Singer's love of Superman: The Movie and his reverence of Richard Donner is all over Superman Returns, and it does sometimes work against the movie. Lex Luthor is back and perpetuating another real estate scheme, Kitty Kowalski is basically a modern-day version of Miss Teschmacher, and there are even repeated lines of dialogue from the original film. Plus, Superman gives the same speech to his son as Jor-El gave to baby Kal-El before launching him into space. Even the opening credits are done in a style reminiscent of Superman: The Movie. Singer's original touches unfortunately are an even bigger detriment. The whole idea of Lois having a kid and of that kid being Superman's son raises some massive continuity questions. And Jason's presence really adds absolutely nothing to the film, so why include him in the first place? Jason aside (and also putting aside Kate Bosworth's performance as Lois), there are a lot of great beats in this film. Brandon Routh may be channeling Christopher Reeve throughout the film, but he does it marvelously well. The plane rescue scene is epic and intense, and when Luthor's new Kryptonite island causes disaster in Metropolis, we see Superman waste no time flying into action, using all his abilities to not only contain the disasters, but to also save people. In contrast to Man of Steel, here we have a Superman who actually does more than pay lip-service to how much he cares about humanityhe proves it through his actions. Kevin Spacey's Lex Luthor still has the Gene Hackman vibe, but he also has moments of the darker, sinister Lex in more recent incarnations (like shanking Superman with a Kryptonite shiv and hissing "now fly!"), and Sam Huntington is the perfect Jimmy Olsen.
Percival Constantine is the author of several novels and short stories, including the Vanguard superhero series, and regularly writes and comments on movies, comics, and other pop culture. More information can be found at his website, PercivalConstantine.com
