Superman Returns 2006

Moira MacDonald, Seattle Times: Superman Returns should swoop away with a big chunk of the summer box office, and deservedly so. Read more

Michael Phillips, Chicago Tribune: [In] isolated moments Singer honors the myth and finds a fresh way to dramatize it. The director is scheduled to do a sequel, to be released in 2009. Maybe in that one we'll get more magic along with the reverence. Read more

David Edelstein, New York Magazine/Vulture: The final scenes would make Wagner check his watch. It's not that the movie is 157 minutes; it's that it feels like 157 minutes. Read more

J. R. Jones, Chicago Reader: What could possibly justify making a Superman movie that runs 154 minutes? Plenty of films last longer, but their characters are generally sharp enough to recognize a guy with or without his glasses. Read more

Joe Morgenstern, Wall Street Journal: While his movie can be cumbersome, it's consistently alive, and that is saying a lot when many such productions are dead in the water, on land or in the air. Also, how can you resist the charm of a fantasy in which everyone gets his news from newspapers? Read more

Mick LaSalle, San Francisco Chronicle: An action sequence isn't just about spectacular visions but about making audiences care about those visuals, about what they mean for the characters. There, Superman Returns comes up short. Read more

Richard Roeper, Ebert & Roeper: ... while I can't call it a home run, I'll say it's a solid base hit. Read more

Eleanor Ringel Gillespie, Atlanta Journal-Constitution: Though his movie is a blink-of-an-eye too long, Singer and company have given us a reason to be excited about Superman all over again. Read more

Scott Tobias, AV Club: There's a thin line between preserving an icon and merely delivering on an expensive franchise, but Singer's genuine connection to the Superman legend overcomes his predilection toward playing it safe. Read more

Bill Muller, Arizona Republic: Superman Returns careens along at wild speeds while still stopping for thoughtful moments. Read more

Ty Burr, Boston Globe: A generally thrilling entertainment that's not quite the grand slam you want it to be. Read more

Kenneth Turan, Los Angeles Times: It's not that Superman Returns doesn't have any ideas, it's got too many; this is a film that tries too hard and wants too much. Read more

Amy Biancolli, Houston Chronicle: The world needs him, all right, and it should welcome his Return. Read more

Peter Rainer, Christian Science Monitor: Maybe The Incredibles has spoiled me for superhero movies. The new Superman has its visionary charms, but there's only so far you can go without great characters. Read more

Michael Booth, Denver Post: The main point of Superman Returns is that Singer spends 2 1/2 hours avoiding a franchise-size fumble. Read more

Tom Long, Detroit News: Superman Returns is arguably the most expensive film ever made, and yet you leave the theater thinking, wow, those Spider-Man movies are really good. Read more

Owen Gleiberman, Entertainment Weekly: 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. Read more

Terry Lawson, Detroit Free Press: Singer has succeeded beyond anyone's expectations -- and establishes himself as someone to whom any film aiming for taste and intelligence could be trusted. Read more

Philip Wuntch, Dallas Morning News: Superman Returns' real hero is director Singer. He gives us a movie that is mellow when it should be and rousing when it should be. That can't have been an easy juggling act. Read more

Robert Denerstein, Denver Rocky Mountain News: Singer's first flight into Superman territory generates enough thrills to ensure a return engagement. And next time, the director may feel less compelled to reassert his famous superhero's importance. Read more

Scott Foundas, L.A. Weekly: What is finally most surprising about Superman Returns is how unexpectedly moving it is -- for its nostalgia; for its yearning for hearth and home; and for its overarching belief in the fundamental goodness of people. Read more

Rene Rodriguez, Miami Herald: ... Superman Returns brings a richer, grander perspective to a seminal character without changing his essence. Read more

Gene Seymour, Newsday: Superman Returns is pop mythology reinvigorated with intense grandeur, infectious energy and fierce conviction by director Bryan Singer. Read more

Lisa Rose, Newark Star-Ledger: Singer gets the details right but the big picture is uneven. Read more

Jack Mathews, New York Daily News: The movie has an undercurrent of personal drama that leaves you with a lump in your throat and an urgent need to see Superman return again. Read more

Roger Moore, Orlando Sentinel: It will get to you, if you can be gotten to. Read more

James Berardinelli, ReelViews: Superman Returns is near the top -- if not at the top -- of the superhero movie pile. It offers nearly everything: romance, action, humor, and plenty of goose bumps. For Superman, many happy returns. Read more

Roger Ebert, Chicago Sun-Times: This is a glum, lackluster movie in which even the big effects sequences seem dutiful instead of exhilarating. Read more

Stephanie Zacharek, Salon.com: Superman, born in 1938, is still very much alive in 2006. The Man of Steel has so skillfully bent the bars of our imagination that he seems real to us. And in a sense, he is. Read more

Dana Stevens, Slate: Is anyone else out there drumming their fingers waiting for the superhero craze to be over? Read more

Joe Williams, St. Louis Post-Dispatch: Singer's revival of childhood wonder and timeless heroism [is] an extraordinary feat of movie magic. Read more

Rick Groen, Globe and Mail: It's clear that Superman Returns wants to lay claim to being a true successor to the first film, not a sequel so much as a full-blooded offspring. But these bold hopes are tempered by a risk-free strategy. Read more

Geoff Pevere, Toronto Star: World-saving, all-powerful, hero-to-everyone stuff must be lonely work, and Singer's Superman bears the responsibility with the slightly clenched dutifulness of someone who's immortal enough to accept his destiny but human enough to suffer the weight. Read more

Richard Corliss, TIME Magazine: The best Hollywood movies always knew how to sneak a beguiling subtext into a crowd-pleasing story. Superman Returns is in that grand tradition. That's why it's beyond Super. It's superb. Read more

Time Out: It's straight-faced, square-jawed stuff, but that's apt enough for the boldest, simplest superhero concept of all. Read more

Claudia Puig, USA Today: It's good to have him back, even if he is a bit more fragile. Read more

Todd McCarthy, Variety: Sure to rate with aficionados alongside Spider-Man 2 and, for many, Batman Begins on the short list of best superhero spectaculars. Read more

J. Hoberman, Village Voice: The movie may not be a single-bound building-leaper but Bryan Singer reconfigures the daddy of all comic-book sagas into something knowing, witty, and even sensitive. Read more

Stephen Hunter, Washington Post: The much ballyhooed movie, far from great and far from short (2 1/2 hours!), is still great fun. Read more