A-

Overlong and slightly meandering, but the leads all work well and I was very involved. It's like a more serious version of Donner's original, which doesn't bother me at all. A better start than X-Men or Spider-Man.

COOL! how was the flying,fx and action sequences?
more i want more.

Probably ranks second on my all-time favorite comic book movies, right after Batman Begins. I was surprised by Routh and Bosworth, who did exceedingly well along with the rest of the cast. It's a perfect mix of drama, action, romance and comedy. Although there wasn't as much action as I had expected, I wasn't bothered by it since all the other scenes worked just as well as some of the great action and visual effects (I would love to see the airplane scene in IMAX). In the 2 and a half hour running time, I felt it went by quite fast. And, for me at least, I felt it had the same vibe as the original Superman films, but I a bit darker. It's just a great film.

A

Very well done. There's a handheld shot of Superman during the airplane sequence that's just phenomenal. Also, Superman gets the coolest re-entrance ever. I seriously wanted to cheer.

P.S. Bryan Singer either hates dogs or finds them deliciously tasty.

Yes! Dogs die a horrible death!! Now this movie has it all.

Did someone kick a puppy?

SWEET!! only 8hrs & 30mins till i see it.

One dog cannibalizes another, and Lex Luthor contemplates eating another one.

YAY!

I thought it had plenty of action compared to Singer's X-Men movies. It has about equel to a bit more than those. The airplane sequence is amazing but a few parts look a little bland FX wise. Specificly with Supes. I thought that Kevin Spacey was excellent but wasn't used as much as I thought they would. The only part of the story I disliked was the kid angle. He got on my nerves and ruins the final 1/3 of the film in some spots. B

OMG! That kicks ass!!

Best.Film.Idea.Ever!

THANK YOU BKB..

Even though you don't like the movie.. but your review is acceptable
(well, that's after having seen the film, it wasn't that good)

But it's still a good movie, though not a great one.

here's what I've said in other forum

Thanks BKB for the review; that was actually pretty coherent and I could understand what you were meaning. Glad you gave it a fair review: too bad you didn't enjoy the film.

Overall, glad to see great early reception so far: except for BKB, all A's and B's, which is what I hoped.

PEACE, Mike.

though, I've to admit that I'm still bothering everytime you say anything about Brandon Routh..

But it's ok..

Brandon Routh tried and did the best he could for what he was faced with in filling large shoes in the form of Christopher Reeve, but his look and skinniness gave it too much of a "Queer Eye for the Super Guy" Look instead of Intimidation and sheer presence....

Better than I expected. Great mix of comedy, action, drama and romance. The special effects are amazing. Brandon Routh and Kate Bosworth had good chemistry and acted well, though Spacey stole the show.

Great start to the series, though I don't think it's like the best comic-book adaptation ever.

A-

B-

Personally I thought the movie was entertaining, but it was very noticable that the balance between romance, drama, action was a bit off.
Superhero films definitely need a good dose of human drama to make the characters believable...But then again a SUPER hero film also needs a fair share of SUPER scenes....Which were somewhat lacking (But the action scenes which did appear in the film were A+)
The original superman was also heavy in drama but even those dramatic scenes had a sense of wonder and made the audience really anticipate the upcoming action scenes.

As for the acting, everyone did a good job (although no particular performance really stood out)

Basically this is a pretty good movie (and one of the better superhero films) but not a great movie....And certainly doesn't have the sense of wonder of the original Superman movie.

BTW, as for that dog scene....It looks like Sunger handed the directing reins over to Geaorge Romero for that scene...Where did that come from?! (It was pretty funny in a distubing kind of way)

Quick points

- Superman Returns was good enough to restart the franchise

- Having said that, my experience was bittersweet. B- leaning towards a C+

- Some scenes ... fantastic, others ... complete opposite.

- Main criticism: The film dragged. I love drama but man .. does every scene in a film need to be sooooo overly dramatized!?!? I mean sheesh! Even scenes that should have been good left a bad taste in my mouth by the end of it. Thats really what spoilt the entire film for me.

- For the love of God, stop casting kids in movie with important plot line roles.

- Brandon Routh .... He is SUPERMAN! I love him. If there should have been a successor to Reeves, it was him. He looks like Reeves and while initially, it took time to get over how young he looks, the minute he started looking and acting more intimidating, I lost all doubt.

- I didn't like Kate as Bosworth. Just didn't fit.

- The film felt out of focus. On the one hand, they're making a quality film and on the other hand, they add in the camp factor such as boss doing all the talking while the goons are hanging out without saying a word. I thing Kal Penn was the only one who ever uttered a single line.

- The story was good, the acting was good, the action scenes were great. Sadly, everything dragged that brought all those good things down with it.

------------------------------------------

Crowd reaction:

While I didn't like it, I must be honest about a few things.
I think the film's beginning ... i mean, the crowd acted like they had come to see Star Wars. I mean, people were honestly acting like that. I guess all superman fans were out in full swing.

Most people seemed to like it a lot. So I guess its fair to say that most fans were happy and some average film goers were happy as well with the end content. My view seemed like in the minority.

thats it for now.

Other than our disagreement over Routh, I think this statement basically sums up how we both feel about the film. I think we pretty much have the same general opinion and i think we both had a negative experience due to this one fact. the movie dragged in places it shouldn't have ... i mean every single sequence ...... it should have been shorter. Hell, I'd go as far as to say more than 30 minutes should have been cut off from that film.

Routh was far from intimidating.. Watch SUPERMAN: THE MOVIE again where it showed Clark Kent in the Alley running while peeling off his clothes and transforming into literally, THE MAN OF STEEL and how big he is.. THAT'S INTIMIDATION and COMMAND PRESENCE Folks.. That's what I'm talking about, bot some guy like Brandon Routh who not only looks feministic but, also like he just leaped off the cover of a Ambercrombie & Finch Catalog.. He did Ok, but it probably would've been of more benefit to try not acting and mimicing Reeve so much and make the role his own..

The Passion of the [s]Christ[/s] Superman or Freddy Vs. Jason or one of them there new hybrid concept movies -- if I have to hear about "our saviour" one more time...

I'll tell ya! I woulda rated Superman Returns a 5 out of 5 after the first hour and a half... unfortunately, I stayed for the whole movie.

Lots of cool Superman storybits in the beginning, the FX were big and fun, but then the whole thing devolves into SuperSoap, which wouldn't be so bad if it were well written, but alas, the writers seem to have left the project at about the 90 minute mark, and the whole enterprise flutters lifeless to the ground. If the acting had been any good, I might not have noticed this as much, or at least would have been more forgiving, but --Yow!!! Sadly, Brandon Routh is super lame - no wonder he's only been in music videos so far, and he doesn't even look that hot -- what's with the super-schnoz? And even, Kate Bosworth, whom I've greatly admired previously, is wasted here. Kevin Spacey? Fun for about an hour. The rest? Who knows - they're barely noticeable in their brief uninspiring appearances.

3 out of 5.

(Maybe, hopefully, let us pray - the director's cut DVD is a properly edited version that can restore at least some of the potential of this wasted celluloid...)

After seeing this I can now say for certainty that nothing will be able to top the first Superman film. Everything about that film is just perfect. That saying though, Superman Returns tries its damndest to come close. My major apprehensions going in were the casting choices so let me break those down.

Brandon Routh - He's no Christopher Reeve. He isn't supposed to be. That saying, the role is now his and he handles the job very nicely. He is very good as both Superman and Clark Kent.

Kate Bosworth - She's no Margot Kidder. She isn't supposed to be. That saying, I thought she was very decent as Lois Lane. The character still posesses sass (Though not as much) as a reporter, but she has become more dimensional now that she is a mommy. She balanced the two nicely.

James Marsden - No problem with him whatsoever.

The Kid (I forget his name) - To my surprise he actually benefits the film, especially during the final scene. Great addition. I just hope that they do the exact opposite of what Roger Ebert said, and don't turn him into a "Spy Kid". Brief glimpses of his power like with the piano are fine, but no more.

Kevin Spacey - I'm still trying to decide, but I think he might have eclipsed Gene Hackman as the best Lex Luthor. He still has his sharp sense of humor, yet he is more violent. This is a plus.

I'll have more thoughts on the film tomorrow since I'm too tired now, but right now I'm leaning towards an A/A+. I'm still deciding whether it's better than Superman II. It's as good as Batman Begins and Spider-Man 2 though.

not saying Reeve was less. Reeve is Superman for most of us and the change is gradual. As far as i'm concerned, in this day and time, I can't think of anyone better than Routh.

I'll post more tomorrow, but basically, there were parts in the film that made me want to cheer and the original score by John Williams gave em goose bumps, but overall, it is a disapoointing film. A B- from me as well.

I loved Routh
I disliked Bosworth
Enjoyed Spacey and Posey and disliked much of the pace and the length. And it really was boring in much of the film.