Superman returns to Earth after spending five years in space examining his homeworld Krypton. But he finds things have changed while he was gone, and he must once again prove himself importa... Read allSuperman returns to Earth after spending five years in space examining his homeworld Krypton. But he finds things have changed while he was gone, and he must once again prove himself important to the world.Superman returns to Earth after spending five years in space examining his homeworld Krypton. But he finds things have changed while he was gone, and he must once again prove himself important to the world.
- Nominated for 1 Oscar
- 12 wins & 47 nominations total
- Jor-El
- (archive footage)
- Ben Hubbard
- (scenes deleted)
Storyline
Did you know
- TriviaThe last line of Superman IV: The Quest for Peace (1987) is Superman saying to Luthor, "See you in twenty." That scene was filmed in 1986. Coincidentally, twenty years later, this film was released.
- GoofsLois Lane would not yet be eligible for a Pulitzer prize. They are awarded each year for outstanding achievements in the previous calendar year. "Why the World Doesn't Need Superman" was published February 14, 2006. The movie takes place in September 2006 (evidenced by the date of the mock "Superman Is Dead" edition).
- Quotes
Superman: [Quoting Marlon Brando/Jor-el from 1978's SUPERMAN:THE MOVIE to Jason asleep in his bed] You will be different, sometimes you'll feel like an outcast, but you'll never be alone. You will make my strength your own. You will see my life through your eyes, as your life will be seen through mine. The son becomes the father and the father becomes the son.
- Crazy creditsThe opening credits are seen in a trip through space, from Krypton to Earth, in a manner reminiscent of the Superman (1978) opening credits sequence.
- Alternate versionsIn the IMAX presentation, four scenes (totalling about 20 minutes) were converted from 2D to 3D: The flashback to Clark Kent's youth on the farm, the Shuttle/777 rescue, the rescue of the sinking ocean liner, and the final flyover before the credits. Bryan Singer developed a cue featuring an icon of Clark's glasses flashing in green at the bottom of the screen when it is time to put them on, and then with a red circle/slash over when it is time to take them off.
- ConnectionsEdited from Superman (1978)
- SoundtracksQuando, Quando, Quando
Written by Pat Boone (as Charles E. Boone), Tony Renis and Alberto Testa
Performed by The Drifters
Courtesy of Atlantic Recording Corp.
By arrangement with Warner Music Group Film & TV Licensing
So, here we have Superman in the first new film in almost 20 years. He has his issues, but unlike all the other Super heroes around, he seems to be very solemn about it all. After all, he is Superman, not Clark Kent; Clark Kent is his mask. Obviously a huge nitpick people will have is that Clark comes back the very, very same day as Superman and not one single idiot in the city of Metropolis seems to notice, right? Well, yes, that bugged me too, at first. But then, the more you think about it, that's just how Clark Kent is designed: completely forgettable (except by Jimmy), always in the background, and always overshadowed by the bigger story, which is Superman. David Carradine has a very great speech about Superman at the end of Kill Bill Volume 2 that justifies everything quite nicely to me, so I suggest seeing that if you haven't already. What this movie does a great job of doing is just showing this classic, iconic super hero doing what he does best: saving the day. There's something so refreshing about finally getting that clear view of Superman for the first time after he saves a planeload of passengers from certain doom, and saying with a smile: "Don't let this turn you off to flying, folks. Statistically it's still the safest mode of transportation."
But that brings us to the actual plot. It goes for simple, safe, repetitive tedious, even? And, honestly, it's the kind of plot that just doesn't justify the runtime. Lex Luthor comes up with a ridiculous plan that even in the world of comic books is pretty hard to swallow. He compares himself to Prometheus, how he is so generous with the "mortals" by sharing his wonderful discovery, though planning on killing billions in the process. Lex obviously forgot the last half of that story, where Prometheus is punished and confined to terrible pain for all of eternity. But maybe that's the point. I mean, we all know from the very beginning Lex won't win, he's doomed to lose, that's just how it's meant to be: Superman wins and Lex loses. Written in the scriptures: is, was, ever shall be, in comic strips, TV shows, feature films, living in an ageless universe, for all eternity.
Bryan Singer is obviously aware of this. Singer also directed X-Men 1&2, and I think his biggest problem as a director is that he lacks a sense of completion in his works. X-Men is not the kind of movie that you watch, and then once it's over, you want to watch it over again. It's the kind of movie that you watch, and then once it's over, you want to see the next one. The X-Men films were each done with the presumption that there would be a next instalment, and that's fine I guess if you like always being on the edge of your seat waiting for the next one, but when his Superman movie does the same thing and drags past the 2-and-a-half hour mark, there's a problem. If nothing else, the movie establishes that Superman is indeed back, and we should expect to see more of him in the future.
Superman Returns is definitely a grand film. It's big, it's loud, it's expensive. I usually don't think to myself, 'hey that looks expensive,' when watching a movie, but I did in this case. It doesn't try for anything new or bold, it doesn't want to, and it's nice to see a super hero movie where the hero is the generic do-gooder, and helps mankind because he really wants to. That's why I think Superman garners more universal appeal than any others. But, honestly, the angsty heroes can be much more interesting. Certainly so with last year's Batman Begins, which I thought was a great, perfect movie, while I though Superman Returns was really good, but probably could have been better.
My rating: 7.5/10
Details
- Release date
- Countries of origin
- Official sites
- Languages
- Also known as
- Superman regresa
- Filming locations
- Production companies
- See more company credits at IMDbPro
Box office
- Budget
- $270,000,000 (estimated)
- Gross US & Canada
- $200,081,192
- Opening weekend US & Canada
- $52,535,096
- Jul 2, 2006
- Gross worldwide
- $391,081,192
- Runtime2 hours 34 minutes
- Color
- Sound mix
- Aspect ratio
- 2.35 : 1