Man, newcomer's getting Super buzz June 26, 2006 "Superman Returns" swoops into theaters Wednesday on a current of anticipation and cool trailers that make the buzz surrounding earlier big summer flicks seem a little like white noise. As reviews of the Warner Bros. film, directed by Bryan Singer and starring newcomer Brandon Routh, begin trickling in things are looking even better for the man of steel. Look for Gene Seymour's review in tomorrow's Newsday.
Here's a sampling of what else is out there:
HARRY KNOWLES
aintitcoolnews.com
How did Brandon Routh do? ... He simply was Superman. The timbre of his voice in the title character is simply wonderful. He is majestic and human. Amazing, super and courageous. The film is filled with love for more than just the previous movies, but the comics and even the classic George Reeves television show. This honors them all, while doing its own wonderful thing.
RICHARD CORLISS
Time Magazine
Earlier versions of Superman stressed the hero's humanity: his attachment to his Earth parents, his country-boy clumsiness around Lois. The Singer version emphasizes his divinity. He is not a super man; he is a god (named Kal-El), sent by his heavenly father (Jor-El) to protect Earth. That is a mission that takes more than muscles; it requires sacrifice, perhaps of his own life. So he is no simple comic-book hunk. He is Earth's savior: Jesus Christ Superman.
OWEN GLEIBERMAN
Entertainment Weekly
Brandon Routh plays Superman by unabashedly mimicking Reeve's performance. As the twittery nerd Clark Kent, Routh stammers with mock anxiety, bowing his head as he pushes his glasses up with his index finger, and he's all sexy, straight-staring chivalry as the clear-eyed, rock-chested Superman, a god too noble to be a stud. I wish that "Superman Returns" were more original, and (in its first 45 minutes) better paced, but Singer, after two "X-Men" films, is now a commanding orchestrator of pop spectacle. The movie gets tighter and fiercer as it goes along. Kevin Spacey, for all the hilarity of his zombie sarcasms, lends a hungry gravitas to Lex's dreams, and as Luthor creates a crystalline fortress of megalomania, which evokes the remains of the World Trade Center, Singer does his grandest work to date.
DAVID ANSEN
Newsweek
You know that you are in the presence of kitsch of a very high order when a comic-book romance can actually produce a lump in your throat. Newcomer Routh may or may not be a real actor, but he effortlessly lays claim to the iconic role, just as Reeve did. Indeed, he virtually duplicates Reeve in the way he plays Kent as a diffident, awkward Midwestern colt. Singer cleverly doles out his hero in small portions, so that we're left, like all those awestruck admirers in Metropolis, wanting more glimpses of him than we get.
KIRK HONEYCUTT
The Hollywood Reporter
The hero's rescues are spectacular thanks to the marvels of digital effects. And its villain, Lex Luthor, and Luthor's female companion, Kitty Kowalski - deliciously played by Kevin Spacey and Parker Posey - spice the film with extravagant comedy. Superman doesn't so much fly as float. He can levitate a few feet or thousands of feet in the air. This high-wire act would have gone for naught if Routh had not so capably filled the Man of Steel's costume. Like Reeve, he is just right physically, looking at times like the old comic book drawings of Superman. There is honesty in his acting where the emotions that play across Superman/Clark Kent's face and body come from deep within.
Dear, sweet Harley Kwink...I'm madly in love with you. Marry me! We can go to Canadia. Or Boston or something. It'll be grand...You know the cookies are a given. They are ALWAYS a given. You could dump me tomorrow and you'd still get the cookies. Boston..shit, wherever dyke weddings were legalized. And where better to rub their little piggie noses in how bad they suck than right on their doorstep? What are they gonna do? Be jealous of you? Stare furiously at your tah-tahs? Not willingly give you cookies, but instead begrudgingly give you their cookies? Woman, time to wake up to the powers you wield - Uschi
