Director: Bryan Singer, US, 12A, 154min
Stars: Brandon Routh, Kate Bosworth, Kevin Spacey

On general release; also at BFI Imax in London with 20 mins in 3-D

For five years, Superman has been gone. He doesn’t write, he doesn’t phone . . . His former squeeze, Lois Lane (Bosworth), has moved on: she has a fiancé, a son and, even though she still has to ask her editor how many “Fs” there are in “catastrophic”, she has a Pulitzer prize — for writing an article entitled “Why the world doesn’t need Superman”.

So when Superman (Routh) flies back into her life, can he win her back? Is it ethical even to try? The dilemma gives the film heart, and Singer also gives it a brain: action sequences are surprisingly few for a $250 million blockbuster, but each one is brilliantly conceived and executed. A passenger plane, in flames, its tail sheared off, spins towards the ground. Superman to the rescue! Oh, yawn — he surely just needs to fly it to safety by its wing. But wait — while a Man of Steel might take the strain, metal itself cannot: the wing snaps off, sending him careering into the clouds.

And to a heart and a brain, Singer adds a soul. On one level the plot goes: evil mastermind Lex Luthor (Spacey, terrific) steals Kryptonian technology in order to dominate America. On another, it reads: only son sent down to Earth, tormented, gives willingly of his life to save all mankind. Only to rise again.

Subtle it may not be, and a tad overlong for some, but this is a classy production: old-fashioned film-making with new-fangled effects. Finally, you will believe a man can fly.