|
Post by henrythemorerecent on Nov 6, 2014 3:37:20 GMT -5
So I sat down tonight to read this weeks comics and, as I always do, put on a movie in the background. For some reason I picked Superman Returns just because I'd just watched Arrow and Brandon Routh was on the mind.
Now, I loved the hell out of Man of Steel. But the second I sat down tonight and the John Williams theme started playing, I couldn't wipe the smile off my face.
I think this was my first comic book movie to be influenced by internet opinion. But now I have to ask, why did everyone hate it so much? I remember even I would say it was crap and I don't even know why now that I think of it. It was the first Superman movie I saw on the big screen and it had me from the opening credits. I think mostly everyone's performances in it are great. It looks good. It's an obvious but successful love letter to the original. I think my only criticism would be that Kate Bosworth's performance was a bit bland. I think the movie has just aged better with time.
I just feel bad that for all these years I've dismissed this movie as the Batman & Robin of Superman movies. And while I don't think it's the Dark Knight, at the very least I'd give it a Batman Begins. Why I'm ranking things in Batman terms I don't know.
Then again, I could be on crack.
Has anyone else revisited this recently?
|
|
|
Post by Tony on Nov 6, 2014 4:04:38 GMT -5
So I sat down tonight to read this weeks comics and, as I always do, put on a movie in the background. For some reason I picked Superman Returns just because I'd just watched Arrow and Brandon Routh was on the mind. Now, I loved the hell out of Man of Steel. But the second I sat down tonight and the John Williams theme started playing, I couldn't wipe the smile off my face. I think this was my first comic book movie to be influenced by internet opinion. But now I have to ask, why did everyone hate it so much? I remember even I would say it was crap and I don't even know why now that I think of it. It was the first Superman movie I saw on the big screen and it had me from the opening credits. I think mostly everyone's performances in it are great. It looks good. It's an obvious but successful love letter to the original. I think my only criticism would be that Kate Bosworth's performance was a bit bland. I think the movie has just aged better with time. I just feel bad that for all these years I've dismissed this movie as the Batman & Robin of Superman movies. And while I don't think it's the Dark Knight, at the very least I'd give it a Batman Begins. Why I'm ranking things in Batman terms I don't know. Then again, I could be on crack. Has anyone else revisited this recently? I rewatched it probably a year ago, which may have been the first time i'd seen it in its entirety since I saw it in the theater back when it came out. I didn't hate it then, and I don't hate it now, but at the same time I don't think it's particularly good either. I think the characterizations are good, Routh does a fine job, and it has a bunch of wonderful Superman-y moments, and the effects are good, I love Kevin Spacey and his crew in it, and the various Daily Planet-ers, and I generally like the look of it. It's very much the spiritual successor to Superman I, and Superman II, for me, which is a complement. On the other side of the coin, Bosworth is pretty awful, but even that's not where my beef lies. Really, for me (and for a lot of other people from what i've gathered), the problems are mostly in the plot. Clark-the-peeping-tom is a problem. Lex's plot in its entirety is a problem (regardless of Spacey's performance, and excepting for the one bit where he distracts Clark with the runaway car so he can go into the museum and steal the kryptonite, which I thought was fun). For me, the kid ending up being Clark's is a very, very serious problem, and just totally ill-conceived and massively predictable and trite, and maximally awful. And the ending, the entire last act, really, was just a mess; very groan-inducing and nonsensical (see: Lex's plot being a problem). Otherwise, like I said, I didn't hate it. But when you're waiting for a Superman movie for that long, and it looks that good in the trailer, and you open it with a really fun, solid, extremely Reeve/Donner-esque first 45 minutes, let's say, and then the movie just totally shits the bed for the last hour, you end up being more disappointed than maybe you would've otherwise been had it not been the first Superman movie in forever and a day (and considering how atrocious III and IV were, as well, it set up a situation where we were all really, really hoping that this was the one that would right the franchise at long last). And this was coming off a pretty successful and relatively fun first wave of superhero movies; an era in which I was still riding high off of Blade, and Blade 2, and Hellboy, and Spiderman 2, and X2, and Sin City, and Batman Begins (which I liked so much more at the time than I do now), and the ridiculously superb V for Vendetta, which is still one of my favorite-ever comic movies (yes, there were many clunkers in that era as well, but -just as I do now- I blocked those from my mind as best I could). So it failed on a few levels, one of which was certainly expectation-based, and I don't think it's particularly good, but at the same time I agree that it's not as bad as its reputation. It's just disappointing more than anything. But still, it's loads better than Man of Steel, which, admittedly, isn't saying much, as i'd rather have all of my teeth yanked out of my head one by one sans-anesthetic than have to watch that catastrophe ever again. I mean, at least Superman Returns got the characters mostly right, ya know? It was bright, it was colorful, bits of it were fun, Superman didn't kill anyone in it as far as I can remember, yeah? He didn't end up murdering half of Metropolis in the finale, which was nice. Other than being a Creepy McCreeperson for a minute or two outside Lois' home, he mostly acted like Superman; he seemed heroic. More than I can say for Snyder and Goyer's affront to all that is and has ever been good and right in the world.
|
|
|
Post by arcticbeast on Nov 9, 2014 10:52:11 GMT -5
I always liked it. From the moment I saw it in the theatre I was anticipating a sequel which never came. It even got me back into reading comics as I hadn't pick any up in a while at the time and ended up getting a bunch of Superman books as a result.
I never understood the hate and would have been happy with a sequal. Also I am pretty sure if you check box office records this and Batman Begins basically made the same amount of money so finically it wasn't a flop if I remember right.
|
|
|
Post by thegiaimo on Nov 21, 2014 5:05:32 GMT -5
For me, the problem with this movie is Bryan Singer. I have a lot of issues with him outside of the Usual Suspects, which I suspect is due to a flawless script and cast. But every other Singer movie I've seen, with few exceptions, essentially has the same problems. Number one, the tension building. Without fail, the most exciting scene in a Singer action movie is never the climax. In X-Men, it was the... It was... Crap, I don't remember anything exciting about it aside from my teenage fanboy geek out at "Alberta, Canada" showing up on the screen and the anticipation of seeing Wolverine for the first time on the big screen. In X2, it was the siege of the school where Wolverine does his badass thing, STILL the high point of the entire series in my opinion, but then you spend the rest of the movie waiting for that level of intensity to return, and it never does. In Superman Returns, I got the same deal with the plane crash sequence. The spectacle of it, being able to see what CG can bring to a Superman movie, and still a great scene in my opinion after all these years. Overall, I had no real problem with the cast other than the fact that the leader of the X-Men had more screen time in THIS movie than he did in the entire TRILOGY of X-films, but my wounded heart will eventually heal from that. But yeah, I found it tedious to get through after that plane sequence. It never returned to that level of excitement for me.
Now, despite its numerous flaws, I enjoyed the Man of Steel thoroughly. I can certainly understand why someone WOULDN'T enjoy it, especially if Supes is a fave of theirs. I've never been a big Superman guy (as far as comics goes). I think he's a really hard character to tell an interesting story about. He's pure and invulnerable. As a symbol, it's something to strive for, but as a character that we're supposed to follow on their journey, the flawlessness of him IS his biggest flaw because that makes him fairly hard to relate to. I think Man of Steel was a direct response TO Superman Returns. Because Man of Steel was all action whereas Superman Returns was virtually NO action, which if I remember correctly was a large criticism at the time of its release. Sure, they took it (MoS) to extremes and it wound up being more reminiscent of an Emmerich destruction movie than an actual hero's journey, and I can see where that left loyal Superman fans wanting. And the fact that he KILLED of course. My hope is that the Batman v. Superman ditty coming out is a direct response to that, the fact that he killed and that's why the older, wiser Batman is coming after him. Because I DO want the Supe fans to have that modern signature movie that satisfies their needs, as Captain America: The Winter Soldier satisfied MINE. Then of course, there is all that right-wing agenda stuff crammed from top to bottom in Man of Steel, but that's a post for another forum.
But getting back to Superman Returns, I didn't hate it. It's an okay movie, and as mentioned before in Tony's post, a clear love letter to Donner's Superman movies, both of which I am a HUGE fan. Routh does a capable job paying tribute to Reeve, who will always be, in my opinion, the best Superman portrayal. My problems all stem back to that damn Bryan Singer. No, Bryan Singer! Stop playing with superhero movies! They are not where your strengths lie, so you stop it!
|
|