10 Reasons to Revisit "Superman Returns" on Its 10th Anniversary

[mrn71]

The biggest issue with SR seems to be that it wasn't what the fans/audience wanted, and this is the danger with entrusting the film to a proven director like Singer. I mean sure, he's done successful films in the past, but that doesn't guarantee results does it?

I actually do remember the film quite fondly and did watch it without reading/finding out much about what to expect. I watched a story of a man seeking his past who instead finds his future. Does this type of story need to be told as part of the Superman mythos? No. But I appreciated that it attempted a mature type of story in this setting, albeit one that had to change the status quo of the Clark-Lois-Superman dynamic to do so. I accept that with the type of budget needed to do a Superman movie and have top-notch effects, it needs some sort of action/fighting, and maybe this is why Singer didn't get to do another one. It may not be perfect, but its hardly one of the worst of the 'genre', and it is better than maybe what most people remember it as.

[Surf]

It's a dull film. Most of my personal disdain stems from making the entire movie going public and to a larger extent comic fans, to be a party in Singer's passing of his fucking love note to Richard Donner as if this were 4th grade. I don't think there is anything special about Singer as a director. We are at the point where we have DOZENS of live-action superhero films and their comparisons are easier to make. If Batman and Robin is your floor, SR isn't far from it especially considering it's burden as being somewhat contemporary.

The most positive thing I can say about it, excluding individual acting performances because that's on them, is the suit. I did like Routh's suit, the burgundy worked, fwiw.

[superduperman]

I just want to say, since this thread is still up, that the "prequel" comic with Martha is probably the best comic book origin Superman has ever had. I went back and re-read it this morning because of this thread and it hit all the right points a Superman origin should without getting bogged down. Martha flashes back to important moments in his life like when he came to Earth, when he lifted the truck over his head, when he discovered his origins, and when Jonathon died. All in one issue. If Superman is getting ANOTHER origin, they could learn a lot from that one.

[GDC3]

I watched it again about a month ago. It's just as bad today as it was then for me. I was curious to see if maybe I came at it too hard the first time around. But, no, it was still terrible to me.

[AndrewBatman82]

Widely regarded as one of the worst superhero movies ever made?

Trolling much?

i stated my opinion i gave credit to the special effects team and spacey's portrayal as lex luthor. overall the movie was horrible i watch it in theaters when i was 13. i can say i liked it back then, but when you get older your opinions and observations in movies changes. Man of Steel was great and better then Superman returns but Man of steel was not fantastic in any way but i like different storytelling. if stating my opinion is trolling then your profile name speaks for itself.

[Flash Gordon]

Kevin Spacey is a fantastic Lex Luthor. Routh and Bosworth were horrible, though. It's not the worst film ever, but god is it ever just so so boring and dull.

Such a huge waste.

[Ben Culture]

That does work for a Luthor speech. I don't really play videogames, but this could be a great movie.

[Ben Culture]

I enjoyed this film when I saw it in the theater and was really surprised by all the criticism. Just too many persnickety never satisfied comic fans, I guess. Probably the same ones who hate Man of Steel (which I also enjoyed).

Do you know the oldest lie on the Internet, CongoBill?

"Haters Gonna Hate"

There's usually reasons.

[Ben Culture]

Believe it or not, I rate Superman IV somewhat higher than Superman III. You can just look at IV as an INCOMPLETE movie. They didn't do the post-production necessary for the visual effects to work. But III is clearly complete (the flying looks real enough, and so on), and it's just TERRIBLE. Granted, the "Superman vs. Superman" scene was excellent; it was great to see Reeve do an "evil Superman", but the larger plot was basically "OMG COMPUTERZ CONTROL EVERYTHING AND THEY'RE EVIL!!!" Which is simply an obsolete concept. That Superman's final battle was against an evil computer is just godawful.

Superman IV, for all its flaws, was at least about something interesting.

[Zero Hunter]

The main sin Superman Returns had against it was that it was just boring and dull, and you just can not have that with any superhero movie especially Superman.

[Ben Culture]

I have seen younger people try and watch the old Donner movies and they just laugh at how corny and dumb they are.

What's wrong with them? I can appreciate classic movies made decades before I was born, even if they're in black & white.

Sounds to me like their heads are a bit too far up their own behinds. Sucks to be them, I guess . . . .

(and Hackmans Luthor was garbage to begin with).

Heresy!

[Ben Culture]

The sole reason this shot exists is that Zack Snyder thought we might be too stupid to notice Man of Steel is a 148-minute Jesus allegory unless we literally SEE both characters onscreen together.

[ROM Spaceknight]

I found Superman Returns an execrable film, and haven't seen it since the theatrical release in 2006. I had high hopes for the film & was really looking forward to this, but was extremely disappointed. The film/story had so much potential - and, it ended up essentially being about Superman trying to stop Lex Luthor from creating his own island?! I also felt the sub-plot of Lois & Superman's son to be boring...

Conversely, Man of Steel (2013) was a brilliant film, and was what I thought SR should have been...

[Clark_Kent]

Quicksilver saved an entire school full of people from an explosion. QS>>>> Snyderman



Where was any of that explained within the current continuity of the DCCU? I don't recall any bits in either MoS or BvS where his inability to see through lead is explained, how Luthor would be privy to that knowledge, or that lead was actually added to the wheelchair for that express purpose? All it comes off as is reaching for explanations for poor storytelling. In film it's supposed to be "show don't tell", but at some point relevant info should be either shown, told, or both. All the above is relevant info and should be explained at some point in the context of one of the two movies, at least if the filmmakers don't want Superman to come off as incompetent or lazy (super speed + super senses + angry mob outside + today's socio-political environment = a responsible Superman would have taken the .0001 of a second to X-ray the courtroom, realized he couldn't see through the wheelchair, examined it with his other senses and taken action to avert the crisis).

Isn't it common knowledge that x-rays can't penetrate lead?

[Calighoula]

Isn't it common knowledge that x-rays can't penetrate lead?

Yeah, it was even used in Superman (1978). It's old as water running downhill, as familiar as Cap's shield, Spidey's web shooters, Batman's batarangs, Wonder Woman's lasso, etc.