I don't know if I've ever walked out of a theater so disappointed in a movie...(I was 13 when Phantom Menace came out and liked it a lot)
First up, the screenplay has some serious structural issues. We never see what compelled Superman to leave, we're told. The film needed a prequel, or at least a first act that depicts Superman's struggle with being Earth's adopted/Krypton's foresaken child to make his leaving and eventual return carry any dramatic weight. Had the film a prequel that ended in a cliffhanger with Superman leaving because of this internal struggle, this storyline might have worked, but this film feels like a sequel to a film that doesn't exist.
Which brings me to my second point, this film can't decide whether it's a sequel or a reboot, and it ends up working as neither. Certainly there are enough homages to the first two films and deliberate stylistic consistencies, but the continuities and tone don't line up at all. Superman Returns takes itself far to seriously. The film is so caught up in paying reverence to the character and the franchise that it forgets to have a good time doing it. I saw this film with a sold-out crowd of geeks, and noone cheered when Superman swooped in to save the day, hardly anyone laughed at anything, and only a handful of people clapped at the end. These people stopped after 5 claps when they realized nobody else in the crowd seemed interested in joining them. The Reeve films (at least the first two) were crowd pleasers. This one is "The Passion of the Superman."
Other things that bothered me:
-For the amount of times Lois gets thrown around that plane and tossed around by that thug, she never ceases to be perfectly made-up, fitted, and her hair is always styled. It sounds like I'm picking a nit, but the film doesn't seem to have a sense of humor about this at all and it was enough to pull me completely out of the airliner/shuttle scene.
-Way too many scenes where the camera lingers waiting for Superman to save the day.
-The villains are cartoonishly evil. If they are going to make a movie where one of the main themes is Superman's seeming irrelevance, put him in a situation where things aren't so black-and-white. According to the movie, Superman still fights for "Truth, Justice, and...all that other stuff." What about the American Way? There's so much thematic material to dig here and it's just not explored.
With all that said, I didn't hate the film. It's certainly pretty to look at. Bosworth is miscast, but she does her best with what she's given. Someone 20 years older like Jennifer Jason Leigh, who was great as a 40s era reporter in The Hudsucker Proxy, would have been much better suited for the part. Spacey is great at chewing scenery, and Routh is fine as Clark Kent/Superman. With the talent and franchise involved, this could have been a great film, and maybe they can make a great sequel. Unfortunately, I found Superman Returns depressingly mediocre.
** out of *****