With a bunch from the office, I saw Superman Returns the night after it opened last week. Normally, I wouldn’t brave the crowds to see an anticipated film this early in its cycle, but always more fun with a group.
The movie worked, but certainly didn’t feel new in any ways. Brandon Routh, playing Superman, is a comic book character, hardly human acting at all. Kevin Spacey enjoys playing the super villain, and does it well, but then he could perform on Sesame Street with similar purpose and flair. Despite Spacey, the movie felt a bit too long. Only the fun hints (and then more than hints) of Superman’s (ahem) “legacy” encouraged anticipation of the next scenes and (of course) a future film.
The Metacritic score of 72 feels a bit high to me.
On a tangential note, reading the Wall Street Journal review of the experience after the fact, I’m glad we chose not to see the Imax enhanced 3D version, which only has 20 minutes of 3D. And that means you won’t be disappointed, probably, if you wait for the home viewing experience.