Eleven Years Later, thoughts on the film SUPERMAN RETURNS

[superduperman]

You and the critics.

Seems like the opposite with fans.

Strange.

(For the record, I think Returns is better. In fact, I watched it again the day after I saw MOS and I liked it better than the last time I had seen it. Still not a particularly good movie though.)

Neither one of them were particularly great movies. But on a sliding scale I still prefer it to MOS. Still sorry we didn't get to see Brainiac in the sequel. Of course it would have made more sense to just reboot the franchise and have Brainiac been the villain to begin with but there you go.

[daBronzeBomma]

I remember the first time I really found my fears for this movie. It wasn't Bryan Singer being chosen for director (he was considered a "good get" at the time). It wasn't even the casting of Brandon Routh, whom I have since come to appreciate in his non-Kal roles.

No, it was my first glimpse of That Suit.



Forget Brandon, just look at the costume.

What. A. Letdown.

The speedo. The short-ass, cheap-as-hell looking boot design. The off-putting shade of tealish blue in the tights. The outright drab burgundy where there should be brilliant red. The downgrade of the chest emblem. The tacky S-belt buckle, in case the first bigger S still wasn't enough S for ya. Oh, and that's too soft a hairstyle for a Man of Steel.

That was the moment I started bracing for the worst. And eventually got it.

But seriously, even Tyler Hoechlin's suit on SUPERGIRL is better than this design failure.

[Zero Hunter]

It was not good then and is even worse now. The sad thing is there was so much potential in this movie that they just ignored so they could make a corny love letter to the Donner movies. Kevin Spacey could have been an amazing Lex Luthor, but Singer tied his hands behind his back by making him do a bad Gene Hackman impression. The Hackman Luthor was horrible on it own let alone watching another actor do an impression of it. It was like a cartoon. The action looked so good with what little bit they gave us like the plane scene, but it was so few and far between. Instead we got to see a mopey stalked Superman flying around being sad. That ending though was the worse thing ever. He fought ........ a rock. A giant @#$%^!& rock?!? So stupid.

[superduperman]

I remember the first time I really found my fears for this movie. It wasn't Bryan Singer being chosen for director (he was considered a "good get" at the time). It wasn't even the casting of Brandon Routh, whom I have since come to appreciate in his non-Kal roles.

No, it was my first glimpse of That Suit.



Forget Brandon, just look at the costume.

What. A. Letdown.

The speedo. The short-ass, cheap-as-hell looking boot design. The off-putting shade of tealish blue in the tights. The outright drab burgundy where there should be brilliant red. The downgrade of the chest emblem. The tacky S-belt buckle, in case the first bigger S still wasn't enough S for ya. Oh, and that's too soft a hairstyle for a Man of Steel.

That was the moment I started bracing for the worst. And eventually got it.

But seriously, even Tyler Hoechlin's suit on SUPERGIRL is better than this design failure.

Singer had a good run coming off the X-movies so it was safe to assume he'd do a good job. The suit concerned me as well. Especially for something that was supposed to be a sequel to the original Donner movies! Why not use the same suit as those? Did he decide to switch suits when he came back to Earth? Did he retroactively wear this in the originals? What was the thinking here? I like the buckle, though!

[adkal]

The suit concerned me as well. Especially for something that was supposed to be a sequel to the original Donner movies! Why not use the same suit as those?
Did he decide to switch suits when he came back to Earth? Did he retroactively wear this in the originals? What was the thinking here? I like the buckle, though!

It's a mix of both.

Although Perry puts forward the 'is that a new suit' question after the plane rescue, there were front page blow-ups on the wall which showed him in the SR suit. It may be that the basic elements of the suit were the 'same' but something was different enough to raise the question (although it's more likely the writers figured it would be a good line to toss in in a bid to be a little meta about it...)

[Darkseid Is]

Brandon Routh would have been a good Superboy. Compared to Christover Reeves or even Henry Cavill he looks like a little kid. I couldn't get past that. Also the movie was boring as hell. I don't need a movie to be as action packed as Man of Steel, just give me something. I almost fell asleep watching it in the theater. Singer's X-Men movies are excellent and not boring at all. I don't understand it.

[daBronzeBomma]

Let's revisit more of the SR mistakes, starting with the single biggest one:

The hiring of Bryan Singer as director of SUPERMAN RETURNS.

Hindsight is always 20/20, so it's kinda easy to see why it was a mistake to hire him now in the cold harsh light of history. But, in the mid-Aughts (circa 2003-2006), no one had a higher profile for superhero movies than Singer. His X-MEN (2000) and clumsily-titled X2: X-MEN UNITED (2003) were and still are considered watershed landmarks for the reinvigorated genre. The fact that WB managed to steal Singer from directing X-MEN 3 was considered a coup.

Instead that swipe damaged two franchises, as XMEN: THE LAST STAND (2006) was pretty bad with replacement director Brett Ratner, but X3 still beat SUPERMAN RETURNS (also same summer of 2006) at the domestic box office at 234M to SR's 200M.

I hold Bryan Singer the individual by far most responsible for how disappointing SUPERMAN RETURNS was.

It is abundantly clear that Singer did not truly love Superman the character. He only truly loved SUPERMAN: THE MOVIE and its director Richard Donner. He pioneered the horrific "requel" (half-ass REboot, half-ass seQUEL) concept with SR, and refused to move Superman forward through the 21st century. Oh, except for the deadbeat dad / home invading ex bit. That WAS a new take. But not all new = good.

[_Feely_]

Superman Returns is a film where Clark Kent has bags more charisma than Superman.

Says it all.

[_Feely_]

It also boasts a scene where everyone conveniently forgets that he's powered by the Sun and just leave him in a poorly lit hospital room to die.

With the blinds closed, no less.

[Black Angel]

Only good things about that movie was Kevin Spacey as Lex Luthor (he was damn perfect), the Plane rescue scene and when he lifted the island of krypontie.

[Darkseid Is]

I will say that it is nowhere near as bad as X3. That was truly horribly.

[adkal]

The fact that he didn't kill anyone alone makes it a better movie.

He killed Luthor's crew when he started moving the island. They got squished, and Lex and Kitty barely survived.

(Unless you're saying that him killing them as a group was better than him killing Zod solo... )

[superduperman]

He killed Luthor's crew when he started moving the island. They got squished, and Lex and Kitty barely survived.

(Unless you're saying that him killing them as a group was better than him killing Zod solo... )

I'd have to go back and re-watch it to confirm that. Which I have no real interest in doing. So I'll take your word for it.

[Jon-El]

I don't remember being that excited to see it. I LOVE the original films but nothing I saw in the previews really grabbed me. I was hopeful though. I saw it once, liked the plane scene, but felt the movie was way too long. Just bored me. I'll still watch the plane scene but that's it.

Basing it on the Donner films was wrong. I totally get doing mods to them but having the film be part of that continuity was wrong. Even the opening credits felt wrong. Superman needed a fresh start. I love the Williams theme but it felt out of place.

The special effects, while decent, were really flawed. Bad CG of Routh flying took me out of the film. I'm not a huge fan of Man of Steel but the improvement in effects are considerable.

Bad costume. Bleak. What's with that S? What's with those boots???

Bad plot with very little action. It was a soap opera plot! I don't remember the movie that well but I remember Superman rolling around getting kicked by a bunch of regular guys. Boring. The scene where he first rips open his shirt should've been so dramatic & instead it just looks...blah.

I actually think Routh was pretty good. Give him a decent costume & better script & he might've been pretty good. I feel bad for the guy. Lois was awful.

I was a kid when the first Superman movie came out. I left feeling so invigorated!! Most exciting experience I've had seeing a movie. Even now when I see a decent super hero movie, I get a bit of that feeling. I left Superman returns feeling nothing. To me it was the wrong approach to take to the character. Every generation needs a new Superman.

[Patrick Gerard]

I give it props for having the best soundtrack.

Ottman's arrangements surpass Williams IMHO and I like the use of full themes as opposed to the modern Zimmer "duh-duh, duh-duh-duh" dangling melodies movies have.

The take on "Can You Read My Mind...?" as a bittersweet string piece that's trying to assert itself is one of my favorite bits from any film score ever.