Re the negative reviews — This film has a muted quality that applies to the characters as much as the colors. All the main characters are turned down several degrees from earlier films, by which I mean they are more realistic, less cartoon-y. Frank Langella’s Perry White is a realistic big-city newspaper managing editor, for example. Kate Bosworth’s Lois Lane is warmer and a lot less, well, slapstick than Margot Kidder’s Lois Lane. Kevin Spacey’s Lex Luthor may be an exception, because his acts are over-the-top, but Spacey plays him very quietly and coldly instead of manically. Routh’s Superman seems to me to be both more alien and more down-to-earth than previous Supermen, although the performance is subtle, and some reviewers complained that he lacked personality. IMO the muted quality made the film more of a romantic fantasy — in which “real” people get caught up in a fantasy situation — than action adventure, in which the characters mostly exist to carry forward the action. Since I prefer romantic fantasy to action adventure, I was perfectly happy with this. But I suspect the muted qualities just didn’t work for some people.

the negative reviews stung me a bit; seems to me many viewers (& reviewers) didn’t know what to make of such a high calibre, old-fashioned film. in this day of overwhelming special effects and underwhelming storylines, audiences have come to expect non-stop action/special effects/elaborate fight scenes, ala the matrix or star wars episode iii.

i can only pray that the masses find themselves repeatedly drawn to the experience, spawning a character-driven renaissance of sorts.