The Beast reviews: Superman Returns

I'm a Christopher Reeves fan. Anyone who knows me will tell you that it is very difficult for me to accept or enjoy a film with a new actor who assumes the role or identity of a character who I love or has special meaning to me, especially in the horror genre. Therefore, I went into Superman Returns with very low expectations.

After the first 5 minutes of the film, I was already excited and thrilled that the film makers had not abandoned all that made the previous films so great. The title sequence at the beginning was reminiscent of the previous films and was thumping the classic John Williams Superman theme. A major plus in my book and things started off on a good note.

From that point on, the film just worked for me. I enjoyed Brandon Routh's portrayal as Superman. And contrary to most reviews of his performance, I thought he did a terrific job of blending the Reeve's Superman and his own Superman. What I was most pleased with is that he did not try too hard to completely re-invent the character. He was pretty laid back, soft spoken and willing to let the character of Superman speak for himself. He gave us enough Reeve's to let us pump our fists with old school, but was clearly a 21st century guy.

The plot itself was simple, but engaging. There are, in fact, some interesting comparisons to the Superman story and the Christian story. One of Andi's friends had mentioned the similarities to her, so I was interested to see them myself. At one point in the film, Lois Lane writes a story entitled "why the world doesn't need Superman." She goes on to tell him that she wrote the story because "the world doesn't need a savior." In one of the better scenes, he flies Lois above the city and asks her what she can hear. She replies that she can't hear anything. He tells her that he can hear everything, and they are crying for a savior. The truth is that whether we realize it or not, whether we want to pay attention to what is out there or turn a deaf ear, the world needs a Savior. We can write all the papers we want on "why the world doesn't need Christ." It won't change the fact that we do.

Finally, in what made the film an ending success with me was the last frame. In the classic Christopher Reeves films, at the end of the movie he would be flying high above the earth, kind of just looking things over. He would then give a little nod like things were ok for now and glance at the camera and smile, just before flying out of the frame and the credits roll. Superman Returns ends the exact same way, and Routh pulls it off beautifully. You can't beat that my friends.

The Beast Paw Rating: 3 out of 4 Paws.