2) Is It A Bird? Is It A Plane? – Superman Returns
While reboots are a pretty cheap way of restarting a franchise, they do exist for a reason – so that things can start afresh without worrying about carrying over any baggage. It is peculiar, then, that the Man of Steel’s long-awaited return to cinema screens in 2006, after nearly twenty years away, basically picked up where it left off. Pair that with a ponderous, talky style and you had a film that ensured a proper reboot came a few years later.
Despite the general lack of action, there is one fantastic set piece in the movie, where Supes does his classic trick of saving a plane-load of people. Here, however, there is an attempt to give the whole thing some extra tension and realism as the plane crumples beneath its grip – before he lands in the middle of a football stadium.
It’s a thrilling sequence that just sums up what Superman films should always aspire to show – that the hero will do anything to save civilians and will overcome incredible odds to do so.