I saw Superman Returns Tuesday night. I expected a packed theater with a line out the door, but I guess everyone was at the Rio. Juan, Jeremy and Rob had been waiting there for three hours and they were the first in line.

I had watched the original Donner film just before heading to the theater. I hadn’t seen this extended cut (2.5 hours!) before and it had a lot of interesting additions which I guess they extracted from unused footage from filming Superman 1 and 2. Anyhow, the film was fresh in my mind, so the homage Superman Returns makes to the original was very obvious. For the most part it worked, but I thought there was a big continuity problem because of this. Superman Returns is supposed to be a sequel to Superman 2, yet a big plot element is basically identical to one in the first film. I was thinking “Wait a minute, didn’t he try this stunt before?”

Other than that, I really enjoyed the movie and found Brandon Routh convincing as both Superman and Clark Kent, though he does seem to be mimicking Reeve’s Kent rather closely. Kevin Spacey does the same thing with his Lex Luthor, following Hackman very closely. This isn’t a bad thing, it’s just that in recent years I have become used to Clancy Brown’s more serious portrayal on Justice League.

The effects are superb and you can see the money up there on the screen. I love how they did the opening titles just like the original films, only with astonishing outer space scenes instead of sparklers and weird glowing goo. The opening credit sequence is a film in itself, like the intro to Star Trek Voyager on acid.

Drey’s Top 10 Movies seen in 2006

1. Brick
2. Inside Man
3. Day Watch
4. Night Watch
5. Howl’s Moving Castle
6. Superman Returns
7. Cars
8. Mission Impossible 3
9. V for Vendetta
10. Layer Cake