Five years after the events in Superman II (1981), the Man of Steel (Brandon Routh) returns to Earth only to find that Lois Lane (Kate Bosworth) has a son and a new man in her life… and Lex Luthor (Kevin Spacey) is once again up to no good.

Bryan Singer turned out to be the right filmmaker to bring Superman back to the heights of the first two movies, showing love and respect for what this is about. Goes on too long and offers few surprises, but watching Superman fly again is both awe-inspiring and beautiful. Plenty of humor and exciting action sequences, particularly the one involving a Boeing.

Spacey is just as much fun as Gene Hackman in the original; OK effort by newcomer Routh.

2006-U.S. 154 min. Color. Widescreen. Directed by Bryan Singer. Screenplay: Michael Dougherty, Dan Harris. Music: John Ottman. Cast: Brandon Routh (Clark Kent/Superman), Kate Bosworth (Lois Lane), Kevin Spacey (Lex Luthor), James Marsden, Frank Langella, Eva Marie Saint, Parker Posey, Kal Penn. 

Trivia: Co-produced by Singer. Noel Neill and Jack Larson, who played Lois Lane and Jimmy Olsen in the TV series The Adventures of Superman (1951-1957), make appearances. At one point, McG was slated to direct a script by J.J. Abrams. Henry Cavill and Chris Pratt were considered for the lead role; Amy Adams, Claire Danes and Keri Russell as Lois Lane.

Quote: “Gods… are selfish beings who fly around in little red capes and don’t share their power with mankind.” (Spacey analyzing Superman)

Last word: “Quentin Tarantino and I had a big conversation about it – he has a fascination with this film and he wrote this whole essay about it, but the Lois Lane part of it has always been a stickler with him. This is me extrapolating, but the relationship in the Donner film was so black and white and here it was complex. Adding to that, of course, was the child that was involved. Again, I really do think I was making the film for that Devil Wears Prada audience of women who wouldn’t normally come to a superhero film.” (Singer, ComicBookMovie.com)