Does the world need Superman?

Good special effects, but a rather thin plot and one-dimensional characters.

Superman returns to earth after trying to find his former home world, Krypton, only to find out that Lois Lane is engaged to another man, the people of earth has lost faith in him, and that Lex Luthor is planning to wipe out North America by using the crystals of Krypton to build his own island of paradise.

“Kevin Spacey” is the evil personification of Lex Luthor. He has eccentric tastes, yet he is violent with psychopathic tendencies. Nobody else could have played Lex as brilliant as Spacey. However, his evil scheme to wipe out North America is flawed. After seeing the island that the kryptonite shards created, who on earth would live on such a desolated piece of rock? It would not be possible to live there for a million years.

“Brandon Routh” has the charisma of Superman, and reminds me in many ways of “Christopher Reeves”. The writers have managed to balance his time between Superman and Clark Kent quite well. Other than that there is not much to add.

“Kate Bosworth’s” character does not entirely convince me. How does one get the Pulitzer price for writing an article called “Does the world need Superman?”, when it becomes pretty clear after watching this movie, that yes, the world needs him? Then she manages to get involved in some triangle love affair, which could be interpreted as cheating on her husband.

The effects in “Superman Returns” are nothing short of amazing, and I expected nothing less. However, the director has focused too much on the effects and too little on everything else. Because of this, the characters are one-dimensional and the plot is nothing more than background-material. It is good entertainment, and maybe that is all that Superman should be, but I could not help wishing for more.