Superman!

This afternoon, I skipped out of work early and caught a matinee of Superman Returns.

First off, Brandon Routh as the Man Of Steel -- pulls it off without a hitch. He is Christopher Reeve resurrected in looks, mannerisms, you name it. If there is another movie, he will be able to start making Superman "his own" with no problem, and the transition from the old to the new will be not even noticeable.

Without giving away any of the plot elements, the story was well written, and more importantly, it completely ignored Superman III as well as Superman IV: The Quest For More Money Peace. Although a touch long with a running time of 154 minutes, it didn't feel long. There weren't any scenes that you look back on and say "My god, he should have hired an editor" (unlike that recent cinematic albatross, King Kong... not all movies have to be three hours, Peter, honest!)

Kevin Spacey as Lex Luthor? Nailed it. He has exactly the right proportion of "calm, intelligent rationalization" and "cold, vicious ruthlessness" that Luthor must convey. Gene Hackman did a fine job, but his Luthor was more campy than creepy. Spacey's Luthor has his campy moments, make no mistake, but he's a villain you can honestly say could theoretically exist, and worse, would be extremely scary to encounter.

There's some interesting plot points that reveal themselves late in the movie, and there's clearly sequel potential being left open, in any number of ways.

Go see this movie. Right now. Seriously.