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List Price: $26.98 | | Label: Warner Home Video
Salesrank: 5829
Released: November 28, 2006 |
| Our Price: $3.92 |
| Used Price: $0.92 |
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MPAA Rating: PG-13 (Parental Guidance Suggested)
Media: DVD |
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Editorial Review:
He's back. A hero for our millennium. And not a moment too soon because during the five years (much longer in movie-fan years!) Superman sought his home planet things changed on his adopted planet. Nations moved on without him. Lois Lane now has a son a fiance and a Pulitzer for "Why the World Doesn't Need Superman." And Lex Luthor has a plan that will destroy millions - no billions - of lives.Filmmaker Bryan Singer (X-Men) gives the world the Superman it needs honoring the legend everyone loves while taking it in a powerful new direction. Brandon Routh proves a perfect choice to wear the hero's cape leading a top cast that includes Kate Bosworth as Lois and Kevin Spacey as Lex. And the thrills - from a sky-grapple with a tumbling jumbo jet to a continent-convulsing showdown - redefine Wow. "I'm always around" Superman tells Lois. You'll be glad he is.Running Time: 154 min.System Requirements:Run Time: 154 minsFormat: DVD MOVIE Genre: ACTION/ADVENTURE UPC: 012569823372 Manufacturer No: 82337
Description of Superman Returns (Two-Disc Special Edition):
If Richard Donner's 1978 feature film Superman: The Movie made us believe a man could fly, Bryan Singer's 2006 follow-up, Superman Returns, lets us remember that a superhero movie can make our spirits soar. Superman (played by newcomer Brandon Routh) comes back to Earth after a futile five-year search for his destroyed home planet of Krypton. As alter ego Clark Kent, he's eager to return to his job at the Daily Planet and to see Lois Lane (Kate Bosworth). Lois, however, has moved on: she now has a fiancé (James Marsden), a son (Tristan Leabu), and a Pulitzer Prize for her article entitled "Why the World Doesn't Need Superman." On top of this emotional curveball, his old archrival Lex Luthor (Kevin Spacey) is plotting the biggest land grab in history.
Singer, who made a strong impression among comic-book fans for his work on the X-Men franchise and directed Spacey in The Usual Suspects, brings both a fresh eye and a sense of respect to the world's oldest superhero. He borrows John Williams's great theme music and Marlon Brando's voice as Jor-El, and the story (penned by Singer's X-Men collaborators Michael Dougherty and Dan Harris) is a sort-of-sequel to the first two films in the franchise (choosing to ignore that the third and fourth movies ever happened). The humorous and romantic elements give the movie a heart, Singer's art-deco Metropolis is often breathtaking, and the special effects are elegant and spectacular, particularly an early airplane-disaster set-piece. Of the cast, Routh is excellent as the dual Superman/Clark, Spacey is both droll and vicious as Luthor, and Parker Posey gets the best lines as Luthor's moll Kitty. But at 23, Bosworth seems too young for the five-years-past-grizzled Lois. It's nice to see Noel Neill, Jack Larson (both from the classic Adventures of Superman TV series), and Eva Marie-Saint on the screen as well. Superman Returns is one of those projects that was in development for seemingly forever, but it was worth the wait -- it's the most enjoyable superhero movie since Spider-Man 2 and The Incredibles. --David Horiuchi
On the DVD
The two-disc edition offers about three hours of documentaries and other features. "Requiem for Krypton: Making Superman Returns" is an eight-part documentary about the movie, going back to Bryan Singer conceiving the movie back in 2004. There's a lot of on-set footage and analyses of special effects and stunts such as Brandon Routh's flying (helped by his swimming regimen), focusing more on the filming process than the design. For example, we see how the Metropolis scenes were shot but not how the often-striking sets were designed. Marlon Brando appears briefly in the bloopers section, and "Resurrecting Jor-El" spotlights the techniques used to create his footage. The eleven deleted scenes (about 15 minutes total) contain nothing earth-shaking, but it's nice to see more Eva Marie-Saint, one scene of Clark back in Smallville that could have altered the dynamic of his return to The Daily Planet, and a scene between Kevin Spacey and Parker Posey that is good for a laugh. --David Horiuchi
More Superman
Watch our exclusive interviews with the cast of Superman Returns | 
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Superman Returns (Two-Disc Special Edition) Reviews:
How many f's in catastrophe? 
2008-09-25 - No offense to Brian Singer because I really did enjoy the X-Men movies, but I still don't understand who decided that re-making Superman was a good idea. Even more obvious in my head then Micheal Keaton is Batman, Christopher Reeve *is* Superman. It took the phenomenal talent of Christian Bale to shift the idea of who The Batman could be and make me believe it. How could any less be expected of the next actor to fill Reeve's blue tights.
What Christopher Reeve did was to create two separate and individual characters who just happened to be played by the same actor, and although we occasionally see them merge together for a moment or two, brief reminders that Clark Kent is Superman in disguise, it's that dedication to playing them as total polar opposites that makes Reeve's Superman iconic.
Unfortunately, as hot as he is, all Brandon Routh did was to remind me that he isn't Christopher Reeve. He looked the part well enough and mimicked Reeve's performance close enough that I didn't throw popcorn at the screen, but there was nothing that made me think, oh, yes, he is Superman. I was entertained, but mostly I just thought of how much better Christopher Reeve was in the part.
Kate Bosworth never even came close to Margot Kidder's Lois Lane, but then I never expected her to and so there was no real disappointment. It looked like they tried to age Bosworth into the part, which only made her look like a teenager playing dress-up. I didn't believe her as a mother for one minute, but doesn't necessarily require age to make believable. Acting chops, however, would have helped.
The rest of the cast was mostly negligible. I didn't care for the attempt at externalizing the love triangle between Kent, Lois and Superman by introducing James Marsden as Lois's capable, hunky Superman-esque fiance. He was, I think, meant to represent a melding of the two characters and I found that extraneous. Because of the type of film it was, I wasn't expecting Lois to leave her fiancé for the Man of Steel and without at least the hint of that possibility, we loose a lot of narrative tension.
Gene Hackman continues to reign supreme as Lex Luthor. Kevin Spacey did nothing to convince me of otherwise. I did, however, adore Parker Posey as Luthor's Pomeranian carrying girlfriend, Kitty. I was initially reminded of Miss Tesmacher in the original Superman, but that didn't last for long. Parker's ditzy, emaciated brunette was just screwball enough to make me forget (or forgive) her similarities to Miss Tesmacher.
Overall, I was surprised that I didn't hate Superman Returns, that I was just entertained enough to watch it til the end and was even invested in him recovering, like we knew he would, from the Kryptonite poisoning (How he managed to lift that giant coral reef of Kryptonite and hurl it into space, I will never understand, especially considering how it was COVERED with Kryptonite AND he had Kryptonite fragments still in his body -- but oh well, handwave, as they say).
Maybe if there hadn't been so many successful re-inventions of the Superman mythology then I would have been more satisfied with the movie. I don't, for example, ever compare Smallville with the Superman movie franchise, or Tom Welling with Christopher Reeve. In my mind they are two different things. Same goes for differences between the films and the cartoons (Animated Series and Justice League). I can only lay blame at the feet of a movie that invoked a superior film without successfully reimagining it into something new and fresh.
did not like this movie 
2008-09-24 - i have tried to watch this movie 4 times and as of yet i have yet to see this whole movie another movie to full asleep on when you can not fall asleep.
Unfamiliar Superman 
2008-09-15 - I want to compare this movie with 1978 Richard donner. Some kids from our family saying after leaving theater for superman returns "this superman with red back cloth, look totally silly when he fly like this!!!" this statement hold my breath abruptly for first time and start to think: WHY the kids say that? When ever the kids criticized superman character??? That's very, very strange.
First time I brought superman 78 at home was in 1983 on betamex and I was very young, all family member from all ages like the film, I wouldn't say TOO much, but into very distinctive level, the opining scene with letters actors name accompany by john Williams music made strong impact to every one, the scene when Christopher reeve hold damaged helicopter by his hand, also they enjoy it much, everybody felt like true no special effects been made. This film has TOO many animations, superman leave city, superman return, again leaving again return, the landscape in the end plus the ocean look very bizarre not attractive at all. How can superman love a married woman?? The music score used exactly as 78 for john Williams makes me feel bored nothing new or changed. For first time I felt I lost superman smell and feel completely.
But if the kids saying like this, then what the older like me would say???
The Man Of Steel Is Back...With A Vengeance. 
2008-09-12 - After 20 years, The Man Of Steel is back...with a new face. From the director & writer of "The Usual Suspects" (an engrossing suspense thriller with a wicked twist of an ending) comes the "Sequel" to
"Superman II." Disregarding the abysmal "Superman III" & "Superman IV" (despite a terrific performance from Christopher Reeve; stupid script & horrible direction), this film is a sequel & homage to the films made in 1978 & 1980. Brandon Routh makes an interesting Clark Kent/Superman, but he fell flat when he said the lines spoken by Christopher Reeve in the original. I enjoyed the subplot with Lois Lane and her son. Really good. I'm looking forward to the sequel. Rated PG for action violence.
Too much posing and melancholy
2008-09-01 - When I originally saw the movie in the movie theathers back in 2006, I remember it had enough qualities to make it a good popcorn movie but ultimately it felt kind of empty.
My main issues with the movie are that it's bogged down by the melancholy that's portrayed by the alienation of Superman and I did not buy Brandon Routh on the screen as Superman.
How many times do we have to see Superman standing alone above the city in front of a setting sun appearing to be deep in-thought as a Christ-like figure?? Instead of sludging through the movie like it's some sort of melodrama, why don't you have the most powerful being on the planet take on a problem with a much wider scope, more powerful villians (e.g. Brainiac/Doomsday), and more action with the tempo picking up at the end of the movie instead of another plot with Lex Luthor coming across more Kryptonite to use against Superman.
As for Brandon Routh, the only time I found him to be believable in the movie was the first 15 minutes when he portrayed the Smallville/Kansas version of Clark Kent. When the movie progressed to Metroplis, I felt like he was trying to imitate Christopher Reeve's version of Superman. I believe he should have abandoned the nebbish/comical take that Reeve perfected in his movies and should have played Clark with more originality. Also, he never demonstrated the proper amount of authority (or maturity) and charisma when he was Superman. When he ran down the street, taking off his work clothes and showing the "S" on his costume, he looked like a nervous wet-behind-the-ears kid...instead of looking like the confident modern-day Hercules who's grown into being Superman.
I just hope for Man of Steel, they correct these issues and develop a movie that does Superman justice.
