Superman Returns - PG-13
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Common Sense Note
Parents should know that the movie features some violent images, beginning with the fiery crash of Superman's return vehicle, along with lots of explosions, earth-shakings, giant waves, and an especially harrowing sequence in which a plane almost crashes. There's an earthquake, a bank robbery, and a near-drowning. And lots of bloodless violence: The villain stabs Superman repeatedly, and in a long scene, Superman is kicked and beaten. Someone is crushed by a piano. Some younger kids could be upset by the fact that both mothers and sons are in jeopardy, and some scenes are very sad (Superman grieves for his lost father and his changed relationship with Lois; when he's in the hospital, people worry). Finally, it wouldn't be summer without smoking in a movie (every year it happens in kids' films...) -- Lois carries cigarettes; one scene in a bar shows beer drinking.
Families can discuss the importance of family connections and reconciliations, even following separations. They can also discuss how Superman faces his fear and vulnerability and still serves others generously.
Common Sense Review
Reviewed By: Cynthia Fuchs
In SUPERMAN RETURNS, the action scenes are lively and sometimes harrowing but also provide food for thought. The movie begins by explaining why Superman (Brandon Routh) has been away for so long: Five years ago, "scientists discovered remains" of his home planet Krypton, and he went to investigate.
His return in Bryan Singer's 154-minute film raises the question of why "we" need him. In a post-9/11 world, superheroes might seem idealistic and quaint concepts, even, as Lois Lane (Kate Bosworth) has written in a Pulitzer Prize-winning article, "irrelevant." Lois now lives with her fiancé, Richard White (James Marsden), nephew of Perry (Frank Langella).
Feeling slightly guilty about abandoning his public and Lois -- whose son Jason (Tristan Leabu) is, significantly, about five years old -- Superman also returns to his old alias as Clark Kent, working at the Daily Planet.
As Superman, he also undertakes his usual business, saving humans from disasters, most initiated by Lex Luthor (Kevin Spacey), paroled from prison and newly enriched following the death of an elderly benefactor he duped. When Lex starts an electromagnetic pulse that cripples a NASA plane, Superman shows up just in time to save the frightened passengers (mostly reporters, including Lois).
This excitement is only the beginning (other action scenes have Superman showing off his super-speed, super-strength, and x-ray vision), but the film's emotional energies lie elsewhere. This is a movie about fathers and sons, and more precisely, the vulnerabilities inherent in such relationships. Even before Superman travels to the Fortress of Solitude to commune with Jor-El (an archived Marlon Brando), Lex gets there, thrilled and renewed when he finds Jor-El for himself: "I'm his son," gasps Lex, as Jor-El starts dispensing wisdom: "The son becomes the father, the father, the son."
To make space for his new self-concept, Lex decides to build his own continent, literally. Accompanied by his moll Kitty (Parker Posey), Lex combines crystals and kryptonite to grow a land mass to serve as his empire's base and to kill Superman. It's a brilliant scheme, nation-building at its most extreme, unnamed and insidious.
Singer pays loving homage to Richard Donner's 1978 Superman: The Movie. But this saddened, more experienced Superman has seen the aftermath of world destruction, and so comes with a perspective not quite so boldly idealistic or pompously ideological. Yes, he still means to save this world, but the triumph is less complete now, the costs more visible.
Families who enjoy this movie will also like Superman: The Movie, Singer's first comic book film, X-Men, and the television series Smallville.
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Sexual ContentLois and Superman share lingering looks and a chastely romantic flight over Metropolis; Kitty wears some tight, campy costumes. |
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ViolenceSuperman's return to earth occurs in a fiery crash; a plane catches fire and plummets through the sky; Superman rescues victims in other violent scenes (explosion caused by cigarette butt lighting gas, bank robbery, earthquake, woman falling off building, car out of control); Lex beats, kicks, and stabs Superman with kryptonite shard; a little dog is shown eating its fellow little dog; Superman stops thieves with major automatic weapons, deflects a shot at his bullet-proof eye.. |
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LanguageOne "damn," one s-word. |
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Social BehaviorSuperman saves the day unselfishly. |
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Drug/Alcohol/TobaccoClark and Jimmy go to a bar; Jimmy drinks beer; Lois starts to smoke a cigarette and Superman convinces her she should not. |
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