I watched the movie "Superman Returns" for the first time in a while last weekend, and I wanted to share my thoughts. I remember not liking certain things about the film the first time I saw it, though I didn't think it was a terrible film by any means. It was certainly better than "Superman III" and "Superman IV," but the first two Superman films were much more enjoyable for me. That's pretty much how I still feel.
First of all, making a movie based off of the Christopher Reeve films with a new cast seemed like an odd choice. Superman had already been rebooted twice in live action since the time of those films ("Lois and Clark" and "Smallville"), so I don't think going back to the old continuity made much sense. It could have worked seamlessly had the film been made soon after the last Reeve film, but as it was, it just didn't make a lot of sense to make a direct sequel to films from the 70s and 80s.
For the most part, I thought the cast did a fine job with their roles. I did think Kate Bosworth was the weakest member of the cast, though. I didn't detest her portrayal of Lois Lane as much as some fans seemed to, but I didn't think she lived up to the level of greatness achieved by other actresses like Teri Hatcher. I thought Brandon Routh did a good job, though. It's a shame he didn't get to play Superman in a sequel or two.
I thought the idea of Superman and Lois having a son was a really intriguing idea worth exploring. However, I didn't like how it was executed since Lois and Clark weren't married, or even a couple, for that matter. The fact that Superman had missed the first five years of his son's life and that the writers had sort of written themselves into a corner with no easy way to break Lois and Richard up without making Superman and/or Lois look bad didn't earn the film any points from me, either. Still, though, I did like the idea of a son. I just wish they had done it differently.
I also didn't like the costume very much. The colors didn't look right to me, and the S on Superman's chest was too small for my liking. I'm not a big fan of the costume from "Man of Steel," either, but I will say that I thought it was better than the one used in "Superman Returns."
The biggest problem I had, though, was that Lex Luthor's scheme didn't make any sense to me. Nobody would want to live on the mass of land that he created, and I'm sure other countries would bomb him to make sure he didn't destroy other continents. I understand that they wanted to use a plot involving land to parallel Gene Hackman's Lex, but even his plots made more sense to me than what Lex was doing in this movie. Frankly, after years of watching the Lex Luthor from “Lois and Clark” and the one from “Smallville,” I’ve come to expect much more from his character.
