In the immediate aftermath of Superman 2, astronomers have discovered the remnants of a planet they believe is (or used to be) Krypton. Superman promptly disappears to investigate himself, with no explanation and the world needs to adjust to his absence.
Five years later, a meteor hits the Kent farm once again. Martha Kent finds that her "adopted" son, Clark has returned. Clark has to re-enter the human world once more, alongside his alter ego, Superman. This is not as easy as it first appears, despite being given his job again at the Daily Planet by Perry White.
The only other real piece of his personal life, Lois Lane, proves to be a lot more complicated. Lois has moved on, so much so that she's now a happily married woman with a child of her own to raise. It's not too long though before Lois and Superman meet again, after Lex Luthor inadvertently and indirectly causes the plane that Lois is on to lose power and plummet towards the ground. This causes Lois to question her feelings towards Superman, which are not as positive as before, clearly shown in her Pulitzer prize winning piece "Why the world does not need Superman".
Fortuitously, Superman's return also coincides with Lex Luthor's next big attempt at world domination. Luthor has been to Superman's Fortress of Isolation, stolen some of Superman's crystals and is using these for his own gain.
Superman Returns is a worthy addition to the franchise and is set after the events of Superman 2. It appears that the director, Bryan Singer, has ignored anything that happened in the third and fourth Superman movies (although this is not really specifically stated). This is a wise move in my opinion, given their poor quality. Bryan Singer, famously a huge Superman fan, has been extremely faithful to Richard Donner's original, even gaining approval from the original's director and subsequently making use of archive material (specifically shots of Marlon Brando) and getting John Williams on board to do the score (which also consists a lot of original Superman pieces). Superman Returns also manages to pay homage to "Superman: The movie" by having a similar title sequence to the original and closing in a similar manner.
Unlike, say, the most recent X-Men movie or even Pirates of the Caribbean: Dead Man's Chest, the plot for Superman Returns is fairly basic, but doesn't suffer for it. Breaking the story into three separate strands (Superman/Clark's return, Lois's reaction to the return and Luthor's return as an arch-villain) keeps things simple and easy to follow, leaving Singer plenty of room to expand on the characters and their relationships. I thought that Singer managed this extremely well. Not only are the three stories interwoven cleverly, but the subtleties of the quiet moments are not lost or dropped for the sake of the action.
Of course there are differences between the original and Superman Returns. The relationship between Superman and Lois appears to be a lot closer than in the original films, implying that a lot more went on than was ever given screen time. Kate Bosworth's Lois Lane is different to that played by Margot Kidder. I don't think this is purely down to how the actresses played the role, but also to the story. Lois Lane in Superman returns is a married mother and is likely to be a lot different to the single, go-getting risk-taking reporter of the originals.
I thought that Brandon Routh was excellent as both Clark Kent and Superman. While not getting to the comical bumbling standards of Christopher Reeve's Clark Kent, Routh does provide his own take of clumsiness and awkwardness while still managing the calm confidence and authority of Superman. One moment that made me laugh was when Lois returns from a meeting with Superman on the roof of the Daily Planet building to find Clark, Richard (her husband) and Jason (her son) tucking into some food. As Clark turns, there's a comic moment with food falling out of his mouth and a blank expression on his face.
It's my opinion that Kevin Spacey excels in pretty much whatever he does, and I think he does an excellent job of Lex Luthor, but I much preferred Gene Hackman's take on it (along with the comic sidekick of Ned Beatty "Coming, Mr Luth-OR!"), though Spacey is a lot more menacing and evil and doesn't chew the scenery as much as I thought he might.
Until now, the new and old movies have been fairly even in terms of the quality of their ingredients, but where Superman Returns does win hands down is in the special effects. It's only now, much like the recent Spiderman movies, where we can really see what Superman is capable of and this is no more apparent than a robbery scene on top of a museum that sent shivers down my spine as Superman did the business in taking down the bad guys.
The overall impression that I got from the film was that it was almost a tribute to Richard Donner's originals. That's not a bad thing as I thought the first Superman films were great. Superman Returns has the same feel as the originals, but this time I think the story is slightly more mature, the comedy has been toned down slightly and the special effects are more impressive, making Superman more, well, super. My only real gripe is that there's a little too much in the way of Christian allegory dotted around the film for my liking, though not enough to ruin the film or seriously detract from my enjoyment of it.
I'm looking forward to "Superman: The Man of Steel" which is due for release in 2009.