Superman Returns (2006)
You’ll Believe A Man Can Fly Again!
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Superman Returns
The American superhero film, directed by Bryan Singer and written and directed by Dan Harris. Based on the DC Comics character Superman, it was written and directed by Singer. It is the sixth and last instalment of the original.SupermanFilm series and serves to be a homage sequel to Superman(1978)Superman II(1980). While ignoring the happenings of Superman III(1983), Supergirl(1984), Superman IV: The Quest for Peace(1987). The film stars Brandon Routh/Superman as Clark Kent/Superman, Kate Bosworth plays Lois Lane, Kevin Spacey is Lex Luthor, and Frank Langella, James Marsden, Parker Posey, and Frank Langella as Frank Langella. The film is about the return of the title character to Earth after a five-year absence. His love interest Lois Lane is now living her normal life, and Lex Luthor, his archenemy, plots to kill Superman and remake North America.
Warner Bros. Pictures hired Bryan Singer in July 2004 to direct and develop Superman Returns after a string of failed projects to bring back Superman to the screen. The majority of principal photography took place at Fox Studios Australia, Sydney, while the visual effects sequences were created by a number of studios, including Sony Pictures Imageworks, Rhythm & Hues, Framestore, Rising Sun Pictures, and The Orphanage; filming began in March 2005 and ended in November.
The film received mostly positive reviews upon its release. Critics praised the visual effects, story and performances of Spacey and Routh. It was criticised for its length and insufficient action sequences. Warner Bros. was disappointed by the film’s worldwide box office success and cancelled a 2009 sequel. Zack Snyder directed Man of Steel in 2013, which starred Henry Cavill as Superman. It also launched the DC Extended Universe. Routh reprised his role in 2019’s Arrowverse crossover, “Crisis on Infinite Earths” as Superman.
Plot
Superman has been missing since he travelled to the site where astronomers thought they had found the remains of Krypton five years ago. Superman’s archnemesis Lex Luthor was released and married a wealthy widow to inherit her fortune after her death. Superman returns to Earth after he failed to find any surviving Kryptonians. He is now Clark Kent, and he resumes his work at the Daily Planet in Metropolis. He learns that Lois Lane won the Pulitzer Prize in the Pulitzer Prize Essay “Why the World doesn’t Need Superman.” Luthor, on the other hand, travels to the Fortress of Solitude, where he steals Kryptonian Crystals. He uses them for an experiment that causes an outage on the East Coast. The power outage interrupts the flight test of the space shuttle, which will be launched from the piggy-back mounted on an airliner. Lois Lane is covering the story. Clark, a Superman-like pilot, flies into action and stops the plane from crashing onto a stadium.
Superman’s return is celebrated around the world, but Superman struggles to cope with Lois’s fiance Richard White, the nephew of Daily Planet editor Perry White and their 5-year old son, Jason. Superman is distracted by an out of control vehicle, a diversion that involves Luthor’s henchwoman Kitty Kowalski. Luthor then steals Kryptonite at the Metropolis Museum of Natural History. Perry assigns Lois to interview Superman while Clark investigates Clark’s blackout. Lois and Jason accidentally board Luthor’s yacht. Lois then takes an interest in the blackout story and connects it to Luthor’s experiment. He tells them of his grand plan to use one of the stolen Kryptonian Crystals, which he has mixed with the Kryptonite to create a new continental landmass within the Northern Atlantic Ocean. This will result in sea levels rising dramatically, killing billions.
Luthor notices Jason appear to have an allergic reaction to Kryptonite. Lois claims that Richard is the father. While the crystal creates Luthor’s new landmass and Lois attempts escape, a henchman attacks Lois. Jason throws a keyboard at the henchman and kills him, revealing that he is Superman’s child. Superman is trying to minimise the damage to Metropolis from the new landmass’ growth. Richard arrives on a seaplane to rescue Lois, Jason and their daughter. Superman quickly arrives to assist and then takes off to search for Luthor.
Superman meets Luthor to discover that the landmass has been contaminated with Kryptonite. This weakens Superman to the point where Luthor and his henchmen can defeat him. Superman is attacked by Luthor and stabbed with a shard Kryptonite. He then falls into the ocean. Lois orders Richard to turn around and rescue Superman. She then removes the Kryptonite from his back. Superman lifts the landmass, having regained his strength from the sun. He has placed layers of Earth between himself and the Kryptonite. Kitty and Luthor escape in their helicopter. Kitty refuses to allow billions of people to die. Lex steals the crystals from the Fortress of Solitude. When their helicopter runs out of fuel, they are left stranded on an island deserted by Kitty and Luthor. Superman pushes the landmass towards space using the crystals on it but is weakened by Kryptonite and crashes back down to Earth. Superman is still in a coma after doctors removed more Kryptonite. However, they are unable to penetrate his skin using their surgical tools. Lois and Jason visit Superman at the hospital while he is still in a coma. Lois whispers to Superman a secret and then kisses his cheeks. Superman awakened later and flew to Jason to recite his father Jor El’s last speech. Lois begins writing another article titled “Why the World Needs Superman”. Superman assures Lois that he’s back and will stay. He then flies to low orbit, where he can gaze down at the Earth once more.
Cast
- Brandon Routh as Clark Kent / Superman: The Kryptonian superhero whose alter-ego is a mild-mannered farmer-turned-journalist.
- Kate Bosworth plays Lois Lane as Clark Kent: Kate Bosworth is a reporter at the Daily Planet and a former lover of Superman.
- James Marsden plays Richard White, the nephew of the Daily Planet editor in chief Perry White and Lois Lane’s fiance. Marsden said Richard acts as an emotional challenge for Superman since the hero comes back to find that “Lois Lane picks somebody who’s very Supermanesque”.
- Frank Langella is Perry White, editor of the Daily Planet.
- Eva Marie Saint as Martha Kent: Clark Kent’s adoptive mom.
- Parker Posey portrays Kitty Kowalski, Lex Luthor’s henchwoman. She was a prison nurse and gave Lex his examinations. Valerie Perrine portrays Eve Teschmacher in the 1978 film.
- Kal Penn as Stanford: One Luthor’s henchmen.
- Sam Huntington portrays Jimmy Olsen, a photographer at Daily Planet who is also a friend to Clark.
- Kevin Spacey plays Lex Luthor: Superman’s nemesis, a sociopath with vast resources and deep knowledge of science. Spacey’s Luthor portrayal has the same exaggerated vanity, pompous arrogance, and strong interest in real-estate as Gene Hackman’s earlier version. However, Spacey’s version seems more serious and serious. Spacey later said that director Singer told him to play the character as “darker and more bitter” compared to Hackman and not to use the earlier portrayal as an inspiration.
Marlon Brando is posthumously cast as Jor-El (Superman’s biological dad). Brando, who was killed in 2004, plays the role of Jor-El, Superman’s biological father. This is done by using old footage and computer-generated imagery. To use Brando’s footage, it was necessary to negotiate with his estate. Singer said, “We had all the Brando footage that was filmed. Brando was seen reciting poetry, swearing like a sailor, and even trailing off-topic. ” Tristan Lake Leabu plays Jason White, the son Lois Lane’s and Superman’s. It is not clear at first whether Superman or Richard is Jason’s father. Although he has asthma and other health problems, it becomes clear that he is actually the son of Superman. He displays superhuman strength and discomfort around Kryptonite.
Peta Wilson plays the role of NASA spokeswoman Bobbie Faye. Jack Larson, the actor who played Jimmy Olsen on the 1950s television series Adventures of Superman, makes a brief appearance as Bo, the bartender. This may have been inspired by Bibbo Bibbowski. Noel Neill, who portrayed Lois Lane on the television series and in the film serials Superman (1948), and Atom Man vs Superman (50), makes a cameo as Luthor’s elderly wife, Gertrude Vanderworth. Richard Branson appears as the engineer aboard the spaceship. Another of Luthor’s henchmen (Riley) is played by Australian Rugby League footballer Ian Roberts.
