(Untitled)

[foxant10]

cause i know all of you are eagerly awaiting my synopsis of superman returns and because i just saw a clip where kevin smith retells his story about his superman script, i'm going to post my thoughts on that new franchise which i think bryan singer is doing his best to drive into the ground.

Comments

[len_sp]

While I was entertained by the film, it felt like a missed oportunity. The original films did nothing for me -- mostly, they were just too goofy. Still, using the first two as a base for this film was fine. To be honest, a rehashing of an origins story would have been very redundant after Superman 1 and Smallville (Batman Begins made more sense since they'd never really done the origins story on film before). But Singer etal. were stupid to copy most of that silliness of the orginals (Hackman's Luthor is not too be admired or repeated). Worse, they managed to basically recreate the first movie's stupid villain plot with better effects and a relocation to the East Coast. Lame.

And despite that seeming awe and reverence for the first two films, they still had some "huh!'s" going on. At the end of film 2, Superman promised the President that he wouldn't be unavailable again. A promise that this film tells us he broke within months of making it. Huh?!? Gee, how about they rewrite that as:

1) Earth scientists find remnants of Krypton in the aftermath of Zod's attack;
2) Fearing more Zod's, Superman decides to go there to scout for further threats;
3) He takes some Earth scientists/warriors/diplomats (including a Hank Henshaw/future Cyborg and/or John Henry Irons/Steel) with him so that Earth can be prepared and kept informed of the potential threat.

And he goes to Krypton for five years to find nada?!! No computer remnants to start up Braniac or the Eradicator? No young Kara to be raised by Martha? What a bloody waste of effort. You wouldn't even have to do more than simply introduce the characters as possibilities for future films. That's what Spiderman is doing -- in each film, they introduce someone(s) that can potentially be used as a main or secondary storyline down the road.

The actors were fine. They did a good job with a badly conceived plot (and characterization in Spacey's case). The effects were superb -- for the first time, the god-like power of Superman came out realistically on the screen. The rescue of the shuttle and jet was amazing. Just imagine if they'd moved beyond Luthor and threw a Darkseid or Doomsday in full combat with Superman -- it would have been stunning. Strangely, you can see elements of the Doomsday storyline grafted on to this movie -- i.e. Superman's near death experience, the skyscraper window's shattering, and the scenes at the hospital with cops and doctors. Powerful stuff, but wasted on this plot.

Worse, with the box office fading quickly, we may get no sequels. Even if we do, the budget will be a lot smaller. Which means in the next film, we'll get Luthor trying to sink the Gulf Coast.

[foxant10]

actually, this movie is supposed to be superman 1.5 snug tightly between 1 and 2 from the 80s. as for sequels, singer is already hashing out superman 3. they're completely ignoring the 3 and 4 from the mid to late 80s and redoing them.

i thought a fresh start would have been good even something like after a doomsday event (you know which doomsday). brainiac is an easily done villain who also partners with luthor brilliantly in the comics and could be done on screen. why not something like that? would that have been do difficult? the earth on the brink of death because of a meglomaniac and a being that believes humanity is beneath it? that's a superman story. not this crap.

my only complaint with bosworth is that she eat something! she was way too thin!!

[len_sp]

1.5?? That can't be right. As alluded to by his gal, Luthor had been to the Fortress of Solitude before. That happened in the second film. Plus, Clark didn't sleep with Lois until the second film also. So this film has to be after the second film.