After a five-year departure from Metropolis, Superman returns to find a city that's managed to survive without him, an old flame who's moved on and an old enemy who wants him destroyed. Marlon Brando returns as Jor-El through the magic of archival footage. I liked how the director really made Superman Returns like the first two. Although, it was mostly a direct sequel to the first film, there are a couple of references to the second. The first is Lex mentioning that he has visited the Fortress of Solitude before and the other is Kal-El's son. Kevin Spacey really saved the movie from being a complete disaster. He was brilliant as Lex Luthor and really seamed to be having fun with the role. Brandon Routh did a good job with playing the serious side of Kal-El, but he lacked the subtle humor that Christopher Reeve brought. In fact, no actor is or will be, better suited to playing Kal-El than Christopher Reeve. Kate Bosworth was underwritten as Lois Lane just like Kristin Kreuk is with Lana Lang on Smallville for she had absolutely nothing to do in this film. Despite these faults, I did like that John Williams returned to compose the main title and there was a big attempt to make it similar in tone to Richard Donnor's vision. Overall, Superman Returns is an entertaining movie. Finally, I have two questions about this film. The first is: why can't Kal-El and Clark make friends? The second is: if Kal-El can fly, why does he need a spaceship?