Comments on Superman Returns

[thewayne]

One non-spoiler comment. I'm not a big Superman fan. Never have been, never will. I liked the first two movies that they did in the 80's, particularly "Kneel before Zod, son of Jor-El!" Well, I liked this one. One of the problems that I've always had with Supes is that he is beyond perfect, yet he doesn't do as much as I think he should be able to do. DC sort of explored this 10-15 years ago when they did a one-shot Superman Saves Ethiopia (not the title, but it could have been) where Supes and others go to stop Ethiopia's famine and fail.

Anyway, since some of the rest of this could constitute spoilers for the film, I'm putting it under a cut.

Prior to this film, I think, for me, that the best example of what Superman should be was Kurt Busiek's WONDERFUL comic book Astro City (I highly recommend it, Kurt has some bad health problems and is very irregular in getting an issue out, but there are four or five graphic novels that collect it, they're a lot easier to track down), in particular his character, The Samaritan. He's basically a Superman clone, very similar powers, secret ID in publishing, etc. But he has an advanced tech device that actually does his work for him, so he goes to work, closes the door, turns on the machine, then flies out the window and around the globe, saving the world.

I was quite pleased to see Singer bring this element to Supes. Granted, he's only doing it during his non-Daily Planet hours, it's still better than what we normally saw portrayed.

Russet wasn't really interested in seeing it, but I think I may have convinced her that it's worth a look. Plus, the lines for Dead Man's Chest are hideous.

And for the record, I prefer Batman over Superman. Superman is just too perfect, Batman is wonderfully flawed and borderline psychotic.

Comments

[neefsck.livejournal.com]

And for the record, I prefer Batman over Superman. Superman is just too perfect, Batman is wonderfully flawed and borderline psychotic.

Absolutely.
Theres so much more scope for Batman to evolve (and he has done so over the years) into something truely unique with the superhero genre.

Basically, someone thats continually battling their own dark urges and dealing with their own darkness rather than be...'uncorruptible' In the way that most superheroes of that era are.
That, and he is just this guy. Albeit a super fit one, who's gimmick isn't the result of some magical/mystical/scientific or hereditary power up but the fact that he wears a cape to exploit the *fear* that people have of the darkness.

[thewayne.livejournal.com]

In the movies, Warner Bros. really screwed over Bats by having too big of name villain stars. Of course, DC screwed over Bats by having too many writers have too free of reign over him (IMO), but he survived fundamentally intact. They pulled some weird stuff, like when Bats got his back broken and Alien Robo-Bats took over as enforcer for Gotham. But Bats survived even that.

I personally think Keaton was one of the best Bruce Wayne's going, but he was so overpowered by the villain talent that it just wasn't fair. The movies just glamorized the villains, at least until the latest Batman Returns, which had some problems but overall came off quite well.

But Supes? He's just too perfect. He has no dark side (except maybe some angst), and Frank Miller exploited it ruthlessly in Dark Knight Returns. That, Watchmen, and V for Vendetta (along with several Astro City GN's) shall remain my fav graphic novels for a VERY long time.

There's rumors of a Superman Vs Batman motion picture. Could you imagine if they took Miller's GN for source?! "Synthetic Kryptonite. It took a lot of time and money, fortunately I had both." Man, that would be a perfect role for Michael Keaton to return to!

[keleos.livejournal.com]

Kevin Spacey's as Lex, alone, was worth the price of admission. And once again, I just adored Parker Posey. She's a riot.

I was very pleasantly surprised by this one. I didn't expect to like it, because frankly, I find Superman boring. Batman is at the top of my list as well. But Superman was playing at the drive-in theater, and I really wanted to take Deb there. But this was far better than anticipated. I actually liked it.

[thewayne.livejournal.com]

Never saw Josie, sorta wanted to, probably for the same reason that I saw the first Scooby Doo with Buffy.

[thewayne.livejournal.com]

I have a soft spot for occasional fluff movies, I have both Wayne's World and as most recently witnessed by Nacho Libre.

[thewayne.livejournal.com]

Now Spice World, no way you could drag me to that, but I would consider Josie because I grew up watching that as a kid.

Nacho was a lot of fun, and I posted a review on my blog last night.

[thewayne.livejournal.com]

I think the last drive-in that I went to was with Deb, I'd just picked up my new Mazda back in '90, we saw a James Bond movie in Scottsdale. We don' cotton to drive-in's 'round here! (apparently)

[vaudy.livejournal.com]

I think drive-ins may just be a dying breed. They are up here in IL, at least. My family used to go all the time when I was a kid, now there are hardly any open anymore.

[thewayne.livejournal.com]

I don't know of any where I live (near Alamogordo, NM), but the weather isn't really good for drive-ins: lots of blowing dust. Phoenix still has two, and I know of one near Globe, but I don't know if it's still open.

It's a great national icon, but it is definitely a dying breed. The screens cannot be as good, and the sound sucks. But they're still a lot of fun.