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Superman Returns
Warner Bros. Pictures
FILM:
MPAA RATING: PG-13 for some intense action violence
Starring
Brandon Routh,
Kevin Spacey,
Kate Bosworth,
James Marsden,
Frank Langella,
Sam Huntington,
Eva Marie Saint,
and
Parker Posey
Five years after his mysterious disappearance, Superman returns to Metropolis -- but things have changed in his absence.
| GENRE(S): |
Action
|
Adventure
|
Fantasy
|
Sci-fi
|
| WRITTEN BY: |
Michael Dougherty (also story)
Dan Harris (also story)
Bryan Singer (story)
Jerry Siegel and Joe Shuster (characters)
|
| DIRECTED BY: |
Bryan Singer
|
| RELEASE DATE: |
DVD: November 28, 2006
Theatrical: June 28, 2006
|
| RUNNING TIME: |
153 minutes, Color |
| ORIGIN: |
USA |
All critic scores are converted to a 100-point scale. If a critic does not indicate a score, we assign a score based on the general impression given by the text of the review. Learn more...
100
Time
Richard Corliss
The best Hollywood movies always knew how to sneak a beguiling subtext into a crowd-pleasing story. Superman Returns is in that grand tradition. That's why it's beyond Super. It's superb.
100
New York Daily News
Jack Mathews
America's favorite superhero reappears in Bryan Singer's Superman Returns, and all we can say is, "Man, oh Man of Steel, it's good to have you back."
100
LA Weekly
Scott Foundas
Superman Returns is a lush and enthralling piece of adventure storytelling that's both revisionist AND reverential, putting a timely spin on a timeless character without violating his primal appeal.
100
Empire
Ian Nathan
It’s all about heart - not that the spectacle falters; this is the finest popular entertainment since the Rings trilogy closed. Superman doesn’t fly - he soars.
91
Seattle Post-Intelligencer
William Arnold
The film is magnificently mounted, it moves like a speeding bullet and it's so respectful of Superman traditions that even the pickiest of die-hard fans should love it. After a lapse of two decades, it revitalizes the franchise and makes it seem fresh and alive.
90
Salon.com
Stephanie Zacharek
Superman, born in 1938, is still very much alive in 2006. The Man of Steel has so skillfully bent the bars of our imagination that he seems real to us. And in a sense, he is.
90
Variety
Todd McCarthy
Grandly conceived and sensitively drawn.
90
Newsweek
David Ansen
This Superman, which infuses its action with poetry, soars as a love story filled with epic yearnings, thwarted desires and breathtaking imagery.
88
ReelViews
James Berardinelli
Superman Returns is not only a credit to the first two Superman movies; it may be the best of the series. Its combination of romance and fantasy adventure is unparalleled in superhero comic book-to-movie sagas.
88
Philadelphia Inquirer
Steven Rea
A spectacularly satisfying reworking of the legend of Kal-El.
88
New York Post
Lou Lumenick
Bryan Singer's super, soulful and very expensive new resurrection of the venerable big-screen franchise, ups the ante with must-see results.
80
The Hollywood Reporter
Kirk Honeycutt
Director Bryan Singer positions this new film as a sequel to Donner's film, and his Superman -- played with winning fortitude by newcomer Brandon Routh -- is less a Man of Steel than a Man of Heart.
80
Wall Street Journal
Joe Morgenstern
The daunting logistics of Superman Returns have obviously affected the director's work -- thus the hit-or-miss continuity of the narrative -- but Bryan Singer hasn't been defeated by them. While his movie can be cumbersome, it's consistently alive, and that is saying a lot when many such productions are dead in the water, on land or in the air. Also, how can you resist the charm of a fantasy in which everyone gets his news from newspapers?
80
Village Voice
J. Hoberman
The movie may not be a single-bound building-leaper but Bryan Singer reconfigures the daddy of all comic-book sagas into something knowing, witty, and even sensitive.
75
Boston Globe
Ty Burr
A generally thrilling entertainment that's not quite the grand slam you want it to be.
75
Charlotte Observer
Lawrence Toppman
The film has such an expansive, likeable spirit.
75
Entertainment Weekly
Owen Gleiberman
The surprise of Superman Returns is that it isn't a funky, ambitious conceptual reimagining, like last summer's "Batman Begins." This really IS your father's Superman; it re-creates - and updates, though just barely - the universe Donner invented.
75
Rolling Stone
Peter Travers
Superman returns with a bang. Singer tarnishes his hero's halo with just enough sexual longing and self-doubt to make him riveting and relatable. That "S" on his suit has a whole new meaning: He's a Soul man.
75
Miami Herald
Rene Rodriguez
By giving the hero's inner plight so many dimensions, Superman Returns brings a richer, grander perspective to a seminal character without changing his essence. It's a profoundly personal take on a universal icon, made by a filmmaker who continues to improve with each movie.
75
The Globe and Mail (Toronto)
Rick Groen
Superman returns, and he's far from inconsequential yet considerably less than super - just a demi-god content to forfeit our love for our like.
75
USA Today
Claudia Puig
A rousing spectacle.
75
Premiere
Sara Brady
This Superman is like nothing you've ever seen before, but it tickles something primitive and comforting at the back of the mind. Gorgeously detailed and meticulously realized, it's a homecoming of a movie. Just wait for the theme; you'll understand.
75
Christian Science Monitor
Peter Rainer
The new Superman has its visionary charms, but there's only so far you can go without great characters.
75
The Onion (A.V. Club)
Scott Tobias
Singer's reverence for the 1978 version edges perilously close to mimicry, as if he has no new ideas to bring to the table, but he succeeds in drawing out the Superman myth with simple power and a refreshing absence of irony.
70
Washington Post
Stephen Hunter
The much ballyhooed movie, far from great and far from short (2 1/2 hours!), is still great fun.
70
Dallas Observer
Robert Wilonsky
The fanboy in me loves it, being wrapped in the warm projected glow of nostalgia for a movie I've memorized since age 9.
67
Austin Chronicle
Marjorie Baumgarten
Yes, this Superman soars, but he doesn't always take us with him.
63
Chicago Tribune
Michael Phillips
Superman Returns has everything going for it except surprise.
63
TV Guide
Maitland McDonagh
Don't hate him because he's beautiful, decent, awesomely powerful, modest and just plain good. That's the big blue Boy Scout package - take it or leave it.
60
Chicago Reader
J.R. Jones
Singer draws heavily on the 1978 hit that launched the Warner Brothers franchise, with Brandon Routh dully impersonating Christopher Reeve as the Man of Steel, Kevin Spacey getting all the good lines as the villainous Lex Luthor, and stock footage of Marlon Brando proving that death isn't always a good career move.
60
Slate
Dana Stevens
The film's most striking repeated effect, in which the caped hero dangles dejectedly in space as the Earth turns below him, emphasizes the passivity and loneliness of the character: This Superman's version of flight seems almost indistinguishable from a helpless freefall. Fair enough, but what's he got to be so existentially glum about?
60
Los Angeles Times
Kenneth Turan
Star Routh's presence and the joys of flight keep Superman Returns alive, but all those missteps dog its heels, holding it back like little touches of Kryptonite in the night.
58
Baltimore Sun
Michael Sragow
Contains a dozen winning moments of humor, uplift or exhilaration. But are they enough to justify a 154-minute running time?
58
Portland Oregonian
Shawn Levy
A dull, uninspiring film that combines pedestrian acting, lackluster special effects and deadly pace with a pseudo-religious theme.
50
San Francisco Chronicle
Mick LaSalle
The movie consistently delivers in lots of little ways, but in a big way only once, in a spectacular sequence that begins with a series of earthquakes and culminates in an airline catastrophe.
50
The New Yorker
Anthony Lane
Picture my disappointment as I realized that, for all the pizzazz of Superman Returns, its global weapon of choice would not be terrorism, or nuclear piracy, or dirty bombs. It would be real estate. What does Warner Bros. have in mind for the next installment? Superman overhauls corporate pension plans? Luthor screws Medicare?
50
Chicago Sun-Times
Roger Ebert
When the hero, his alter ego, his girlfriend and the villain all seem to lack any joy in being themselves, why should we feel joy at watching them?
50
The New York Times
Manohla Dargis
It's hard to see what the point is beyond the usual grandiosity that comes whenever B-movie material is pumped up with ambition and money.
50
Film Threat
Pete Vonder Haar
I wanted to like Superman Returns, but Singer and company are so concerned about doing justice to Superman’s past, they fail to generate much interest in what, if any, future the franchise might have.
40
New York Magazine
David Edelstein
The bigger problem is that Singer’s weighty rhythms are disastrous for Superman, and the movie actually gets heavier in its last half-hour.
 The average user rating for this movie is 5.7 (out of 10) based on 590 User Votes
Note: User votes are NOT included in the Metascore calculation.
CLASS="user">Riren gave it an8:
A long, somber lovenote to every bright superhero comic and movie. It's too slow for many audiences, though its spectacles are second only to disaster films. Here the director is trying to reboot a franchise, which means we'll have to wait for a sequel before any titanic battles. However, the cast, effects and plotting definitely carry this installment through a satisfying, if lengthy journey.
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