Returning After 20 Years: The Unforgettable Scene That Saved the Failed Superman Movie

The 2006 production 'Superman Returns' went down in history as a film that was highly anticipated in the cinema world but failed to deliver the expected explosion. Continuing the story of the 1978 classic that began with Christopher Reeve's legendary performance and its sequels, this production received mediocre grades from critics, while its box office performance also fell far below expectations. The film's long runtime, some miscast roles, and especially the inadequacy of the action sequences caused this highly hyped superhero movie to turn into a rather boring experience for the audience. While the planned sequel was shelved, the troubled pasts of the film's director and the actor playing the villain that emerged over time further deepened the damage to the film's reputation. However, despite all these obvious flaws and disappointments, it is impossible to deny that the film contains one of the best action sequences in cinema history.

That approaching unforgettable scene presents a magnificent choreography where Superman tries to stop an out-of-control passenger plane that is about to crash into the ground. Considering that superhero cinema has become incredibly popular over the last twenty years and that massive global catastrophes are at the forefront in almost every blockbuster, the value of this scene is much better appreciated today. Today's superhero movies are in an effort to create constantly increasing threats to surprise the audience; heroes are no longer content with just saving the day but are forced to save the world, the galaxy, or even the multiverse. This constantly rising sense of threat and massive explosion of visual effects eventually create a desensitization in the audience, and everything on the silver screen turns into such a massive noise that the 'super' side of what the hero does is lost. Right at this point, the plane rescue scene in 'Superman Returns' stands out much more strongly today as a masterpiece that proves how physical limits and a realistic crisis can create wonderful tension.

Although the film's story is a continuation of the original series, it completely ignores the events of the third and fourth films, starting with a five-year leap after the second film. Brandon Routh, who healthily steps into the impossible-to-fill boots of Christopher Reeve, delivers a highly competent and charismatic performance, successfully taking on the lead role. When Superman, who left Earth for five years to search for the remnants of planet Krypton, returns, he realizes that Metropolis city, and especially Lois Lane, has learned to move on with her life without him. Kate Bosworth, who takes on the role of Lois Lane, unfortunately fails to fully reflect the brave and sharp spirit of the original character portrayed by Margot Kidder, being evaluated by critics as a miscast. On the other hand, Kevin Spacey's Lex Luthor maintains the slightly campy and funny tones of Gene Hackman's original performance while bringing a much more terrifying and nefarious dimension to the character, creating one of the film's brightest spots.

Unfortunately, despite a few entertaining supporting character performances, 'Superman Returns' generally cannot escape having a highly melancholic and stagnant mood. Instead of seeing Superman throwing hard punches or displaying immense physical strength in the film; we watch his deep internal conflict and sorrow as he discovers, upon returning to Earth, that the woman he loves is engaged to another man and has a young child with him. As a matter of fact, the original 1978 'Superman' film, which lacks action by modern standards and highlights the vulnerability of superheroes, started with a similar dramatic tone, and this approach was highly praised at the time. However, this 2006 film directed by Bryan Singer fails to consistently carry this sorrowful and slow-paced atmosphere to the end, leaving a feeling of being lost within its own vision. The audience could never embrace this drama-loaded melancholic structure and the slowness of the progression in a superhero movie they went to with high expectations.

Despite all these negativities and the general pace of the film, that legendary plane rescue scene firmly secures its place in the pages of cinema history as the undisputedly brightest and most memorable moment of the film. At the beginning of the scene, Lois Lane, the journalist who won a Pulitzer for her article titled 'Why the World Doesn't Need a Superman', is inside a passenger plane carrying an experimental space shuttle. While at high altitude the shuttle is supposed to detach and go into space so the plane can land safely, a massive power failure caused by an illegal and brutal experiment using kryptonite by Luthor paralyzes the system. The space shuttle, unable to detach, tears the tail section of the plane to pieces, causing it to go out of control along with the entire aircraft, plunging into a deadly dive towards space and then the ground. The fact that Superman in this scene is not fighting a costumed villain, but rather engaging in a relentless struggle directly with the laws of physics and gravity; details such as the breaking of the wings, the crushing of the metal, and the rapid approach of the ground offer the audience an incredibly realistic, breathtaking, and still impactful visual feast.