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The philosophy of Superman

A.C. Grayling

Wednesday, 5th July 2006

I must declare an interest: as a devotee of DC Comics’ Superman since early childhood, I am incontinently prepared in advance to enjoy every radio show, television series and film that features him. So before seeing this one, Superman Returns (which opens here on 14 July), I was ready to give it a good review, and I have not been disappointed. It’s a cracker. Christopher Reeve look-alike Brandon Routh does not have to act — his task is to be tall, to fill the famous suit well, and to keep still for the cameras when in flying pose, and he succeeds on all counts; so there are no problems there. Because the real acting is done by Kevin Spacey as Lex Luthor and Kate Bosworth as Lois Lane, the result is a treat.

Given the nature of the Superman mythos, it is inevitable that everything proceeds to formula. Ninety-five per cent of the film consists of noisy special effects; the remainder is divided between the stock evil of Luthor’s world-domination obsessions and Lois Lane’s Superman obsessions, with the standard semi-comical Clark Kent subplot attached.

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