My God, No. This is terrible news. Superman Returns wasn't "too romantic or cerebral"! A badly done soap opera isn't romantic, it's ridiculous angst.

BabyDaddy Superman and Common-Law wife Lois, who's shacked up with her boss' son, is all too trailer park for most audiences.

Reply

I agree it was dull and too long and the cast had no chemistry- get rid of whoever played Lois Lane she was really bland and safe and give Parker Posey a bigger role. Brandon Roth needs a chance to make the character his own. I just wonder that Chris Reeve was so definitive is there anything new you can do with the character? I had the misfortune of watching it in some flea-pit cinema in Colorado Springs where the audience talked through the film whooping and cheering! This didn't help but is apparently quite common in the USA.

Reply

I think the main problem with Superman Returns, apart from the obvious lack of action and plot movement, is that it was too much of an homage film. Richard Donner's first two films were great, but they were made over 25 years ago. It's time to bring Supes to a new generation in a way that isn't an overly-emo teen growing up with Ma and Pa Kent. Take a look at the Kevin Smith script, adapt it to fit the new series, inject the kid with kryptonite so he's out of the franchise, and work from there.

Reply

It's funny...when I talk to people about Superman Returns there's only two reactions: they liked it, or they hated it. I know a lot of people who enjoyed the movie, myself included. It was confortable to me...to sit in a Superman movie and see the character reacting to new, non-powered problems he couldn't punch his way through. It felt to me like a costume drama with capes, and I enjoyed it. It was similar in tone to the first X-Men movie, where you spent a lot of time with the characters and not much time with plots or action. I think the fact that it was 90 minutes helped keep you entertained, however, so the one thing I fault Superman Returns with is overstaying its welcome.

However, I knew this was the first movie in a series and look forward to the X-Men 2 of Superman.

Reply

i liked superman returns quite a bit. true, not much action, but i think it set the tone for who superman is. he's not like us; he isn't human; and he shouldn't be treated as such. instead, he's a hero who represents all that can be good about man, who represents the bravest, the strongest, and the most righteous. superman is man's savior, and singer focused on that... and i liked it.

Reply

I'm excited to hear Singer's comments that the sequel will up the ante. The problem with Superman Returns was that the structure was way too similar to the original Superman: The Movie starring Christopher Reeve. Superman Returns had similar plot elements and, in some scenes, the exact same one-liners.

Visit http:framerate.blog.com

Reply

I realize to a large extent, we have to suspend disbelief when watching superhero movies. However, the whole "child of Supes" thing was totally uncalled for. And for the love of God, why didn't anyone care to ask where the hell Clark Kent was during Supes' hospital stay?

Routh was great, but Singer I could do without.

Reply

Our family thought it was good entertainment. Better than the X-men crap. Hello Superman 2.

Reply

My problem was the same as Clint's -- it paid too much homage to Donner, and assumed everyone watching it had already seen them countless times.

I think using Donner as a starting point was terrific, but then it needed to start fresh. When Superman returned to the Kent farm, he needed to remind himself (and us) who he was. That should have been a powerful moment and instead seemed like a footnote.

Singer forgot that there was a young audience out there who were seeing Superman for the first time. He needed to make the movie for them, and not to satisfy his own fanboy fiction. Of course, you want to give something new to Superman's established audience, but if you don't win over new fans, there won't BE an audience in the future.

Reply

I'm in the camp of people who liked it. Actually, I almost loved it. I thought it was a loving homage to the first two films and I thought Routh was great as superman... however, i'm cringing at the thought of a sequel. I'm just not thrilled with the idea of the superkid. Fine for a one off, like a movie version of an elseworld story but not something I want to revist.

Reply

Yes about the Donner homage. It's also as if Singer paid no attention to the fact that a tv show with a cult following (Smallville) has been updating the franchise vigorously for the past 6(?) seasons quite successfully. They manage to do it without that rediculous cape-and-tights outfit that was immediately passe after the Incredibles.

Reply

"From frame one, it will be unrelenting terror!" Nah, you are joking. You don't really mean it.

Still, It'll be fun to see that after going throught all the trouble of involving Superman in a "reconstituted" family situation, only to do the only obvious solution and end Jason and Lois' relation by killing Jason and having Clark and Lois form a "traditional" family in the end. Tsk, tsk tsk...

Reply

JB, you're kidding right. Smallville may have a following, but it's completely hokey and horrible and I don't know any real comic fans that appreciate the way they've turned Superman into Dawson's Creek. Tights were passe way before the Incredibles and while the Smallville creators were smart to ditch them, they weren't smart to create a show where a different superpowered person shows up every week in a town of 600 people and Clark somehow manages to accidentally come into contact with kryptonite just long enough to build the drama. The show may have improved since then for all I know, but I was done after the first couple of episodes.

As for the new movie, I agree with Batzarro about Singer's claims most likely being hyperbolic. It's like when a band is working on a new cd, they always say, "The new is album is really heavy" or "we're experimenting with a lot of different sounds and really evolving as a band" and it when you finally hear the new album, it sounds just like the old stuff.

Reply

Well I loved Superman Returns and watch it around once a month and I'm so glad Mr Singer has committed himself to the new one. I just love Superman. He's the coolest Superhero. As a kid, well I was a bit of a dreamer but I totally took on board Superman's morals, his sense of honour and Truth and Justice. The American way and the Australian way I thought then were interchangeable.

So how come no one has thought to do - maybe a trilogy based thematically on `Truth, Justice and the American Way'? When characters quote it in the movies they almost seem embarrassed to say it "Truth, justice ... all that stuff" - fair enough, but why?
I watch Smallville with my best mates family and his two young daughters love Superman and read my old comics.
They take on board what the man in blue stands for. I reckon that's mighty cool.
I dunno, I just think there needs to be a Superman movie where he does big spectacular stuff and some smaller stuff too. Though maybe a bit more than rescuing a cat from a tree and getting a little girl into trouble. (what a bitch her Mum was)

Reply

To me if they want to really make the next Superman great they need to have Lex Luthor as the U.S. President. We all know He gets into office Superman hates it Batman hates and Lex uses it as a way to do stuff so He can't get in trouble. Just the thought for a movie plot Superman can't lay a hand on him. So I would love to see that brought up in the movies.

Also I also want to see Brainiac. If Brainiac gets brought into the movie I hope they plan on blowing a lot of stuff up and making him really hard to bring down.

Darkseid also would be great. Smae can be said about Cyborg Superman.

But if they want to go all out throw in Doomsday. But I am not sure how they would bring him down seeing as every time He dies He comes back to life and the best part is He gets stronger too. So may be him for the Justice League movie instead.

As for the first thing I said I really would like to see Luthor as the President and in the end have to help superman stop Brainiac but if that was the way they would go it would have to be a two part story arc. Because you can't put him in office without letting him do what He set out to do first.

Plus there is different DC Universe too like in one of them Superman is a good guy but warped, there is a riot and people do not want to lose there jobs and the cops get called they call superman and He kills them. So He stoped the riot just the wrong way. In the end Batman make a weapon that takes away all his powers and He becomes a normal man.

So there is so many ideas I just hope they pick a Great one.

Reply

I didn't hate the movie...I didn't love the movie...I just couldn't wait for it to get interesting! I liked the fact they had those moments that echoed back t the past like the part where he sets the car down which is from the cover of action comics way back when. But the rest of the film felt stuck in another decade, at first I was thrilled that Kevin Spacey was Luthor but the character was just as overacted as the original. I'll bring up the elephant in the room which is batman begins, while it didn't gross as much as Superman the movie was just far more engaging. I hope they can do better for the sequel...alll I can say is at least they didn't use the original crap script that was published online couple years back.

Reply

I can't add much to all that's already been said and said so very well too. Having been wowed with Christopher Reeve, it's hard for me to get behind any other man of steel. The look was there but not the emotion. Reeve gave his Superman humor and therefore humanity as well. Homage I understand, but as Ms Rappe says herself, after 25 years you need to bring the thrill of Superman and all his history to a new younger generation instead of trying to only please the adult comic book audience with a pick up where we left off kind of thing.

Reply

I'm a die hard Superman fan so I enjoyed it. The film has its flaws, but there were some interesting things to it. I like the kid; he ups the ante so much more than any other Superman storyline. He's more vulnerable than he's ever been before. Vulnerability makes for conflict, hence drama. I agree to likening this installment to the first X-Men movie, good but not quite what I wanted. Singer hit a home run with X2. He had the characters introduced then went into building drama with action. I think his Superman sequel will do the same. Brainiac would be cool, that's for certain.

Reply

When this news was reported on AICN, the talkback basically sunk into a load of Homophobic and Xenephobic comments about how 'Gay' Bryan Singer is a bad person for being 'Gay' and leaving out the 'American Way' from Superman Returns. Which leads me to believe that most comic-book fans are complete idiots.

Reply