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Faster than his own insecurities: Brandon Routh's Superman soars across big screens in the Fredericksburg area, and America, this week.

"Superman Returns," in the nick of time for America

Date published: 6/30/2006

By MICHAEL ZITZ

When Christopher Reeve found himself paralyzed after being thrown from a horse in Culpeper in 1995, he was helpless and hopeless in a Charlottesville hospital bed, waiting--wanting--to die, he told me in a 2003 interview.

Reeve felt isolated and alienated. Most people would have focused on their own problems, and some would have given up.

But Reeve, famous for playing Superman in the Richard Donner films of the '70s and '80s, did something truly heroic. He fought for the rest of his days--literally up until the night he died in 2004--to help other spinal cord injury victims.

It was life imitating art in the best possible way, as Reeve exemplified the ideals of the character he played. They are a combination of both self-sacrifice and being true to oneself, of courage, dedication and determination.

And the revival of the appreciation of corny but vital American ideals are what's important about "Superman Returns."

In the film, released this week, Daily Planet editor Perry White (Frank Langella) tells Lois Lane (Kate Bosworth): "Three things sell newspapers--tragedy, sex, and Superman. People are fed up with tragedy. You can't write about sex That leaves Superman."

He's right. People are indeed fed up with tragedy, and with cynicism, too. This Independence Day weekend, America desperately needs a hero.

So "Superman Returns" at a very good time.

Newcomer Brandon Routh is up to the task of playing the Clark Kent/Superman role. He has the same likable, self-effacing modesty Reeve did--and honors him by adopting some of his mannerisms.

The story resumes with the Man of Steel returning from five years of fruitless search for his doomed home planet of Krypton. He'd hoped to find others like himself. When he crash-lands back at his adopted parents' farm in Kansas, he tells his foster mother, Martha Kent (Eva Marie Saint), he's completely alone in the universe.

To make matters worse, Lois, the love his life, has given birth to a son, is engaged to the boss' nephew and has turned her back on him.

She's won a Pulitzer for penning a piece titled "Why the World Doesn't Need Superman." Ouch.

It's not giving too much away to say that, ultimately, Superman learns that Lois' son well, let's just say the kid has good genes.

Message: You're never alone.

The film features the same isolation theme that has made "Smallville," the WB television series about a young Clark Kent, a cult favorite with the alienated teenage demographic--which is to say, most teens.

Beyond that, there will always be people who read too much into things, including me.

Date published: 6/30/2006