Dariunas

There are going to be people who dislike the approach Singer has taken with this continuation of the Superman story. I for one am certainly not one of them. Skimming over everything, Spacey is excellent as Luthor, combining elements (mainly visual) of Gene Hackman and a touch of Michael Rosenbaums'(Smallville) take on Lex, but also a touch of his own creepy evil streak. Brandon Routh is excellent as Clark/Superman. Very good as both Clark and Superman. And very much like Christopher Reeve's Superman which I think may have been a controversial decision, but it has been pulled off very well. Credit to Routh.

Kate Bosworth is good as Lois, but really lacks the true spunky side of Margot Kidder as she never seems to kick up enough of a fuss and comes across as much moany as she is persistent. Some may disagree, but hey this is my comment :D Action scenes are truly top notch and better almost anything else I've seen for sheer impact. My hair was standing on end and my heart racing in a couple of scenes (something that never really happens to me) Music is especially good in places thanks to Ottman's wonderful composition and orchestration of themes while weaving them with new, more introspective material. The story isn't amazing, but the storyTELLING is again awesome. Singer allows the film to lean back when it needs to in a similar way that HULK does, allowing the viewer to immerse in the characters and develop the personal conflicts. There is little in the way of conflict between Superman and Clark.

In fact, there is not much Clark Kent time in the film - it's more about Superman, and his struggle to find his place back in a world where so much he held close has changed... for the worse. Singer really shows us his alienation from humans and really makes you root for him on so many levels as he fights and defends people who he is not one of, but so desperately wants to be, mainly driven by his love of Lois. Not having someone you want because you're from a different world is probably something that resonates with a lot of people from different backgrounds and certainly did with me. It's more a love story at heart, but disguises it well until you think back on it and it becomes more apparent.

A few nice twists make you think of where the Singer may take this. Of course you'll have to see for yourself :D All in all, the best film I've seen since Batman Begins. Has grown on me a lot.

And by a long way too. The sets and lighting are spot on, the content and story progression are just about good enough - they've done well to keep as close to the source material as they have while making a story that will work out well in film.

Performances are here and there... the characters are really, quite stereotypical, though acting is certainly weak in sections *ahem* (rock) he just doesn't have the voice to carry the menacing nature of his character quite enough... having said that, he certainly looks the part throughout the film. Carl Urban was really good as the main protagonist. He has an excellent look for his character. Rosumund Pike's performance is a little lacklustre I have to admit, but there's no denying she's nice to look at :D The creatures don't make an appearance until some way into the film, and they look very good - true to the game, certainly.

Despite some of these good points, there are some parts that are REALLY easy to pick faults with (when destroyer fights a creature in the holding cell, look at the whole thing he does just with the pipe before he climbs the chain, something is very wrong!) A special mention goes to music which is superb, capturing the essence of the Doom and Unreal type games, with filthy synth lines, driving beats, shreddy guitars and orchestral textures lending it power and a rather distinct identity (great for a film, but pretty standardif it were a real 1st person shooter game, Mansell's made it work well in a film) This movie has received a lot of criticism from people I know, but they seem to have overlooked many of the things that this film has done right, especially given the fact that it has started out from a game (always a bad start!). Its story of marines fighting creatures in Mars was always going to pitch it against the likes of Alien(s) etc. and it would always be under that shadow. But In all honesty, as a film to other films of it's ilk, it's very watchable, and has some really nice touches (yes the first-person perspective bit is one of them - if you're wondering, yes it's good, yes it could have been done a little better, it feels a touch... elastic rather than snappy, but it's excellent nonetheless)... it's better than AvP without a doubt, but doesn't come near to Alien(s) or the original Predator

Actually, I quite enjoyed this. Doesn't mean it was a good, or even great film, but I loved Richard E Grant in it (you'll know what I mean when you hear the '...what a romantic notion' line! Sheer class. Unfortunately, Thora Birch's performance, was probably one of the worst I have ever seen... ever, from anyone... ever. Jeremy Irons was solid as usual... and the guy who used to be Jimmy in Superman I thought was surprisingly good. I know there will be loads of people who disagree with me, but if you look past the formulaic dialogue and expected narrative progression, there's an average, but enjoyable film trying to get out (average is not bad despite many people's assumptions). While it's certainly no Willow beater, I don't think it deserves a low-down 3.2 ...