Product Description

Warner Brothers Superman Returns (Blu-ray)
The Man of Steel flies back to the silver screen in this thrilling adventure directed by Bryan Singer ("X-Men"). Following a five-year absence from Earth, Superman (Brandon Routh) resumes his old life as Clark Kent and discovers that Lois Lane (Kate Bosworth) is living with her longtime boyfriend and has a child who may possess some extraordinary powers of his own. But when old foe Lex Luthor (Kevin Spacey) sets in motion a deadly real estate scheme, Supes faces themost dangerous challenge of his life. Co-stars James Marsden, Parker Posey, Frank Langella, and--inarchival footage--Marlon Brando.

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #3646 in DVD
• Brand: Warner Brothers
• Released on: 2006-11-28
• Rating: PG-13 (Parental Guidance Suggested)
• Aspect ratio: 1.78:1
• Original language: English, French, Spanish
• Dimensions: 3.00 pounds

Amazon.com
If Richard Donner's 1978 feature film Superman: The Movie made us believe a man could fly, Bryan Singer's 2006 follow-up, Superman Returns, lets us remember that a superhero movie can make our spirits soar. Superman (played by newcomer Brandon Routh) comes back to Earth after a futile five-year search for his destroyed home planet of Krypton. As alter ego Clark Kent, he's eager to return to his job at the Daily Planet and to see Lois Lane (Kate Bosworth). Lois, however, has moved on: she now has a fiancé (James Marsden), a son (Tristan Leabu), and a Pulitzer Prize for her article entitled "Why the World Doesn't Need Superman." On top of this emotional curveball, his old archrival Lex Luthor (Kevin Spacey) is plotting the biggest land grab in history.

Singer, who made a strong impression among comic-book fans for his work on the X-Men franchise and directed Spacey in The Usual Suspects, brings both a fresh eye and a sense of respect to the world's oldest superhero. He borrows John Williams's great theme music and Marlon Brando's voice as Jor-El, and the story (penned by Singer's X-Men collaborators Michael Dougherty and Dan Harris) is a sort-of-sequel to the first two films in the franchise (choosing to ignore that the third and fourth movies ever happened). The humorous and romantic elements give the movie a heart, Singer's art-deco Metropolis is often breathtaking, and the special effects are elegant and spectacular, particularly an early airplane-disaster set-piece. Of the cast, Routh is excellent as the dual Superman/Clark, Spacey is both droll and vicious as Luthor, and Parker Posey gets the best lines as Luthor's moll Kitty. But at 23, Bosworth seems too young for the five-years-past-grizzled Lois. It's nice to see Noel Neill, Jack Larson (both from the classic Adventures of Superman TV series), and Eva Marie-Saint on the screen as well. Superman Returns is one of those projects that was in development for seemingly forever, but it was worth the wait -- it's the most enjoyable superhero movie since Spider-Man 2 and The Incredibles. --David Horiuchi

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Customer Reviews

If you still have HD DVD, this is STILL the DEFINITIVE version of the movie.
For those of you who (like me, were format neutral, as in bought both HD DVD and Blu-ray.) still have HD DVD get this version! It's that the Blu-ray is missing special features, or the visual quality is worse (Most dual-format movies have the same encode.) but the audio quality is perfect! That's because it comes with a Dolby TrueHD track (which the Blu-ray version lacks.) and it is astounding. As of right now, it's the only version to contain this soundtrack, and it's well worth it.

For those that don't know what a TrueHD track is, it's a lossless version of the soundtrack, which means it's master quality! Believe me, it makes a difference! This is a great movie with a great visual look, and with the HD DVD version, the definitive version of the audio.

Close to the first SUPERMAN, but. . .
Bryan Singer did a pretty good job with SUPERMAN RETURNS, and what could have been a simple cash-in on the resurgent interest in the Man Of Steel became something more. The only thing the movie is missing is Christopher Reeve. Brandon Routh gives a yeoman's performance as Supe and Clark Kent, but without the sparkle that made Reeve a perfect Kal-El. Hey, Brandon had big shoes to fill, and I'm not sure if anyone currently in the acting biz could have done it. Chris, we miss you. . .

Everything else in SUPERMAN RETURNS is top-notch. The script, by Singer, Michael Dougherty and Dan Harris, is tight, well thought out and literate. The editing and music are, of course, by John Ottman (and John uses the original John Williams themes well), and the effects, by several different computer imaging companies, are spectacular. Once again, you will believe a man can fly.

And the supporting cast is excellent, too: from Kevin Spacey as a truly serpentine and vengeful Luthor to Kate Bosworth as a Lois Lane with a young son and a new love in James Marsden (from Singer's X-Men) to Eva Marie Saint (nice casting!) as Kal-El's adoptive Mom to Frank Langella as a very different kind of Perry White.

A lot has been written about SUPERMAN RETURNS, so all I will conclude with is: I enjoyed it immensely.

The Two-Disc Special Edition of the DVD includes, on the first disc, the feature, crisply letterboxed in 2:35 to 1, with great sound and color. Watch this one on a big screen TV with 5.1 sound! Surprisingly, Singer does not contribute commentary to this presentation, as he did to great effect on both X-Men films. Too bad.

Disc Two offers THREE HOURS of documentary material, mostly filmed on set and very candid. Fascinating. Also, there is a short how-to presentation on recreating Marlon Brando's Jor-El, a group of deleted scenes which, for the most part, I wish were not cut out. These additional scenes added depth to the characters and situations. Finally, there is a teaser trailer and the original theatrical trailer, as well as a promo for the Christopher Reeve Superman Collection and promos for two DC video games.

If you liked SUPERMAN RETURNS, I recommend the Two Disc Edition. The three hours of documentary material are well worth your time.

We dont want him back!
No, its not that I didnt want to like this movie. I loved Superman and Superman II but the series went downhill with Superman III and IV: The Quest For Peace putting the nail in the coffin. But even though Superman 3 and 4 were awful they were more entertaining in their badness than this movie. Bryan Singer made X-Men and X2-X-Men United sizzle on the big screen. But where he succeeded in X-Men he fell on his face here. The whole plot is that Superman(played by Brandon Routh) returns after searching for some so-called remains of his home planet. He comes back a bitter Lois Lane(played by Kate Bosworth)who is upset that he left without saying goodbye. In the meanwhile Lex Luthor(played by Kevin Spacey) finds Superman's hideout and steals his crystals with a peculiar scheme in mind: use the crystals to create a land mass that is practically inhabitable(as you find out later in the movie).

Opinion: I dont know where to start when criticizing this movie but here goes nothing. Brandon Routh is bland as Superman/Clark Kent. Christopher Reeve brought some type of charm to his role as Superman while Brandon Routh is just there. Another mistake is Kate Bosworth as Lois Lane. She's bland and doesnt have the spunk that Lois Lane is known for. On a positive side Kevin Spacey is perfect as Lex Luthor(he's no Gene Hackman but he'll do). Parkey Posey's brainless character "Kitty" provides some laughs which break the moments of boredom this movie causes. When they're not on the screen, the movie just drags on and on which brings me to my next point: Superman Returns moves at a really slowwwwwwwwww pace. There's hardly any action and even though the special effects are good and Metropolis is nice to look at the movie still feels longer than it has to be. Another complaint is the movie insults the intelligence of its viewers and leaves them with a lot of questions to ask like: If Lois Lane's son was strong enough to kill one of Luthor's goons with a piano than why couldnt he get himself and his mother out of the pantry? How can Superman lift a whole island made up of kryptonite(his Archilles heel)when he had trouble handling Luthor's henchmen on this same island? Why would Lex Luthor, Superman's clever foe come up with such an idiotic idea such as making an island no one can live on? Why would Superman leave withou saying goodbye to Lois Lane? Wasnt he the same one who was willing to give away his powers to be with Lois Lane? Who's bright idea was it to cast Harold of Harold & Kumar fame as one of Luthor's henchmen. You get the drift. This is an incredibly dull superhero flick that just looks good visually but is a bland soap opera that is 154 minutes longer than it needs to be.