If Man of Steel rebooted Superman as a dumb, loud Michael Bay-esque summer blockbuster with all the subtlety of a mallet to the face, then Bryan Singer's 2006 homage sequel to the original movie, Superman Returns, sits towards the other end of the spectrum - overly earnest, often meandering and lacking that vital punch during the infrequent action scenes Singer, unlike Snyder, is a director familiar with the concept commonly known as "character development", and it's fair to say that Superman Returns makes considerable effort to craft an engaging plot populated with logical characters guided by plausible motives. The cast are certainly on form, not least Kevin Spacey as Lex Luther and the hugely underrated Parker Posey as his henchwoman Kitty Kowalski, and the script delivers enough narrative twists and turns to justify its claim as a part of the Richard Donner canon. It's just a shame, then, that Superman Returns, in spite of its more intelligent script and lighter tone, feels so decidedly average throughout much of its running time (and weighing in at 2 hours 30 minutes it's certainly a bit of a slog) - even though there's nothing inherently wrong with the movie, it feels as if those involved were running on autopilot, and while Superman isn't the most nuanced and charismatic character in movie history, Brandon Routh fails to inject sufficient personality to have the audiences engaged, just as the action fails to pull the viewer to the edge of their seat.
