DId Superman Returns get the ultimate mixed reception?

[DACrowe]

Indeed but I mean, mostly when a superhero movie opens, even the "grey" ones if not downright bad (like Daredevil and Fantastic Four) see mostly positive feeback due to the hype in the first few months. X3 was a downright war, I admit I was an aysayer but there were long threads about "Who is to blame" I remember and it seemed mostly negative to me. That is a fair sign too that this movie will not age well. I mean if people loved X2 and Spider-Man 2 (and 1 for that matter) on release but ***** now, my guess is it will be even bleaker for X3.

But I never liked it though.

 

[Furious Styles]

As somewhat of an outsider "looking in," the reception looked pretty lukewarm, if not unfavourable. I don't really pretend to know about who wanted what (ie. reboot or Smallville: The Movie) or what went wrong, however, I did notice the growing rift between fans. And if you're hardcore audience is torn, it doesn't bode well for the general audience.

To me, right or wrong, the Superman films have always been about John Williams' theme blaring in the background and Christopher Reeve flying across the screen smiling. But most importantly, leaving the film feeling invigorated, alive, happy, feeling good about yourself! That may seem simplistic and even
downright pathetic, but I truly believe that was the underlying cause of the series' success. You finish watching the film and you can't help but smile!

Now, I don't know for what reason, but I just know alot of people didn't leave that theatre feeling happy and smiling. Alot of them left dissapointed, so I guess what they thought they would get didn't end up being what they got....

 

[AVEITWITHJAMON]

How is that possible... The movie is retreading the original in almost every scene right down to the opening credits, krypton's explosion, brando's return, lex's plan, and some of the dialogue. If you didn't like the original, there's not much to hold on to your interest here in this love letter to it, unless you're a fan of Jason Like me.

Well, i know find the originals incredibly corny, especially the 2nd one, but for me SR just updated all of the corny elements into a more modern story, and i just loved it.

AND it was A LOT better than X3

 

[Spider-Fan]

I personally didn't like the movie. I thought that it had a great concept, but it was poorly executed. That is at least why I didn't like it, and going into the theater I thought it would be great. I agree with the movies mixed reaction. When I left the theater, I heard most of the people saying it was mediocre. On this forum, every thread becomes a war of why it was great or why it sucked.

 

[Red]

To be honest, I never bothered seeing Superman Returns, is it worth it?

Nope.

 

[NHawk19]

SR had its problems there's no doubt about that, but when you figure the people driving the BO are mainly kids and teenagers who are to young to even remember Donner's films, it's not hard to see why people would feel lost at the onset.

Then couple it with a story line that adds a character that has never before been seen and IMHO was poorly executed, then subtract most of the action and you're back to SR. It wasnt the type of thing people wanted to see

 

[ChrisBaleBatman]

I think SUPERMAN RETURNS was ballsy. Giving Superman a son, making Lois a MILF......stuff like that is kinda what makes it an easy target. It's just stuff fans, and non-comic fans, just aren't used to....so there's no actual set way to respond. Since it's different, it's easy to hate for some.

I think there were other things too, that affected the reaction to the film. But, I think the fact that it's not as close to the source material is the main reason, really.

 

[TheVileOne]

What happened to King Kong happened to Superman Returns.

 

[NosferatuMD]

Can someone please explain to me, as if i were 2yrs old, why is everyone so negative about the movie? All im seeing is basically the fact that anyone with a negative review didnt go into the movie with an open mind, which I sometimes do. They seem to have expectation, and no matter what their expectations were, if they where not met, the movie sucked for them. Im tired of people saying its too much like the old movies. Anyone who has done half assed research would know that that was the entire point. The director wanted to stay as close to the 1st few Superman movies made as possible. Why is that a bad thing? Also, I keep reading reviews with complaints about the super suit. "the S is too small, the boots are too low, the red is too dark" so f'n what!!!! Anyone who has follow the superman legacy would know that the suit has changed a little since superman was conceived. Change isnt always good, but the suits new look shouldnt be a reason to hate an entire movie. As far as the comparassing to other movies, if you dont think that the visual effects in SR are far superior to the older superman movies, and on board with recent comic book conversion movies, then your expectations are unrealistic. Im really curious, besides the fact that the movie had places where it dragged along, what was so bad about it? Can anyone give me a detailed explaination with valid points for why the movie was bad? I dont wanna hear anything about the fact that they didnt show more about Clark growing up on the farm. the title is "Superman Returns". you would have to know the focus would be on him coming back, or picking up where the saga left off. I thought the action sequences where spectacular.

 

[Darth Elektra]

I never liked the original ones but I did like this one.

 

[Mike059jig]

The review thread shows that a ton of people liked it on this board...seems like is a small minority saying the same thing over and over I guess

 

[AVEITWITHJAMON]

Can someone please explain to me, as if i were 2yrs old, why is everyone so negative about the movie? All im seeing is basically the fact that anyone with a negative review didnt go into the movie with an open mind, which I sometimes do. They seem to have expectation, and no matter what their expectations were, if they where not met, the movie sucked for them. Im tired of people saying its too much like the old movies. Anyone who has done half assed research would know that that was the entire point. The director wanted to stay as close to the 1st few Superman movies made as possible. Why is that a bad thing? Also, I keep reading reviews with complaints about the super suit. "the S is too small, the boots are too low, the red is too dark" so f'n what!!!! Anyone who has follow the superman legacy would know that the suit has changed a little since superman was conceived. Change isnt always good, but the suits new look shouldnt be a reason to hate an entire movie. As far as the comparassing to other movies, if you dont think that the visual effects in SR are far superior to the older superman movies, and on board with recent comic book conversion movies, then your expectations are unrealistic. Im really curious, besides the fact that the movie had places where it dragged along, what was so bad about it? Can anyone give me a detailed explaination with valid points for why the movie was bad? I dont wanna hear anything about the fact that they didnt show more about Clark growing up on the farm. the title is "Superman Returns". you would have to know the focus would be on him coming back, or picking up where the saga left off. I thought the action sequences where spectacular.

Well i would like that also, most of the reasons i have heard for people disliking SR have been ridiculous IMO. "He's a peeping tom!" "He's got an illegitemite child!" "What he did to Lois could be considered rape!" Honestly, these have been reasons for people disliking the movie on the SR forums and its a joke IMO.

Personally i LOVE the movie, i have seen it 5 times, and have loved it more each time.

 

[KenK]

Theres alot of truth in that, but I think the majority of the people who b*tch about SR are people who wanted a reboot, or a SR movie that was completely fresh, and with it's own originality rather than stick with the Donner-verse. Unfortunately for alot of us out there, SR was anything but inspiring.

The Donner-verse is cool and all, but I personally dont consider it anything remarkably special. And I damn sure dont consider S:TM to be THE Superman movie. Same goes for the Burton-verse with Batman. Both interpretations are not without flaws, but thankfully Nolan tried something completely new, and original. I really didnt get this from SR, but I am happy some people were able to enjoy it. I just wasnt one of them.

That about nails it for me. Also consider the fact that Superman has far more incarnations through television that have filled the gap between the last Superman film with Christopher Reeve and Superman Returns. In the case of Batman, we've pretty much just had the Timm/Dini animated series and its collection of spin-offs. In the case of Superman, we've had three separate live-action series that all hade runs of four seasons or more, Smallville going into its sixth, the short-lived CBS cartoon and the Timm/Dini Superman animated series. Each of them dealing with the character in different ways. For Superman Returns to do nothing more than emulate the first Donner film, it was disappointing to many, including myself.