by MARK SLUTSKY

It ranks among the weirder cinematic developments of our time that so many respected directors from the indie world have turned their talents towards superhero movies, and, weirder still, that most of these movies have been made with a degree of careful intelligence and thoughtfulness.

The trend arguably started with Bryan Singer’s X-Men, though he was soon followed by Sam Raimi (the Spider-Man movies) and Christopher Nolan (Batman Begins)—all hits. Not all of these films have been unqualified successes, and some of the copycats (Catwoman, Daredevil, etc.) have been really bad.

Singer’s X-flicks, in particular, get so much right—in casting, characterization, tone and general smarts—that you can almost, but not quite, forgive their relative lack of action movie thrill power. But he seems to know what makes comic book characters fun to watch, and how to make them larger than life, but still human, not caricatures.

Which is exactly the kind of quality you need to imbue Superman with. Though he arguably has a past more tragic than any other cinematic superhero (Batman lost his parents, Supes lost his entire species), he’s still so resoundingly... decent, so omnipotent that he’s practically a god. At the same time, he still has to stand as a sort of exemplar for humanity, as something to aspire to. So he’s got to be super, and he’s got to be a man.

If you’re making a movie about Superman you’ve got to fit all this stuff in and still make it fun to watch. And you need to cast somebody who seems both perfectly virtuous and confident, yet not dull as a board.

So it’s a lot to ask of Singer’s new attempt at the Super-mythos, Superman Returns. But it’s not like it hasn’t been done before in, what might be the best superhero movie ever, Richard Donner’s original Superman (and its sequel, Superman II). Donner found the perfect human-but-better superguy in Christopher Reeve, who could play both the brawny stuff and the fumbling Clark Kent awkwardness, and all of the other elements of the film, from Marlon Brando to John Williams’s score to the psychedelic special effects to its goofy sense of humour, fit perfectly. (Unfortunately, Supermans III and IV, featuring, respectively, Richard Pryor and nuclear disarmament, didn’t fare as well.)

Smart continuity

So Singer’s decision to make Superman Returns part of the same continuity as the first two films is a very smart one, as is his use of the original movie’s theme and title design.

The movie picks up five years after II. The Man of Steel (Brandon Routh) has been M.I.A. in the interim, out in deep space searching for remnants of his home planet, Krypton. Some things have changed in the interim; Lois Lane (Kate Bosworth) has had a kid, and she’s engaged to reporter Richard White (James Marsden), nephew of Daily Planet editor Perry (Frank Langella). And, of course, Lex Luthor (Kevin Spacey), has managed to get out of jail once again, and he has a plan to both dominate the world and administer a major beatdown on the Metropolis Marvel.

For the most part the casting (including original footage of Brando) is perfect. The previously unknown Routh inherits the mantle of the late Reeves (to whom, along with his recently deceased widow Dana Reeves, the film is dedicated) with aplomb, with the same square-jawedness and sense of humour. And Kevin Spacey, who has one of the best entrances in recent movie history, plays a great Luthor, almost on par with Gene Hackman’s incarnation of the role. But the one character who falls short is Lois Lane; Bosworth might be as cute as a button but her intrepid reporter is far too serious and not nearly sassy enough, not as charmingly screwball as Margot Kidder.

As for the super-thrills, this movie’s definitely got ’em. The film’s standout sequence, involving an airplane and a space shuttle, both in very terrible trouble, is one of the best action scenes in recent memory. It may be a little long for its own good, but Superman Returns is a reverent but funny, smart but action-packed continuation of the Superman legacy, full of surprises and charm. See it in IMAX 3D if you can.

Superman Returns is in theatres.

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