This is the big moment in Bryan Singers Superman Returns. Lex Luthor is back, scheming to take both land and power by using a Kryptonite-fused Kryptonian crystal to create new landmasses in the Northern Atlantic Ocean. During the development his plan, he drops a crystal into some water and causes a massive East Coast power outage. Unfortunately, Lois Lane happens to be covering the story of the latest breed of Space Shuttle and she is in the plane piggybacking the shuttle. The power goes out, the locks mounting the shuttle on top of the place fail and the shuttles rocket boosters go off. Suddenly, the plane is heading into outer space, the passengers thrown about the cabin and screaming for help. Superman arrives and frees the shuttle but now the plane is plummeting to Earth. A wing breaks off and Superman plows through it, dodging pieces of debris as he fights to halt the planes spinning descent. At last, he manages to get underneath of it and stop its fall moments before it crashes into a stadium full of baseball players and fans. This is an exciting scene anyway you look at it. The effects are stellar, the pacing tight, the visuals gripping. It is such an effective scene and comes early enough in the film that one could almost believe that there was hope for the movie as a whole. Unfortunately, this is the highpoint of the film and the ending fails to deliver anything close to its impact.
David Wagner is an author/musician who splits his time between Oakland, CA and Istanbul, Turkey.
David has published two novels, both available on his website, and as a fan of movies, comics, and genre television, he is happy to be working with WhatCulture as a regular contributor.
