Superman returns to Earth after spending five years in space examining his homeworld Krypton. But he finds things have changed while he was gone, and he must once again prove himself importa... Read allSuperman returns to Earth after spending five years in space examining his homeworld Krypton. But he finds things have changed while he was gone, and he must once again prove himself important to the world.Superman returns to Earth after spending five years in space examining his homeworld Krypton. But he finds things have changed while he was gone, and he must once again prove himself important to the world.
- Nominated for 1 Oscar
- 12 wins & 47 nominations total
- Jor-El
- (archive footage)
- Ben Hubbard
- (scenes deleted)
Storyline
Did you know
- TriviaThe last line of Superman IV: The Quest for Peace (1987) is Superman saying to Luthor, "See you in twenty." That scene was filmed in 1986. Coincidentally, twenty years later, this film was released.
- GoofsLois Lane would not yet be eligible for a Pulitzer prize. They are awarded each year for outstanding achievements in the previous calendar year. "Why the World Doesn't Need Superman" was published February 14, 2006. The movie takes place in September 2006 (evidenced by the date of the mock "Superman Is Dead" edition).
- Quotes
Superman: [Quoting Marlon Brando/Jor-el from 1978's SUPERMAN:THE MOVIE to Jason asleep in his bed] You will be different, sometimes you'll feel like an outcast, but you'll never be alone. You will make my strength your own. You will see my life through your eyes, as your life will be seen through mine. The son becomes the father and the father becomes the son.
- Crazy creditsThe opening credits are seen in a trip through space, from Krypton to Earth, in a manner reminiscent of the Superman (1978) opening credits sequence.
- Alternate versionsIn the IMAX presentation, four scenes (totalling about 20 minutes) were converted from 2D to 3D: The flashback to Clark Kent's youth on the farm, the Shuttle/777 rescue, the rescue of the sinking ocean liner, and the final flyover before the credits. Bryan Singer developed a cue featuring an icon of Clark's glasses flashing in green at the bottom of the screen when it is time to put them on, and then with a red circle/slash over when it is time to take them off.
- ConnectionsEdited from Superman (1978)
- SoundtracksQuando, Quando, Quando
Written by Pat Boone (as Charles E. Boone), Tony Renis and Alberto Testa
Performed by The Drifters
Courtesy of Atlantic Recording Corp.
By arrangement with Warner Music Group Film & TV Licensing
Brandon Routh- who, as Shaq pointed out at the film's premiere in less flowery language- sometimes appears to be Christopher Reeve reborn. Not in appearance and voice alone, but also in his representation of Clark Kent. Of course, this should not be too surprising seeing as he has admitted to studying Reeve's performances in the earlier Superman films.
Nonetheless, Brandon Routh is excellent in his own right. He "is" Superman as wholly and perfectly as Smallville's Tom Welling (who is, ironically 2 years older).
The other characters of the cast were as equally well -chosen. I had perhaps biased doubts about Kate Bosworth's portrayal of Lois Lane, but she does extremely well with the part. I had even more doubts about Kevin Spacey...I mean, come on, Kevin Spacey as Lex Luthor? To my delight, however, he did more than just shave his head to prepare for the challenging role.
Over an hour of the two and a half the film provided was spent with Superman "returning." Note, that I already have a slightly biased dislike of Superman. You can probably guess what that dislike concerns.
However, I found myself enjoying Superman's excessive showing off.
The movie in general is probably one of the most aesthetically pleasing superhero movies that I have ever seen. I usually hate to focus too much on good graphics, but the 3D scenes are done amazingly well most of the time. Superman's red underwear is lacking most of its usual luster and utterly underwearish shape, much to my relief. In fact, thanks to the perfect length of his cape and good use of the camera, we avoid even seeing it most of the time.
All this, combined with that classical Superman theme song, makes our hearts cry, "It's Superman!" with a surprising joy.
The problem is, despite the perfection found in the cast and direction, the plot is sadly lacking. Lex Luthor's plan is foolish, rash, and surprisingly cheap coming from someone of his caliber. Last I saw of the old Batman and Superman adventures TV show on Cartoon Network those years ago, Lex Luthor was a man devoted to subtle mechanics. He would do things, like destroy land by draining oil from the wrong areas, sell weapons to the enemies of metropolis. Mass destruction was never his goal, although people were inadvertently hurt by his methods. He had huge factories, all covered with lead so that Superman could not see inside, and worked tactfully with the enemies of Superman to bring about his demise.
The one villain who could have saved this movie- Metallo, a.k.a. "The Man With the Kryptonite Heart" was left out much to my disappointment.
Instead of either adding a more powerful villain or making Lex Luthor the intelligent- however insane- businessman that he is, they surrounded him with idiots and gave him a faux plan.
In this way, they insulted the intelligence of the audience. They perhaps thought that an involved, complicated plot was the wrong way to bring Superman back, and the movie was probably also geared to young children (despite it's PG-13 rating, which was not understandable to me as the movie was quite mild) who were just being introduced to the Man of Steel.
Despite these major flaws, though, now that they have gotten over "bringing Superman back" the seeds have been planted for an excellent sequel. Sequels usually make me wary and I do not want them, but ironically, with this movie of all things, I hope for one with absolute anticipation and excitement.
- MeloDee
- Dec 10, 2006
Details
- Release date
- Countries of origin
- Official sites
- Languages
- Also known as
- Red Sun
- Filming locations
- Production companies
- See more company credits at IMDbPro
Box office
- Budget
- $270,000,000 (estimated)
- Gross US & Canada
- $200,081,192
- Opening weekend US & Canada
- $52,535,096
- Jul 2, 2006
- Gross worldwide
- $391,081,192
- Runtime2 hours 34 minutes
- Color
- Sound mix
- Aspect ratio
- 2.35 : 1