Superman Returns

I just saw the Superman Returns trailer. I don't meen to sound like a sissy, but I got so excited I almost cried!
I'm so fucking pumped!!!!!!

Anyone else seen it? And what did you think?

could it be? did I beat the critics here?

yeah. I've seen it around a dozen times now. Needless to say, I'm a bit psyched. Of course I am a sucker for a good teaser so maybe that has something to do with it.

anyhow, let the critics of everything from the 'S' on his costume to the way his hair curls CCW instead of the preferred and universally accepted CW begin now.

Also:

here's a link

ummm i dont think its going to be as good as batman was

it looks kool, but i'm waiting for everyone to bitch that "Superman Returns" Superman doesn't look all buff and whatnot.

tehpeanut said

How can you really compare the two? They are too different. Brian Singer directed it, the same guy who directed both Xmen movies, and also wrote the comic.

That's not a very dangerous assertion though.

I mean, if it turns out you're right you get to be all smug and go off on a great "I always knew it would suck" monologue at the drop of a hat.

But if you're wrong everyone will be too busy masturbating over it to remember that you said it was going to suck unless you draw attention to the fact that you said it. Which you wouldn't because you'd be too busy masturbating over how good it is along with everyone else.

Mind you, it's equally non-dangerous to take my course, which is to reserve judgement till you've seen it. So non-dangerous, in fact, that it doesn't even qualify as "slightly edgy".

*is not slightly edgy*

fpkk said:

Nicely put, nayce!!!

[Edited on Nov 27, 2005 by Troyboy]

[Edited on Nov 27, 2005 by Troyboy]

For what it's worth, speaking as someone who doesn't really find Superman all that exciting or interesting I quite liked this trailer. I quite like Bryan Singer. I think the most important thing for me is that it didn't just make me totally not care at all, and that would be quite an easy thing to achieve.

So so far I'd go so far as to say I think I'll probably enjoy it. That is if I can be bothered to go and see it. And I'm still not convinced that I *really* want to see it that much.

I'm just really interested to see where they pick up after Christopher Reeves. Plus it's been a long time since the last superman movie, I think were about due.

I guess it all depends on the individual. As a kid, Superman and Optimus Prime were my heroes. So for me, I'm stoked. For people who could give a shit, good for you too.

Yeah i'm not denigrating the movie or anything. I mean i have a huge love of The Crow to such an extent that I can sit through any given Crow movie but I would understand people who couldn't care less.

It's just I don't know what they could possibly do with the character that would be interesting. Although I now recall that Kevin Spacey is playing Lex Luthor. I think that pretty much guarantees my presence in the movie theatre.

Obviously, that's not in the teaser.

I don't follow a lot of Superman, but one thing that bothered me in the trailer was the statement that Kal-El was sent to Earth. IIRC from the comics, wasn't he just sent away from Krypton? Before I saw the trailer, someone pointed out the christian overtones to the whole "my only son sent to Earth" bit. It may be good, but I don't have high hopes at the moment.

As I understand it this is the original Marlon Brando speech from the Chris Reeves Superman.

As it goes this trailer gives us very little to go on. And there are *no* bad signs about this movie. If it weren't enough that Singer did X and X2 he is doing this *specifically* because he fell out with Fox over creative control on X3.

And Spacey as Lex Luthor.

Sometimes I honestly think people doom say just for something to say at all. I'm perfectly willing to admit that I feel lukewarm towards Supes as an overall entity but there's *nothing* to indicate that this film will be any less than worthy at least.

I thought he just landed on earth too, but thanks to my comic nut friends, he was infact sent to earth. I don't really know the spesifics, just that jerell saw good in humans, and that Kriptonians and humans had similar ideals and thought it was the best place for his son to live. Something like that.

I admit Superman isn't a book I regularly followed. Thanks for the info.

Batman looked good and was kind of mediocre and uninspired. I'm upset Singer left X-Men, the only legit comic book movie franchise currently, to die in the hands of Captain Rush Hour.

Don't get me wrong. There are lots of movies I don't have high hopes for. In particular, movies based on comics have had a pretty bumpy ride. I'm not going into it thinking it's going to be awful, but I'm also not approaching it expecting a masterpiece. As you said, this trailer is more of a tease than anything. We don't have a plot, etc. By the by, I love bad movies. If it's no good, I still win!

So we'll be the two people going to see DOA: Dead Or Alive then...

[Edited on Nov 27, 2005 by fpkk]

The challenge is now on the writer. The Superman of old was incredibly under powered compared to his current version. He couldn't fly and wasn't nearly as fast or strong. As his popularity grew copycat heroes appeared. The editorial staff of his comic kept upping the ante, power-wise and before long Supes was invincible in almost every conceivable way. Over the years the DC universe has been revamped over and over and as a Marvel fan I'm not too up to date and what's going on with the guy.

I don't really think Superman IS that interesting, especially today. He's a big blue boy scout who DC pushes as a King Arthur or Zeus God-head of their pantheon of heroes. This hurts the character as he's constantly compared to super heroes who are a tad more realistic, underpowered and compelling. He needs to exist in his own universe without the 4,000 other superpowered guys floating around and then in that reality he would be interesting.

If DC didn't have Superman or Batman it would have succumb to creative atrophy and died long ago. It's simply a terrible universe.

Why it will SUCK:

Brandon Routh as Superman. Yeah, I'm a guy, but I've seen him in his soap opera role on One Life to Live. He SUCKED. The dude isn't good enough for a soap opera, I SWEAR TO YOU. He will NOT do Superman justice.

I don't care if you think Tom Welling sucks, but he could at least pull it off. Cut his hair short, boom, he'll look SUPER, man. He can do the role justice as he has LIVED the role for the last several years.

Also, the superhero movies that are doing well are ones that are STARTING OVER. Spiderman. Batman Begins. X-Men. Fantastic Four. People like to see the origin. People like to see a fresh spin.

This movie, for gods sake, is taking place after the last Christopher Reeves movie. There are SO MANY problems with this, it's rediculous. Do you hear Marlon Brandon's voice in the trailer? Mixing an old recording with a new movie. It just sounds STUPID, TRASHY, and downright BAD.

Come on, studios. Get with the act. Do SUPERMAN justice for fucks sake. Kevin Spacey as LEX??? WTF??? Jesus, this is so fucked up. And Kate Bosworth??? COME THE FUCK ON, PEOPLE!!!

Just take the cast of Smallville. Let the season finish playing out, maybe wait for it to go one or two more seasons. THESE ACTORS ARE READY FOR THE BIG SCREEN. Let them do it. Every one of them is straight from the pages of Superman.

This movie will do good at the box office, no doubt. But it will still SUCK for those of us that actually like comics and like Superman.

Brandon Routh, Kevin Spacey, Kate Bosworth, James Marsden, and the fact it's a 'continuation' movie all spells DOOMsday (no pun intended) for this fucking ICON.

Noone here will agree I'm sure. I'll be labeled a pessimmist. Flamed incessantly. Whatever. I know what I'm talking about and this shit REEKS.

I'll still see it though. And IF I'm wrong, great. But I won't be. It might be an 'okay' movie. But it won't be what it COULD have been.

UNLESS this is a SERIOUS punk'd episode and when the movie is released it WILL be with the cast of Smallville. FUCK, I'd go crazy for that. And even Smallville haters would be converts, mark my words. But that's not gonna happen.

SO.....FUCK Superman Returns.

RANT over.

And I'm glad I wrote all that and didn't answer your question in the least.

Is there any word at all who the villian is going to be? I know there is going to be Lex Luther, but what about someone who can knock him around a bit without kryptonite.

When I saw the trailer and the Brando came on I was like " ohhhh yeah " . I'm still such a dork for those first two .Then when the music came on I got goosebumps . It will be soooo good . Bryan Singer rules .

[Edited on Nov 27, 2005 by obiwanknieval

[Edited on Nov 27, 2005 by obiwanknieval]

The fact of superman's super-ness is a major stumbling block for anyone wishing to write a typical story. Superman himself cannot be assailed through regular means. Therefore the more effective superman stories focus on plots to either hurt those who superman loves, thus appealing to his intellect, or through the introduction of weirdness, for want of a better word 'magic'.

So half the superman stories focus on what it is like to have all the awesome power while those you care about don't, kidnapping Lois, Perry, The Kents or Jimmy is always a good start. Threats of harm are also effective for a short while. Superman therefore becomes trapped in a dilemma concerned with his own feelings of guilt at being the only one who cannot be physically harmed. Back this up by having a super friend in physical peril while the bad guy tries to, for example, sink a cruise liner filled with people and Supes has to ruminate on his own limitations. He can only be super in one place at one time.

Once you're bored of tossing that around as a writer (which would take me all of thirty seconds) you can start doing really fucked up stuff. Like taking Superman's achilles heel, green kryptonite, running it through a wiggy cosmic ray storm and hey presto, red kryptonite. Red kryptonite causes some odd, weird, mutation of superman as demonstrated in, I believe Superman III where you ended up with good supes and bad supes. But it didn't end there. Oh no. In one comic book I used to have supes got divided by the red kryptonite into Superman Red and Superman Blue who had all the power of one Superman but split between two bodies (e.g. they couldn't both fly at the same time, or both use heat vision at the same time etc.).

Then there are the "weird" villains most notably Mr Mxyzptlk who was an extra dimensional quasi-djinn who could do things like pirece superman's skin or withstand a blast of the old heat vision because he was able to do the impossible. Superman had to trick him into saying Mxyzptlk backwards in order to send him back to the other dimension... which is about as dumb as it sounds.

After you've exhausted these options you only have some really contrived stuff left. Like have Superman's helping someone break a law so that he has to stand trial. Superman is trying to lead by example so he will submit to the justice system because his conformist view of what makes a "good citizen" dictates that he should.

Essentially. You're absolutely right. The concept of Superman is dull, dull, dull and all attempts to "do something" with his superness tend to result in something of a contrivance.

In my opinion.

Hope that helps.