Superman Returns

[Iscariot]

Click here for a full trailer (http://www.shakefire.com/trailers/supermanreturns.html)

How are you guys feeling about this upcoming release? I'm pretty excited for it, personally. I think Brandon Routh was a good pick for the part of Clark Kent, seeing as he looks very similar to a young Christopher Reeve, and the cinematography holds very true to the style in which the original movies were shot. I don't know how I feel about Kate Bosworth playing Lois Lane, though.

ITT: We discuss this possibly epic movie.

[Aryeth]

I think it will most likely be a pretty big letdown.

[DanD]

Brandon Routh is actually from my hometown. His mom taught my sister in elementary school.

Fame++

As for the movie, I think that it could go either way.

[AA-12]

It looks absolutely amazing. I can't wait.

[Hep Kat]

Fun fact: They had to digitally erase Routh's package becasue it's "too big" and doesn't work very well with spandex.



Otherwise, the movie looks like it'll be hit or miss.

[DanD]

Fun fact: They had to digitally erase Routh's package becasue it's "too big" and doesn't work very well with spandex.
My friend told me that before he got picked up for this movie, he tried out for a part as a Superman like character in a porn film.

[Hep Kat]

My friend told me that before he got picked up for this movie, he tried out for a part as a Superman like character in a porn film.

Haha, someone told me something like that, too. I don't know if it's true, though.

[SubtleDagger]

Brandon Routh looks like even more of a bore than Dean Cain.

[Tillius]

Fun fact: They had to digitally erase Routh's package becasue it's "too big" and doesn't work very well with spandex.



Otherwise, the movie looks like it'll be hit or miss.
They did the same with Tobey Maguire for the spidey suit.



I think this movie will be awesome, and I believe Kevin Spacey will make a great Lex Luthor.

[Iscariot]

They did the same with Tobey Maguire for the spidey suit.



I think this movie will be awesome, and I believe Kevin Spacey will make a great Lex Luthor.

Kevin Spacey plays crazy like it's a second nature.

[Rusty Metal Head]

Looks good to me..is that the trailer where he gets shot at in the eye but it just crunches? damm Ive seen too many trailers for this movie

[Tillius]

Kevin Spacey plays crazy like it's a second nature.
Exactly.

[unComfortablyNumb]

This movie looks like it could go either way.

[Mexican Bandito]

I think it looks pretty awsome, just from seeing the trailer :)

I'm looking forward to seeing it. And yeah Kevin Spacey, I think, will be amazing playing Luther.
I hope it turns out great, it'll be a real shame if it's shitey...

[Robert Crumb]

Kevin Spacey definitely looks like the best thing in this movie. I'll probably check it out, just to see him try to awesome this thing up.

[kamiccollo]

he looks a lot like an older Lex from 'the early years'.

the clips ive seen look pretty good, esp with the bullet.

[The_Passenger]

It's directed by Bryan Singer (who did X-Men, which wasn't bad, and The Usual Suspects, which was excellent) so I doubt it'll be that bad. Kevin Spacey is usually great as well.

However, I'm not as sure about Brandon Routh. I haven't seen him in anything, so I'm not sure how good he is. Hopefully he'll be a better actor than Christopher Reeve, who wasn't very good at all.

And also, didn't the movie cost like $260 million? Based on this I'm assuming the effects and technical side of things are great, even if the rest of the film is pretty bad.

[bradc1988]

Hm I'll probably end up watching it, but Kate Bosworth as Louis Lane?

Oh and I don't know if I followed the trailer right but does she have a kid? I never knew she had a kid? I'm a little out of it on cold and flu tablets so I might not have followed it.

The flu sucks.

[Tillius]

This is the later years of Superman, like, he left for awhile and now he's back, and now Lois has a kid.

[Jonny]

I don't understand. So Superman went away for a while and now he's back, and Lex is a lot older but Lois got a lot younger and has a kid.

Is it like a true sequel to the old films, or just loosely based on the same concept?

[DanD]

My understanding is that this one takes place after Superman II.

[Let's Chop Cats!]

I'm not a big Superman fan, but I deffinently can't wait for this movie. Singer and Spacey both rule.

[Ramsey]

Ok so I saw this and its not bad. Here is what I think:

The main problem I had, and the problem that most posters seem to have now is that Superman in the film at least is not conflicted enough.

One scene that I felt was particularly filmed right was the scene of him hovering above earth and listening to all the crying and moaning of the human race. That needs to be capitalized on. Superman needs to know that he can't save everyone, but the problem with Returns is that he IS saving everyone. Surprise us Singer. Let a train hit a building and kill a few civilians that Superman couldn't save. Allow Lois to be seriously injured---its what makes Supes imperfect. The fact that he is perfect but couldn't save everyone despite his perfection is the perfect flaw, which I felt the movie did not attempt to capitalize on.

Don't get me wrong, I loved the movie. But as echoed several times over, Superman is a God in Returns, when he shouldn't be. Spider-man could've also been a god, despite being more human, but despite his powers he is a timid teenager who is going through a relationship, dealing with school, and is trying to hide his alter ego. He has to deal with his Aunt May moving, trying to make rent, his failing grades and other things. We can relate to him. I've had a failing relationship before. My grades have fallen. No not because i'm Spider-man, but because i'm human! I make mistakes! Clark is a man in his late twenties who seems to be lonely, who doesn't age as fast as humans, who is perfect but imperfect, and can't seem to get the girl he loves. Those make him relatable. Those are flaws, they are mistakes. But they aren't really touched on in the movie.

Superman could be those things but never tries; instead resonating the image of a God. We can't relate to a God. No one compares themselves to Christ. It makes people flat and boring. You know how you had the popular kid in school who had the highest grades, joined every after school activity, and is the prettiest looking person? Thats how Superman is. Superman never gets jealous. He never feels bad. He never hates. He's garrish, handsome, strong, never lies nor cries. But thats simply lying, we all know Superman was raised in Smallville as a horny teen with problems despite the fact that he is a nearly infallible alien. He has gone through break ups, he has failed before, and he will fail again. Superman is a human, but the movie never tries to portray him as one. I don't mind the christ motiff but the movie never intended to be subtle about it---it lays the christ theme real thick. I wouldn't have minded if maybe Bryan went a more subtle route; a christ with mistakes. A perfect being thats perfection reflects negatively on himself. But thats never talked about.

So yes, just as everyone has said before, surprise us.So Supes caught a person falling from a building. Whoopity-doo, Spider-man 2 does it a few times over, AND even catches his Aunt. So he can carry a plane--Spider-man stops a train from derailing, and the fact of the matter is Spider-man remains a weaker superhero but is still far more interesting in encounters. As one poster said astutely before me, WE KNOW that Superman can lift ****, we know he can do everything. What can't he do? Peter Parker can't balance his life between Spidey and himself. Bruce Wayne can't get over his parents's death, he conflicts himself with justice. Even the ****ing Thing from Fantastic Four has more depth. He can stop trains, he can break bones, but we all know he is hurtin' because his body is all rock and now he can't live life like a normal human. Its the little things like that that offer more relatable depth to otherwise bland characters. If Spider-man was spider-man at no cost then he'd just be spider-man, and frankly I don't care for Spider-man. I care for Peter, because he is the one with the issues, not Spider-man. Superman never touches these grounds.

Surprise us with the fact that Superman couldn't rescue the baby from the burning train, lets see him fail. Lets see him deal with failure. One of the biggest problems with the moie is that Superman never fails. He comes close to death maybe a couple times, but in the end he offers that last push to get the job done, regardless whether he will die or not. So let the ****ing Luthor continent fall, and let millions die because you couldn't save them. You failed Superman, and I didn't expect that. What makes Doomsday a good arc, is that despite that last push to finish the job, it comes at a cost of his life, and thats why its a good arc (even though they shitted on it by bringing him back ).

So you stated several times that the world doesn't need Superman---then show us. All I saw (as Superman says himself in the film)is that people do need a saviour, but who doesn't? A good 50% of the world believes in Christianity, it doesn't mean that we can't go on with our lives. They don't show us that the world has moved on without Supes. Maybe if we had him throwing his costume into the garbage (not unlike Spider-man) as sort of giving up, because the world really doesn't need him. The filmmaker makes it too obvious that they DO need Superman, when its true that we've all moved on without him. Show us, and then wisely show us needing him again. Its difficult to balance this without crying "deus ex!" but a good filmmaker knows how. It wasn't touched on. It felt plastic.

Returns is a good effort at jacking off nerds and fans of the past films (me included), but its a subpar effort at giving him depth. That was a main problem I had with Superman: The Man of Steel----Superman is the real Superman but Clark is the timid alter ego. Its the opposite in Spider-man, because we all know that Peter is the real Spider-man and Spider-man is just the broadcast of his powers. It should have been the opposite with Superman, Clark needs to be focused on.


Despite this glaring flaw, the movie was good. 4.5/5

[AA-12]

Yeah, I do wish he would fail sometime. Still amazing.

[bradc1988]

After I watched this the other day, I realised that all the Superman movies are basically the same and they are watchable, but nothing special.

What pissed me off is how stupid people are. Clark and Superman leave at the same time, 5 years later Clark comes back, then on the same day Superman comes back...err...? They're basically the same height, same features...

zzz

lame

[Minus The Flair]

definitely not an epic movie

[AA-12]

It was very epic.

[Minus The Flair]

It was very not epic.

[sketchyjoe]

blah blah blah All these things suck.

Despite this glaring flaw, the movie was good. 4.5/5
You spent a long time complaining about a film that you rate as almost perfect.

[Minus The Flair]

And if it was good, give it a 6 or 7/10 not a 9

[Ramsey]

You spent a long time complaining about a film that you rate as almost perfect.
congrats you can read

[Ramsey]

Uh no. The only flaw in the movie was that, which docks it .5 points. Thats why the movie isn't perfect, its just below perfect. If they offered Superman more of a personality, I would've given it a perfect score, but just because they didn't doesn't make it a bad movie. Its still a 9/10 movie for me.


Its a matter of taste

[Mister_Che]

Look away if you haven't seen the movie:








He had a son, that upset me quite a bit. And don't bother mentioning Superboy; he's his clone that was revealed after Doomsday had killed Superman.

[Ramsey]

Movies do not need to follow the comics storyline. He could still very well be Superboy regardless of Doomsday.

[Mister_Che]

Meh. Bugged me regardless.

[PDWAB]

Superman fails all the time. He hears EVERYTHING you know, even when he's Clark Kent and can't do anything about it. I kinda wish they had given that more time in the movie, but it's there.

[Ramsey]

Obviously it is there. I even say its there, i'm just asking them to elaborate on it, so that I can feel something for an otherwise plastic character.

[shaqadelic]

Obviously, at the point of the movie he has matured up to accept that he can't save everybody. The idea of him living with failure has been explored in the prequels.

[Snowball Fight]

I saw this movie last week, it's really good. Better than I was expecting.

The plot wasn't brilliant, but nonetheless a great film.

I'd give it 8/10

[bradc1988]

Bah all Superman movies are basically the same and none of them are very good, and this one was not an exception.