I must say, this is shaping up to be the Superman movie I have always wanted. For the most part anyway.
I was actually iffy about Nolan being involved at first. And not because I doubt his ability in the slightest, he is the best director/visionary that has burst on the scene in the last ten decade. And he followed the pattern I would use as a director, he made two low-key films with quality in Memento and Insomnia. Those movies earned him respect and then BOOM, he takes over the franchise of an iconic character like Batman and shoots to the top. Nolan is great storyteller and has excellent casting ability. I know he gets **** for not being good at portraying females and casting Kate Holmes in Batman Begins. Casting Holmes was HIS idea, Nolan said early in the production of Batman Begins that he wrote Rachel Dawes with Katie Holmes in mind and picked her over Natalie Portman and Sarah Michelle Gellar. But hell, I don't think Holmes did that bad of a job. Holmes just got hate for being a former WB teeny bopper actress and the Tom Cruise fiasco. It was kinda unfair.
ANYWAY, back to being concerned with Nolan working on Superman. I was concerned because Nolan has stated his love for Superman: The Movie and having used that as a model for Batman Begins. That scared me because I had Bryan Singer flashbacks. But with the addition of Goyer, mentioning Byrne's Man Of Steel as the story template, and promising an original Superman movie washed away my worry quickly.
I feel like the WB is has finally listened to me telepathically, starting with the casting of Henry Cavill. Cavill is the closest thing to Superman's version of Bale and Batman in terms of fanboy's crying for him to be cast, myself being one of them since 2005. And then the casting has been awesome. Adams, Crowe, Costner, Diane Lane, up and coming Michael Shannon, and Fishbourne have been genius. Thats an all-star cast, just as big as Begins.
Yes, their have been alot of re-writes. Most of the time that is not good. But with this Superman script, I think they are having re-writes to try and make it as good as possible. Everyone knows this movie cannot be allowed to fail and the re-writes are being done to prevent that as much as it they can. Goyer is a wonderful overarching story writer and Jonah Nolan shares DNA with Chris Nolan. So thats good. And I don't think the script could be weak to begin with. Some of these actors wouldn't have joined the cast if the script was weak to begin with. I know Russell Crowe wouldn't, though he is a huge fan of Superman. Remember, back around Gladiator Crowe sought out to play Superman, only to think the script was horrible and walking. So the script has to be good for Crowe to join. Costner has been a great performer even though he has starred in dreck. But he has been in hiding lately only to come out of hibernation for this movie. Same with Diane Lane. Amy Adams appeared in crap once upon a time, but she has gained respect over time and won an oscar. You might think that would have ruled her out of acting in comic book films without a great script. And we have two up and and coming actors in Cavill and Shannon.
I love the suit. I have pushed for more of a uniform look with the suit, with no red undies. Listen, the red undies look so corny in live action and that is a stigma Superman needs to escape. To hell with looking exactly like the comic book design. I don't see Batman wearing a grey suit with black undies when in live action and the people who want Batman like that are completely ignorant fanboys of the 9th degree. This is a modernizing move with Superman.
Now, I do have worries about this movie. Real worries. One, is General Zod going to come across being played out as the villian, which means Shannon needs to nail the part. Two, despite the great writers and casting list I still have one issue, that being Zack Snyder's direction. I don't know if Snyder can portray the character stories while being all about the stylish CGI. Be more realistic, like Batman Begins. None of that bee bop bamboozled Marvel stuff. I still wish Jonathan Liebsmann or Matt Reeves were directing, though I am rooting for Snyder at this point. Superman cannot be allowed to fail with this last chance.
