The Big Picture: Superman Revisited

[TheSchaef]

It seems almost wrong to interrupt this shouting match over where Superman ranks on the power scale. IMO the only time Supes genuinely got taken down was by Batman in TDKR, but if you disagree go argue with someone else, cause I'm moving on...

... to say that, despite my excitement for the new movie, I thought Returns was (nominally) better than the hate it received. Granted, the story was a mess, the kid was a stupid addition, and Marsden looked like he was mailing it in AGAIN. But while Brandon Routh was only an okay Superman, I thought he was fantastic as Clark. Is it because he was channeling Reeves? Probably. Don't care. It was great.

It also left me hoping beyond hope that, like the last film, they reuse the Williams themes in the soundtrack. Like with Star Wars or Indiana Jones, those themes define the character on film like nothing else, and I got all giddy every time the music popped up in a recent rerun of the film on cable. Please please please use the Williams themes in the new film.

 

[Hutzpah Chicken]

Was that what Infinite Crisis was about? I have some research to do.

I don't think so, IC was about Superman being damn near ineffectual despite his power it appears he makes no real imapct like the burn Batman gave him when he said The Biggest impact was when he bit the dust

Love this scene. (One of the few times Johns rights Batman well)

I was more meaning Superman from Earth-2 who thought he was creating the perfect Earth by resurrecting Earth-2.
You know, this guy.
http://images4.wikia.nocookie.net/__cb20090608175315/superman/images/3/30/Superman_Kal-L.jpg

That was Alexanda and Superboys plan in secret, Earth-2 Kal-L was just sick of the way the heroes where killing each other hurting the world and seemingly making things worse and Alex took advantage of that

My point exactly. He wanted to fix things to, in his mind, the perfect way they were in the past. Obviously, how he would have dealt with things would eventually lead to the same moral degradation of Earth-1 anyways, but that leads back to my second point that Superman's actions of what he perceives as good cause greater problems in the world.

Sound like movie for the modern masses? I'm just spit-ballin' here, btw. No biggie.

 

[Edguy]

Looking at the reviews it looks like it's going to be pretty damn divisive. Like Watchmen-type divisive.

Being one of those who liked Watchmen (like, it's up there with TDK for me), I'm crossing my fingers. I would really hate this film not to work..

 

[Froggy Slayer]

With regards to the Superman power scale thing, the simple answer is that really, it varies by writer. Some of those on the list, like Sinestro, Atrocious and the various Green Lanterns have been both shown as stronger and weaker than Superman. We also have to take into account when Superman empowers himself by absorbing solar radiation, so there is room for fluctuation.

 

[Jegsimmons]

Superman Revisited

MovieBob takes us behind the cape with a look at Superman and his movies.

Watch Video

Good news for movie bob......its getting good reviews.

Aside from Rotten Tomatos, but im accounting that to vote bombing and trolls because no one has seen the movie yet and very few people even voted.

 

[Daria.Morgendorffer]

Looking at the reviews it looks like it's going to be pretty damn divisive. Like Watchmen-type divisive.

Being one of those who liked Watchmen (like, it's up there with TDK for me), I'm crossing my fingers. I would really hate this film not to work..

Count me in as one of the people who liked Watchmen. I thought it was a fine piece of work for what it was, and what it made up for in the shortcomings of its source material (alien squid??)

To say nothing of the fact that I think it has one of the best title sequences in modern movies AND the use of "The Sound of Silence" was damn near perfect.

 

[Edguy]

To say nothing of the fact that I think it has one of the best title sequences in modern movies AND the use of "The Sound of Silence" was damn near perfect.

I generally love the use of music in Watchmen, including All Along the Watchtower, First we take Manhattan and The Times they are a-Changin'

 

[Daria.Morgendorffer]

So I finally got around to seeing this (what? I'm kind of a grownup with other things to do), and you will never get me to believe this is a Zach Snyder movie written by David Goyer. It looks, talks and feels like a Christopher Nolan movie.

Which isn't really bad in some ways. I like the way he tries to find how something would "work" in the "real world". He isn't always successful at it, but in this case, this is truly difficult material to work with.

I liked Michael Shannon and I really liked Russell Crowe. The former was easier to like because, hey, villain. The latter was more problematic, story-wise (maybe I missed it, but how the hell did he know who Lois Lane was?), but the performance was good.

I hated everything about Lois Lane. I haven't believed in the actress playing the character since Margot Kidder. She at least looked like she wasn't afraid to get her hands dirty. Amy Adams, and Kate Bosworth before her, have never believably looked like they "lived" hard enough to investigate stuff that would have won a Pulitzer. Adams especially in this role, never struck me as anything more than a marshmallow made to make concerned faces at the right moment and be there to be the guy people told stuff to so that we, the audience, understand it. (She was taken on board Zod's ship for no apparent reason, which could have been explained away at least with a single line of dialogue that she was recognized as non-military and was there for leverage. But I felt at that point, the female sub-commander, when explaining the decision, was talking directly to the audience when she said not to question it, which...boo, Snyder. I'm liking the Nolan-brand DC movies for the fact that they keep the winking at the audience to subtleties. Don't start going all Marvel on me.)

Which, going back to the whole "problematic material" thing: Superman doesn't have a sidekick, or if he does, it ain't one that non-followers of the comics know anything about. He doesn't have an audience proxy, so while I felt the whole Lois Lane thing was unnecessary, she was a bad fit for a role that WAS necessary.

Why did we care about Perry White and the Daily Planet crew again? I mean, I understand why that stuff was there (to give us the sense that bigger, badder stuff was happening than an extended alien fight) and we're supposed to care about them because the plot says so, but still...felt like too much work to care about these people for the motivation I was given to do so. (It was my snark side that said, when Perry says "You can't run this story", I said "oh, is he going to give her the red pill now?")

I liked the Costner/Lane stuff. Lane especially. I didn't hate Cavill and I'm not the biggest fan of Reeves, so I've got no personal stake in saying "oh, well, he's just not Christopher Reeves".

Oddly, I kind of liked this movie for all the complaints I had about it. It was uneven, sure, but, like I will contend forever, this is hard stuff to make into something organic that you can gloss over with a few snarky bits of dialogue, and it was fine for what it was.

 

[lifeat24fps]

I agree with Bob 100%. The original isn't perfect, but it really does sell the origin. The Krypton prologue pulls you in despite the risk it took of boring little kids. With the new movie, I almost wish that WB had the balls to make the first movie a straight scifi epic about Krypton that ended with the rocket being launched. Honestly, how awesome would it have been if the plot had been announced, but when you went to the theater, you found out it was a Superman prelude?