Movie: Superman Returns

[Carnage]

(Dont read this post if you havent seen the movie). I just saw this movie. Frankly it sucked. It didnt meet my expectations, had so many plot holes, and was extremely corny (which I wouldnt mind if the movie didnt suck so much). First of all, it was so obvious that the kid was Superman's son. Also, why didnt the cryptonite affect the kid? Was it that his powers weren't activated? And why did he suddenly gain the streghnth to push a piano? And did anybody else notice that when Luthers bitch tossed the remaining crystals out of the helicopter nothing grew? I mean, one crystal grows an entire continent and six make nothing? Does that make sense? Also, even Superman shouldnt have been able to lift that huge land mass, fall all the way from outer space, crash into the ground, and survive without a broken leg. This movie made Starwars episode III: Revenge of the Sith look good. Anybody else's thoughts?

[Yukimura]

My thoughts, you make valid points, but are wrong. There were several plot holes and other things that just don't make any sense, but almost everything you complained about can be explained.

The kids powers were dormant because he was only 5, and also only half Kryptonian, this also explains his reaction to kryptonite being less destructive, humans have a much higher tolerance for it (though it will kill them in the end as well). He probably tapped into that strength to save his mother, just like a parent can overcome their subconscious muscle inhibitions to save their children from shit. The handling of the kid wasn't all that great in my opinion, I think Sups should have hinted at taking a more active role in his life, it's his child, no one else would be able to teach the kid properly,l especially not ditzy-stupid-bitch Lois.

The crystals seem to need water to grow, she dropped them onto dry land and Sups picked it up before they could get wet.

He picked that place up because he's just that badass, besides he was using the same force that allows him to move insanely fast while flying, but instead of moving a small mass at ridiculous speeds he moved a large mass at a slower speed, momentum was conserved so it's not that far fetched (thought giving the hunk of rock escape velocity seemed a little strange, but maybe it'll just orbit instead)

And he survived because he's invulnerable...that's just how Superman rolls.

ANyway I thought the move was good, the emotional element impressed me enough to outweigh some of the bigger leaps in logic...mainly Lois bouncing around inside the plane at 4G's and not dying, that was just plain bullshit...but the movie made me feel, which is a good mark in my book. So all in all I liked it quite a bit.

[Carnage]

Good points. But I dont recall Super man picking up the crystals ( maybe it was just me). He seemed a little busy lifting that huge rock. Not only do I think super man shouldn't have had enough streghnth to lift up the rock, but I also think that the only effect of the kryptonite comming out of the rock was to burn Supermans hands was dumb. In the cartoons, all of his powers were taken away AND he was could barely stand just being a short distance from a small piece of kryptonite. Here, there are large blocks were coming out and all it did to superman was burn his hands and tire him out BY THE TIME HE REACHES OUTER SPACE. He shouldn't have been able to lift the rock in the first place seeing as how his powers are taken away just being within a short distance. Also, Superman is not invulnerable. And thank you for mentioning the airplane incident. It surprised me that noone seemed to have any injuries or was knocked out unconcious.

[Cabewse]

Maybe it wasn't pure kryptonite?

Lex said that crystals inherit the properties of that which surrounds them, maybe the kryptonite wasn't pure. When he had the pure kryptonite jabbed into his back, he did loose his powers.

[Assassin]

actually that sorta makes sense. but even if you assume that the crystals werent pure K so thats why he had his powers, it doesn't explain how he could stand in front of lex while he was hiding the kryptonite. As carnage said, superman loses all his powers and can barely stand when hes around kryptonite.

I liked how the chose to get rid of the krypto-continent though. Now theres a huge ass chunk of kryptonite floating in the solar system and it can provide kryptonite for the next few movies. atleast i hope thats what they do. it would be gay if they keep finding kryptonite from the original meteor over and over again.

Overall the movie wasn't bad but it did have plot holes. I just hope this was like the xmen movie, setting up the storyline, introducing the characters, so that the next movie can have more action, some proper fights (4 thugs beating up superman....wtf?).

[Yukimura]

3 thugs and KUMAR!!!! beating up superman, I was so shocked!!!

[Lefty]

3 thugs and KUMAR!!!! beating up superman, I was so shocked!!!

Did you notice he had like one line in the entire film. The rest of the time he was just standing around looking goonish. On the whole K exsposure, he gradually lost his powers. I like that instead of " oh no my powers are gone instantly". It made for a more dramatic effect. Also thats why he was in a coma for a while, he forced every last drop of power out to clear the continent into space. All the time absorbing more and more radiation from the rock. Also he recharged in sunlight before he went back. Gay but it covers a plot hole.

[Xollence]

This movie was just too long. If it was an hour shorter I think it would've been a lot better.

[Carnage]

On the whole K exsposure, he gradually lost his powers. I like that instead of " oh no my powers are gone instantly". It made for a more dramatic effect. Also thats why he was in a coma for a while, he forced every last drop of power out to clear the continent into space. All the time absorbing more and more radiation from the rock. Also he recharged in sunlight before he went back. Gay but it covers a plot hole.

No, it doesnt really cover the plot hole, because he SHOULD lose his powers instantly. Thats pretty much how it always was. I wonder how long it took him to lose his powers when he went up against Lex. There he can't even handle Kumar. But suddenly he can lift an Island FULL of kryptonite coming out of everywhere all the way out of the atmosphere and the gravitational belt.

[Knives122]

Well actually in the comics, his powers have been know to gradually decrease as he was near kryptonite. It's just that the pain is usually to much for him to bear so it just seems like he lost them right off the bat.

And from what it looked like, the Kryptonite was the core of New Krypton(Which was why after all the original minerals from krypton fell into the sea the kryptonite was exposed) although when he started flying over the land mass you could tell he wasn't feeling right.

It also explained why he took soo long lifting it and why he went into the sky. He needed to collect as much energy as possible before he had to go back down there and get rid of the rock before it took out 2/6 of the world. He also had a shard of the kryptonite dagger still in him which also contributed to the slow ascension.

He was more or less going to die if he had been exposed any longer(the burning of the skin), but by that time he had already got it up high enough to push it into space.

[Xollence]

Did Kumar even say one word throughout the whole movie? I don't think I remember him speaking.

[Raven]

So what did we all think of Brandon Routh? I felt like he had a definite presence and charisma as Superman, which is really important for this kind of character, and there was definite distinction between CK and SM too. I wonder if he'll be another Mark Hamil - doomed to be type-cast forever.

[complich8]

Probably ... nobody can escape the superman-typecasting!

I felt like Lex's plot was a litle _too_ cartoonish. "I'll make a new continent .... and make sure to destroy the continental US in the process. Sure, I could do this in the middle of the pacific where nobody would have to .. you know ... die much. But I'm just that evil, so let's kill a lot of people unnecessarily!"

Like ... ok, you're a smart guy, you've gotta realize that if it weren't for the fact that you're including killing a third of the world's population in your plan, the plan itself could actually be pretty sound, and even NOT involve incurring the wrath of superman.

You'd think that someone with a mind the size of a planet would be able to think out the consequences of being completely openly evil, instead of just subtly evil.

Then, you'd also think, after all the run-ins that Superman has had with Lex, that the man of steel would have just fucking killed him outright by now. Seriously. How many deaths is Lex responsible for? How much property damage? It's stupid!

Or if superman wants to stay "pure" or whatever bullshit, at least have the military step in and kill him or something! They've got no qualms about putting a muthafucka down.

Also, I really didn't like the angsty tension between lois and superman. Lots of people seem to get off on angsty tension and doomed relationships these days, because it's more dramatic that way, but ... fuck them. A happy ending that's not poisoned by sad circumstances is not such a bad thing...

[Munsu]

Well, there'll be no sequel to Superman Returns. Instead, the studio is planning on rebooting the Superman franchise to make it darker. You can read more about it here:
http://online.wsj.com/article/SB121936107614461929.html?mod=googlenews_wsj

[Abdula]

That is wonderful news. While I enjoyed Superman Returns, I'm not a fan of Superman's character.

[Carnage]

There's a Batman Vs. Superman coming out? How will they pull that off I wonder.

[Munsu]

That is wonderful news. While I enjoyed Superman Returns, I'm not a fan of Superman's character.
I enjoyed Superman Returns too, and I don't like the news myself. Though I like the new vision they have for the series, I think they could've pulled it off in this current incarnation somehow. You bring in some villians like they were planning for the sequel to push Superman to the limit, and there you have your excuse to go darker.

[Shadow Skill]

Just what we need, Emoman...

I give the idea an F+

[Death BOO Z]

I don't see any point in making superman "dark", it was never his thing, anyways. it only worked in the comic when Superman has gone facistcially mad, enslaving all humanity to keep the lambs in order. that's union\masses darkness, not the personal darkness that batman works on.
Superman always worked on the opposite side, as someone to look up to, a beckon (of hope and morality), it was the perfect movie for pot-nine-eleven america. but then they decided to ruin it by making "returns" such a bad movie.

[XanBcoo]

"What do you mean no one liked Superman Returns?"

"People thought it was a shitty movie."

"Nonsense! It obviously wasn't dark enough. Look what happened to Batman. Being dark and gritty is cool now. No one digs that "hope" shit anymore. Let's reboot the franchise and film it in pale blue and green hues. Make sure there's a "realistic" approach to Superman's story. Lot's of angst. Let's get lunch."

[Psyke]

How dark can bright red underwear be?

I never liked Superman in the first place. It just seemed like the creators gave him all the awesome powers they can think of, and randomly created kryptonite to give him a weakness.

[Assassin]

lol..i for one am hopeful about this. as crappy as superman returns was, i gotta believe that they've learned something from batman begins and TDK. Im sure they're not stupid enough to just recycle TDK and replace batman with superman.

If any of you followed Justice league and Justice league: unlimited, they did a few eps where humans/the government start to fear the superheroes after an accidental attack, and the league (minus batman ofcourse) has to turn themselves in to avoid confrontation. In that story superman was still a beacon of hope and all that, but it showed more realistic 'present day' issues and made them all seem more human. If they can manage something similar for the movie, i think they can be successful without making superman angsty and dark.

Also, flash movie....awesome!

[Shadow Skill]

I believe they should keep Superman true to how he's been the past 70 years :P

If anything, it's the villains that need to be more dark, not Superman. Superman is the guy who smiles in the face of adversity and does his best to make everything as awesome as can be. He saves people, saves the world. Heck, in some cartoons, saves the entire universe, why change that and make him pathetic?

There are very few who are angsty and dark in the world. Why portray the movie like that? The reason it worked so well for Batman was that was his life, he saw his parents die before him, he is full of anger at all the villains. That shows batman is human, Superman is not.

I imagine a dark superman would most likely fail at the theatres, since obviously, nobody in Hollywood knows how to create a comic to live action movie anymore, or rather, never knew how.

Just my take on it though.

[XanBcoo]

It's even more retarded that they're trying to "reboot" the story. No one, no one needs an hour of set-up showing us how Superman came to Earth and was adopted by the Kents. The movies did it, the cartoons did it, Smallville did it. We don't need another damn creation story.

[Assassin]

I think they meant they were gonna scrap "Returns" and start a new franchise, like with batman begins. Another origins story would be monumentally boring and an even bigger box office failure.

[XanBcoo]

But Batman Begins was an origin story. It featured Batman's origin and featured a younger Bruce Wayne. Even if they're restarting the Superman franchise, I don't know why they'd feel the need to recap his background. Everyone's already seen that shit a thousand times.

I didn't see the new Hulk movie, but I was under the impression that even though it was a "new" franchise, it still assumed everyone had seen Ang Lee's Hulk creation story. That's the kinda thing I'm arguing for.

Edit to below: Ok, I was wrong about the Hulk, but my point still stands.

[Psyke]

No, the new Hulk movie was a clean reboot.

[Munsu]

Haven't watched the video yet, but it should be interesting to some:


Mark Millar Working On Superman Trilogy?
Posted by Stephen Johnson - Thursday, August 28, 2008 2:26 PM
In an interview with Fresh Ink’s Blair Butler, comic book author Mark Millar said he’d like to make a trilogy of films for a re-booted Superman series, and it might happen. Millar's vision for a new Superman:

"I've had this plan for like 10 years for a big three-picture Superman thing, like a Lord of the Rings epic, starting over from scratch again with a seven-hour Superman story. One to be released each year." Millar said.

Millar says there's nothing firm yet, but he hopes to get word over the next few weeks. If everything goes perfectly, they'll be shooting next summer. Check it out below:

The video is included in the link:
http://www.g4tv.com/thefeed/blog/post/688752/Mark_Millar_Working_On_Superman_Trilogy.html

[XanBcoo]

I got so distracted when that half-naked redhead walked in, about 3 minutes in. Jesus Cristo.

I've not read any Superman Comics, but his credentials seem to back up the idea that new Superman movies could be done well.

[Paulyboy]

Lol I did too, nice bikini... is she supposed to be laura croft lol. Looks like she had something around her arms.

[Munsu]

I got so distracted when that half-naked redhead walked in, about 3 minutes in. Jesus Cristo.

I've not read any Superman Comics, but his credentials seem to back up the idea that new Superman movies could be done well.
Same thing happened to me. I couldn't understand shit of what the dude was saying before she got in, even less when she was there.

[Abdula]

Its funny that I didn't really notice her:o

[Death BOO Z]

who was she cosplaying as? (does it count as cosplaying if it ain't anime/manga?)

that guy didn't say anything interesting anyways.

[XanBcoo]

Honestly, she comes in at the moment just when he starts rambling and all I saw was a lot of skin and bright red hair. Completely tuned out for about 5 minutes after that.

Funny part is I didn't even see the comments until just now and it seems everyone on that site saw her too :p.

[Animeniax]

If I'm remembering the right guy, Mark Millar has very solid credentials in the comic book writing world, so he might be able to pull off a new trilogy of Superman movies. Plus the Scottish accent is the shit.

I think the main thing to get right besides the storyline and characterization of Superman is to pick the right actor for the job. The new Batman movies work because Christian Bale does a great job with the character. If they pick the right guy to fly around in red and blue tights, the reboot could be great for the franchise.

edit: I found the interviewer chick more attractive than the redhead because the interviewer chick really seems knowledgeable about the subject matter of her interview. That's sexy to me.

[Munsu]

Might as well stick this in here, Christopher Nolan has signed up to "oversee" the Superman reboot. Hopefully they'll make a kickass movie out of it, though he doesn't look to be directing it. Don't know how much his involvement will be other than making sure it's heading in the "right direction".

http://www.deadline.com/hollywood/its-a-bird-its-a-plane-its-chris-nolan-hell-mentor-superman-3-0-while-preparing-3rd-batman/