Desk said:
Really? Superman fans don't also make up part of the general movie-going public?
Sigh.
That may be true, but I'm sure they would have been a lot less unhappy had Singer decided not to include some of the elements he chose to.
You're talking about making a movie against the mediocre average of the masses' tastes. This cannot be done.
There would certainly have been a lot less division and discontent on these forums had he not felt the need to introduce "Jason." Was Singer incapable of telling a story without introducing this controversial new addition to the Superman mythos, or was he simply oblivious to how widely divisive and controversial this new element would prove?
How about he decided to introduce elements that reflect the real world in which Superman will have to find and introduce himself? To simply tell the same old tell is redundant and old and sad. It's ironic that fans like you will lamblast Singer for using the "same old formula from STM" while also expressing massive anger over Singer introducing the elements into Lois Lane, which by your own admissions completely alters the traditional Superman tale you originally lamblast Singer for relying on...it makes no sense in this way.
Again, you're talking about Singer forfeiting his creative vision to you and other fans like you. This isn't how you make a film. Look at X3, where the vision wasn't forfeited as much as the fanaticism expressed was reflected in Brett Ratner, who going off of fan whining, jammed Sentinels, Angel, Beast into a film too small, too budeted, and too constrained by studio to really deal with them all properly and fully. You got exactly what opinions like yours are: generic, substanceless fluff that looks pretty but that upon closer examination, sinks.
Singer's a director, he's a creator, he's a storyteller. He's not a servant to the fanatic sentiment.
He's allowed to dress Superman up as Ghengis Khan and have him ride around on a robotic pony if he likes. Doesn't mean I have to accept that he's doing justice to the character, though, or that he's satisfying mine and others' expectations.
You presume he has to satisfy you. You assume you have ownership over this character. You don 't. WB does. And they have chosen Bryan Singer to guide it. Also, realize, your expectations may be confused.
In the end it's all down to personal, objective "opinion," isn't it? Mine is that he isn't being respectful of the source material, and would have been better advised to create his own original character if he wanted to tell this tale, rather than subvert a popular existing one.
Subvert? Singer has undermined, corrupted, or totally ruined Superman? Have you 1) seen the finnished product or 2) heard any of the interviews, seen any of the trailers? He's pushing Superman into a new generation. Generation's change -- deal with it. Superman is a reflection that cannot be tied down to one single set of moral values. And that's what we're talking aout here? -- the most subjective of all things? Morals. Morals.
Singer is telling a good story -- not one confined by the narrow, outdated, and idealized and overly-sentimental values of a bygone age. Most great literature, film, and music has had to break the mold. If the collateral damage of such a historical trend is you -- so be it. I'd say in that case, none gained, and certainly none lossed in respect to your sacrifce.
Comics of the 1950s and the 1970s. Is Superman Returns faithful to today's comics, which are the result of thirty years of development? No. I don't even feel that Singer is being particularly respectful of the original TV series and Superman: The Movie which he claims to have based this film on. I'm a big fan of Superman: The Movie - saw it when it cinemas when it came out - but I find myself objecting to the notion that Singer's film is some sort of supposed continuation when it takes its characters and stories in such awful, disrespectful directions.
Again your trying to inject a moral argument into a cinematic character that you do not own. You cannot expect your morals to be replicated in everything you like and see. Life is life -- stories about real people in real situations. Films are about real people. Superman is being realized as a real pwerson, with real human feelings. What better way to do that then see the flaws. Singer isn't using moral ideas to hide the reality of what we all as human beings face -- the complex, flawed, and tempting confusion that life can become sometimes. No. He's opening it up and showing how an inspirational figure can walk among us, be like us, feel like us, and still adhere to a sort of code that is fair and attainable for all people -- in a fair way that still respects them as individuals.
You want a Shake-n-Bake Superman, with Lois Lane's only dialogue being squeals when her typical "womanhood" gets her in trouble. The world, thank God, has moved on since then. Unlike Superman, you cannot turn back the world.
My issue is that Singer is presenting a take on Superman that I am unable to reconcile with any common depiction of the character...
Then that is your problem, not ours or Singer's or this board. Unable or unwilling by the way or two different things. You are the architect of your own skewed, false, and glossed-over nostalgia which is leading to your fast stubborness.
You have a "Superman" wearing dull, dingy colours, which seems to entirely miss the point of the notion that he's supposed to be bold, bright, confident, eye-catching beacon of hope for humanity.
He's regal looking. He's powerful looking. And his actions are what make him a beacon of hope -- not the superficial and simple look of his colors. Please.
You have a "Superman" who willingly abandons his "Neverending Battle" for a five-year personal sojourn back to the ruins of Krypton.
Yes, You have a man whos never met his mother or father, who wonders where he's from, who thinks about himself every once and a while. You are the perfect compnent of what Singer's trying to show. Which is that people view Superman in this easy, idealistic, almost selfish way, and how that must affect him is horrendous. Perhaps you are uncomfortble seeing the selfish, unreasonable expectations people have of Superman? Until you have been adopted, do not criticize one's need to satisfy a biological curiosity that you take for so much granted.
You have a "Superman" who fathers an illegitimate kid, and was then absent while it was raised as another man's son.
Unintentionally and in different circumstnaces that your narrow, constrained moral values do not account for. Superman and Lois were finally discovering who he was, he was sacrificing his powers, they had an entire time of expectaitons, curiosity, and love satisfied when he did that, and they had no idea where they were going, how this would work, or how he would react, but were touched by an action -- him sacrificing his powers (and thus his mission on Earth which you seem to havve no problem with) -- to be with Lois. So, forsake your messianic birthright or give a ring -- which one is the better proposal for marriage and utter love?
I dont think the Bible or social morals take into account super-powered aliens who fall in love with humans.
You have a "Superman" who mopes around after Lois Lane, and then uses his powers to spy on her and her family in their house.
Wa! Wa! He's flawed. We all have flaws. When we are denied,w hen we are in love, we do things that border on the obssessed. Stop being so uncomfortable with something that is inherently human to do -- and thus Superman doing it is so much more reveling and dramatic. We've always been on the ground, looking up at him in our awe and glory. Now, we are on the otherside of the looking glass, feeling and seeing his character and wait.
Meanwhile, we have Clark Kent as a unbelievable, clumsy, Inspector Clousea-style bungler and a Lex Luthor who is a camp, corny pantomime villain who marries old women for their money. These aren't common depictions of these characters - they're exclusive to the films originated by Richard Donner.
And compared to what the comics were at that time, Donner's films revolutionzied and treated Superman in a way that even current comics fail to treat him. Respectfully and as a serious character. Luthor so far has come off as competely psychotic and dynamic, cruel and humorous, cunning and evil. his actions define the evil and insanity of his character. Where you see camp, I see great characterization. But, I don't know, maybe your bias or something before you een got to this point.
You don't "have to" do anything. If Singer is as skilled a movie-maker as many would have you believe he would be able to craft an entertaining, respectful "must-see" Superman film at least partly inspired by modern day comics, cartoons, and live-action TV series such as Lois & Clark and Smallville.
So again, you want a retread. Sad. Pathetic. How unoriginal, but what can I expect from someone who's going to reiterate tired and old moral values on a comic book character.
Hope you enjoy it. I won't be seeing it.
Good. Are we suppose to be sad? Could you do us a favor and apply the same boycott to these boards?