by Subhash K Jha

Starring Brandon Routh, Kate Bosworth, James Marsden, Kevin Spacey
Directed by Bryan Singer
Rating: *** ½

You can't miss it. All those road signs leading to an exhilarating feeling of an evening well spent.

Arguably Superman Returns is the best Superman movie to date. And what an elegant and easygoing Superman Brandon Routh makes.

To the twin personalities of the nerdish journalist and unassuming world-saviour Ruth brings an edge of vulnerable nobility, as though the comic-book element in the two-faced character has been magically alchemized to give you a full-on man of the moment who looks capable of saving the world from titanic twerps like Lex Luthor(Kevin Spacey, subtly outrageous).

The lengthy film is remarkably under-saturated in terms of sound and spectacle. Sure, there's the mandatory quota of heart-in-the-mouth hi-jinks. But these are never allowed to get the better of the narrative.

The plot, as conveniently rounded as it is, nonetheless gives the story a cutting though cute edge. You can't but smile as Clark Kent darts furtive love-lorn glances at the lovely Lois Lane(Kate Bosworth) now glumly married to an office colleague(James Marsden) who blessedly isn't a heel.

A lot of the film's emotional resonance comes from the fact that Lois' son is Superman's heir apparent. The delicious line of continuity is drawn from frame to frame without sacrificing the eminently enjoyable quotient of credible fantasy.

You can't miss the film's efforts to make Superman a more domesticated and emotional creature who saves the world from wretched villains with the same easy grace that he displays while picking up Lois' handbag belongings from the floor. To Superman flying across the skyline isn't vanity. It's a way of life.

Scattered and yet assimilated Superman Returns is proof of how much fun a caper can be, provided you can get over your awe of the myth.

That, director Bryan Singer, manages to do in the first reel. There are no bravura attempts to steal eyeballs by exaggerating the spectacle.

What you see is what you get.