by Chris Buckle

Created on: June 11, 2010

Starring: 
Brandon Routh 
Kate Bosworth 
Kevin Spacey 
James Marsden 
Parker Posey 

Directed by: 
Bryan Singer 

Written by: 
Bryan Singer 
Michael Dougherty 
Dan Harris 

Release date: 
28th June 2006 

Running time: 
154 mins 

Six years ago, Superman left Earth to explore the remains of is home planet of Krypton. He returns to Earth to find a world that has moved on without him, including Lois Lane. 

It was going to be impossible to make a new Superman movie without drawing comparisons to the Christopher Reeves / Richard Donner films. They're too well loved, and Bryan Singer seems to be very aware of this. 

In an age of reboots and remakes Singer has chosen instead to respectfully embrace what had come before him placing his film squarely in the middle of the saga (set after Superman II but at the same time doing away with III and IV...yeeeey). 

But this was never going to work if he couldn't find the right man to become the Big Blue Boy Scout. All the big names were thrown about, but Singer landed on unknown Brandon Routh, who puts in a performance that would make Reeve proud. Fair to say, playing Superman is a relatively easy role. Clark Kent however is a different kettle of fish. Awkward but never clownish, Routh displays the same knack that Reeve did of becoming a totally different person when in his Clark persona. Look carefully and you'll notice that he's only really the awkward type when around Lois. 

And so on to Lois Lane. Kate Bosworth seems an odd choice, and something always seems a little off. Not to belittle her performance though. She plays her part well, and her classic looks fit right into the artful world that Singer crafts. Probably more of a case of good actress, wrong role. 

And of course every film needs a bad guy and it's clear here that the short list for Lex Luthor wasn't much longer than Kevin Spaceys name. 

The main complaint about this film centres around it's lack of action, which isn't really a justified claim. There are several action set pieces, only none of them involve Superman wailing on a Big Bad Guy, which is part and parcel of most superhero films these days. But that's not what Superman is about. 

At the same time, the film does tend to have some slightly overlong scenes of exposition but this is only down to Singers interest in injecting humanity and personality into his characters, something that worked well in the two X-men films he helmed. 

Whilst it's not hard to see why many didn't like this, it certainly isn't the train wreck that many would make it out to be. In fact, it's a beautifully shot classical piece of film making, a brave move when all the studios want at the end of the day is a fat cheque to show for their efforts. 

Elegant, and at the same time powerful but most off all, from the moment the classic John Williams theme tune kicks in, most definately a Superman movie.

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