release on the DLP at the local cinema and it looked pristine.  It's odd, I live in a small city; however, we now have DLPs at 3 different theaters.