Superman Returns

[Buddy]

Well I didn't get to see this last night, childminding duties more important, aparently. Tisk!

But from what my mate says it a bunch of crap.

I'll see it anyways when it opens proper.

[WoD]

I love the way he lands..with such force...not the gentle way that they used to land superman...nice that....real strength.

[paulvonscott]

To have those powers and use them without killing anyone, you'd need *exceptional* control.  Some sort of power thud landing isn't very controlled, it's either lazy or just showing off.

Plus, the eyeball thing just seems daft, whatever substance it is, it would sting a bit.  Unless it's not actually superman that's all powerful, but some weird field he's projecting. (which looking up the thread is what Jim said about the costume).  So essentially if you could negate this field, you could kill him.

My name is Lex Luthor, I claim my ?5 million pounds.

This isn't from a fan perspective, just idle cider based thoughts.

Bloody hell, more work tomorrow.  Arguing with kids why they shouldn't play with my paperclips or wear rollerblades in the library.

Join with me in communal prayer that my premium bonds and lottery numbers come up so I can be saved from thinking such idling thoughts to distract myself from the real world.

Anyway, I'd love to go and see the movie if it's good.  Has anyone actually seen it?

[ThryllSeekyr]

Yes, I have.

I tried to like it, but I see it as something that doesn't offer anything to earlier films.

I remember reading somewhere that Brian Singer wanted to make a movie that would a be great addition to the first movie.

No, I saw the movie, and I don't think so.

All my worst fears about the actors appearance, the altered costume and even the look of the city of metropolis turned out to be true.

 It's the Superman movie trying to imitate a Batman movie and succeeding in just doing that. But that bad thing because it doesn't really fit. Not without incuding Batman and that still wouldn't improve things.

The movie doesn't stand alone, nor should it be seen to be standing with the other Superman films.

[Buddy]

Terrence Stamp said on the radio the other day that General Zod was going to be in it at one stage in the films development. This turned out not to be as Brian Singers preferred actor said he wouldn't do it, so the character was droped.

The preferred actor? Well, that was Jude Law.

Hmmmm.... now who else could have played General Zod?

[Carlsborg Expert]

Superman Retards

Hear that JB?

I mean can you feel that?

Can Yer?

[Floyd-the-k]

I agree with Art (and JB) that the kid wasn't a great idea, but still loved the movie.  However I have a quibble






spoiler










Luthor's evil scheme involved, yet again, beachfront real estate. That was his evil plan from the first movie. It was a cute joke then (especially given that he would have wiped out all the West Coast Sound types in one fell swoop) but not THAT funny. Couldn't he have come up with something more original?

I still loved it though

[Radbacker]

Yeah Lex's whole plan wass downright pathetic, the land he was going to make would be all Barren and icey hardly prime realestate, maybee they shopul've put him inside his Krypton power suit or what ever the hell it is you see him in th ecomics all the time(yiou know with the simon says panel on the front).
I did like it I just think my problems are more with the character of Superman than the movie.

CU Radbacker

[Mike Carroll]

Okay, just saw the movie tonight...








Look away now if you don't want any spoilers.








In fact, if you don't want any spoilers, what are you doing reading this thread?







All righty, then...

Some good points, some not-so-good.

The not-so-good first: the movie actually drags a little in the first hour or so. There are a couple of incredibly fake-looking shots, and not the great big spectacular ones: there's one with Lex & Co [hey, weren't they dancers on Top of the Pops?] on the deck of the boat that's so fake it looks like it's something I might have done). Perry White is woefully underused. Kate Bosworth is a little too young for the role.

The good points: The cast - especially Brandon Routh - are excellent. Most of the special effects are top-notch. There's lots of little homages to the two good previous Superman movies. Superman has no additional "made-up for the movie" powers like he does in Superman II (tearing the S off his chest and using it as an expanding celophane envelope to trap the Kryptonian baddies... What the hell were they thinking?). The kid works pretty well. John Williams' score is nicely sprinkled throughout the movie.

The climax is lots of fun, but the resolution of said climax comes across as a little... er... imaginative, given the context.

And speaking of climaxes to Superman movies: this might not be the right place, but I have to get this off my chest (and no, it's not a Kryptonian-trapping expanding cellophane envelope)...

You know in Superman The Movie when Supes fails to save Lois so he flies around the world really fast and the Earth's rotation changes direction and everything runs backwards for a bit? You know how that's just, well, dumb, because setting the Earth spinning in the other direction wouldn't actually turn back time, it'd just kill everyone? Well, when I saw this back in 1978 it was very obvious to me that what Supes was actually doing was flying so fast that he goes back in time. Am I wrong? Anyone else ever come to the same conclusion?

Anyway... Superman Returns, and I'm glad that he does. It's not the best superhero movie ever made, it's not even the best Bryan Singer movie ever made, but it's good fun and there were a few moments here and there where it made me feel like I was a kid again. And that, my friends, is all that I wanted.

-- Mike C

[Dudley]

Astonishing and profound, with some awesome performances.

The entire film can be read (in fact, definitely should be read) as a meditation on the question "Why didn't God intervene in the 9/11 attacks?".  The director's (and writers') answer is that it's not for us to question that, but that we can say that to respind to evil with evil is wrong.  I really think that Superman Returns is one of the most subtle yet powerfully moral films I've ever seen, without for a second giving up on its intention to be a popcorn thrill.

10/10

[JOE SOAP]

It's all about Lois Lane, the most expensive chick flick ever made.

[Woolly]

Opening titles were the best part for me.

I enjoyed the film alot (for reasons that are pretty much covered already on this thread) but the popcorn-eating, wide-eyed, effects-loving moron inside me wanted more action!
LOTS more action!

[paulvonscott]

"Well, when I saw this back in 1978 it was very obvious to me that what Supes was actually doing was flying so fast that he goes back in time. Am I wrong? Anyone else ever come to the same conclusion?"

Yeah, the Earth appears to slow down and then  rotate in reverse because we are travelling through time.  Time slows to a stop and then starts going backwards.

[Carlsborg Expert]

Try this film on IMAX.

Fun for everyone except a little kid. On being totally blown away by the opening credits you could hear him whining, " I don't like this, it's scary." Bless. I know how he feels. The opener is truly magnificent on these Big, big screens.

Hopefully he chilled by the time the farmboy fun started to kick off the 3D bits, which drop in every so often. Took me a while to shake off the stoopid feeling but after finding some enjoyment in the novelty, I managed it.

Yeah. Good film. I like the idea of going into a large auditorium and flicking the V's to reality for a bit. And the 3D glasses got quite an audience participation feel to it.

Felt very traditional and let's face it Superman is as old as the Golden Age of cinema. I bet they had his series on a Saturday Matinee in some areas of Amreica, in "the good old days ".

Lots of trad maybe even retro fun.

[Buttonman]

Didn't really like it at all. I thought it was soulless and completely devoid of any wit and charm.

It started too slowly and never really upped the excitement quotient. The plane rescue was the highlight for me but even that was spoiled by the frantic jump cutting and (un)steady-cam shots.

The threat element seemed minimal - in the first we had nuclear bombs and then three super villians - what do we get here? A large crystal growing enterprise and some unexplored EMP stuff? Excitement she never wrote!

Routh was pretty good but Lois was too young, the cute kid a pain and Cyclops doing his usual pain in the arse routine. Speacey's Luthor had no real menace and why has he still got a soppy, plot hindering (his not the film's) woman in tow? Missed Ned Beattie's comic asides.

As for the plot it was way too thin and way too long. Too much soul searching and relationship issues - get on with some action, it's not Merchant Ivory you know.

Also beggared belief that Clark and Superman go missing for five years, turn up simultaniously and no one even mentions the fact!

A couple of decent sequences, but for the most part I found this really dull and uninspiring.