Christopher Reeve made us all believe that a man could fly. But it has been 19 years since we have seen the man from Kyrpton. Is he still an important character to re-visit, and will it be a worthy follow-up.
Well, firstly this is set 5 years after the events of Superman II. This was a choice that I was heavily in favour of. I am not too bothered that they ignored Superman III even thought it was a solid film. But I am so happy that they have not referred to the god awful Superman IV: The Quest For Peace. What I liked about this decision, was that it was not trying to be a re-make or re-boot, but a follow-up.
It even pays homage by doing the same style of opening credits that we all remember seeing. With the epic John Williams being played in the background, it just brought everything back.
Taking the almost impossible steps of donning the cape from Reeve is the relatively unknown Brandon Routh. I felt Routh was pretty good. His Superman was nothing spectacular, but definitely not bad. However, his Clark Kent was there he shined the most. That great clumsy feel to him was just like what I remembered Kent being.
I felt sorry for Routh as he never got many big roles after that. I do remember him being Scott Pilgrim vs. The World and little known film Lacrosse film called Crooked Arrows. However, in recent years he has found a resurgence in various superhero TV series which I am glad to hear.
Kate Bosworth was really as Lois Lane. I got that tenacious reporter vibe throughout. However, Margot Kidder still feels like the Lois. But thankfully, Bosworth was not as annoying as Kidder has been at times.
Despite being as cast as Supermans main villain, Kevin Spacey was just ok I felt. He was definitely no Gene Hackman. I did not feel Spacey to be a threatening presence at all.
He was not terrible. The performance was not memorable at all.
My negative seemed to benefit one of my positives. Despite the villain being weak and the Lois and Clark relationship lacking. It managed to give time and gives us a deeper insight into Superman. This also gave us a sub-plot that eventually had big implications in the second half of the film which I was not expecting at all.
This does not get mentioned enough for me, and I feel this would make a really nice family film as well.
I like it that it had the same tone as the Richard Donner films had that a lot of people including myself loved. I also completely forgot that Bryan Singer directed this. A long with his success with the X-Men films, he and his team certainly know how to do superhero films.
I know you could say that this film is just people doing impressions of the original cast. But I think that was fine to do, especially as they were following on from the events of the first two.
It might not as engaging as the first two Superman's. But it is still a solid piece of entertainment. I'm glad that it wasn't a re-make.
Rating: 7/10
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