Superman Returns...and no one but the toy stores and Superman fans cares much

Let's get to this, shall we? (ignoring the fact that I post roughly 1.2 times per 5 months now and that no one is reading this...)

Casting: Brandon Routh and Kevin Spacey were the best choices for sure. Routh was given appropriately "Superman" things to do and say in the movie and he did spectacularly. Spacey did amazingly well, given the overall poor dialogue and mostly pointless scheme he was given to act out. Bosworth is hot and I'd hit it, but the spunky Lois Lane she is not.

They avoided sappy cliche a few times (they did fall into the trap, though...with the already been done Lois and Supes flying scene), even overtly letting us think they would drop to the level of overly sentimental (i.e. the Sleeping Beauty scene), but turn away just at the last moment...which to me, came off as a game of homosexual chicken--whoever turns away last wins, but both feel pretty awkward and the winner really shouldn't brag.

Special effects were special effects. These days, the effects can be made so amazing that most top budget films posess action and settings and even magical effect that are indistinguishable from real life. I was thankful that the flying was well done and eons above what was created in movies like "The Matrix: Revolutions."

It was a decent (but not really teh awesome) script and I find no problem with a story that teaches or role models values like hope, truthfulness, perseverence, justice, or even, yes, the American Way. We don't get enough movies these days in which a powerful person doesn't just wallow in their inner conflicted demons. I like Batman for the whole "we're all one step away from being the bad guy" thing...I like Superman for a different reason.

Superman is what we all are supposed to want to be; powerful and good, despite the corruptiveness of that power. Who else could afford to lie, steal, destroy, and even use X-ray vision for naughty purposes and get away with it? But he doesn't. He's always on his best behavior. It makes him a little naive and a little stupid sometimes--"Didn't your father ever tell you to look before you leap?" But then again, if he questioned, tested, and distrusted everything around him, he'd be more cynnical and skeptical--more like Batman. This quality in Superman creates a breeding ground for stupid plot elements that end up making Superman look like a dupe, but then again, most good natured, innocent, open, and helpful people seem to us like well-meaning dolts. Nevertheless, it's the dolt that saves the day in this movie.

What's more, because Superman is what we should want to be, ethically, the comics (and the movies) make us try to be him, too. This movie showed us something I especially liked--the effect Superman has on weakling humans to attempt and even accomplish super-human things because it's the right thing to do. I hope others enjoyed the analogy the scriptwriters tried develop between Superman and Richard. They are both men of action, both good guys, both love Lois, both fly, both love Lois' son, and both are brave. The Superman and the Just-a-man. I loved it.

Still, I have to say that the overall effect of the movie leaves me underwhelmed. That is, for me, the one inexcusable flaw of the movie: I wasn't overwhelmed. The trailer was great. When I hear "Krypton" in the background and get shots of a raven-haired, skinny kid in blue jeans leap out of a corn field with a neat sun-beam filter effect, I get all jittery and want to don my bed-sheet cape. Too bad the guy that made the trailer wasn't involved in the actual movie itself.

Not all acting was brilliant, the plot developed far too slowly, the nefarious scheme Luthor hatched did not seem immediately dangerous enough to me for me to care a lot about the "billions of people that will die," and the editing seemed soft, too (see opening credits and the final shots of the film with Superman in space...the music and the shots didn't match up as dramatically as they should have...moments of greatness were Superman's fall from space, the not-quite-crash-landing in the baseball stadium, and the several "iconic photo-ops").

I give it a B...good enough...for me...to poop on. I'm a little sad that I wasn't blown away by the movie, but then again, my anticipation for greatness was high.