[Zero]

saw Superman Returns this afternoon (while my poochie was getting groomed) - not much shocking here. . . acting was generally weak (langella is wasted and spacey is clearly confined by a script that never lets him go nuts - routh is passable but generally uninteresting and kate bosworth is cute, but she's no margot kidder)

effects were generally strong - though there is a sequence where an 'animated version' of a space shuttle launch is followed by the 'actual' launch and, to be honest there wasn't a whole hell of a lot of difference.

the plot is, sadly, the weakest bit. bryan singer, who was so masterful in _usual suspects_ and _apt pupil_ makes a real hash of the Superman Returns plot. there are plot holes that you could fly a plane through and numerous sequences of dialogue that just kind of seem to end without any point - in fairness this happens to me often in real life but goddamnit i expect movies to end scenes with a 'pop!'

there are some twists in the plot for those who have long followed Supes (i won't reveal too much but let's just say the long established debate about whether superman could have sex with lois without killing her is evidently resolved)

in the end i ate my popcorn and enjoyed a few tear-jerker scenes at the end (though with two such 'oh my god how tragic a hero he is' sequences my sentimentality was running low).

the only closing note to my diatribe is this --- throughout this film, as with my experience of Batman Begins - i couldn't help but feel that the film that really really needs to be made is Dark Knight Returns - set in the future with Bruce Willis as the aging and pissed off Batman and the cataclysmic battle betwen Bats and Supes - this is the film that will, if done with the right conflicted moral air and graphic brutality, effectively end this era of the 'superhero film' but god - it would be awesome!