Looking over the posts, I agree with a lot of what dpm07 is saying.
I loved the Donner films, but I don't think that Singer should've tried to do a continuation. Outside of using the John Williams score, I think the film would've done better to reboot the franchise. Which is essentially what Nolan did with Batman Begins.
(Of course, I wish the Danny Elfman score had been kept for BB as well, even though it might not fit with the new sensibilities of the Nolan film. But I really loved that score.)
I think Singer attempted to take some chances and give Superman relevance for contemporary audiences, but his gambles didn't quite pay off. By closely emulating 20 year old films, Singer was already giving himself an extra burden in contemporizing the Superman story.
The Jason angle was intriguing, but could easily become an albatross if it is not handled correctly in other films. And I doubt that arc has been fully thought out like it should've been if you're going to radically alter the Superman story that way.
And the idea of Supes having a kid turned off as many people as it probably interested. The stalker thing definitely turned people off.
The emulation itself was half-done. If Superman promised to never leave Earth in Supes 2, then why did he go away for 5 years? Does Lois now remember her rendezvous with Clark/Superman in the Fortress from Superman 2? Why is Lex still obssessed with land-couldn't he adapt or come up with a new scheme in 5 years time? There was little natural progression for the Lex character, outside of getting a group of henchmen this time instead of just Otis and Miss Tessmacher.
All of the religious stuff should've been toned down as well. Superman has god-like powers, but he isn't a god. He is an alien. I think Smallville gets that better in how they portray Clark's isolation from humanity.
The casting itself was also largely weak. I didn't really care about any of these characters like I did for Blade/Whistler, Peter/MJ/Osbornes, Bruce Wayne, X-Men/Magneto, or even the FF.
Routh isn't Reeve, and it was a mistake to try to channel him. Singer should've left Routh to do his own take on Clark/Supes. However, Bosworth's tepid take on Lois left me wanting to see Margot Kidder.
SR is not a box office failure. It will make its money back, and probably do well in DVD sales. But I think the flat story doesn't warrant that many repeat viewings.
By grounding it in 'realism', there isn't a lot of Superman being super in the film for my tastes. Very little, outside of the plane rescue, that got my blood pumping.
What I hope is that SR makes enough money to warrant a sequel, but not so much that Singer won't be forced to reconsider the mistakes in the first movie and really knock it out of the park the next time.
I loved the Donner films, but I don't think that Singer should've tried to do a continuation. Outside of using the John Williams score, I think the film would've done better to reboot the franchise. Which is essentially what Nolan did with Batman Begins.
(Of course, I wish the Danny Elfman score had been kept for BB as well, even though it might not fit with the new sensibilities of the Nolan film. But I really loved that score.)
I think Singer attempted to take some chances and give Superman relevance for contemporary audiences, but his gambles didn't quite pay off. By closely emulating 20 year old films, Singer was already giving himself an extra burden in contemporizing the Superman story.
The Jason angle was intriguing, but could easily become an albatross if it is not handled correctly in other films. And I doubt that arc has been fully thought out like it should've been if you're going to radically alter the Superman story that way.
And the idea of Supes having a kid turned off as many people as it probably interested. The stalker thing definitely turned people off.
The emulation itself was half-done. If Superman promised to never leave Earth in Supes 2, then why did he go away for 5 years? Does Lois now remember her rendezvous with Clark/Superman in the Fortress from Superman 2? Why is Lex still obssessed with land-couldn't he adapt or come up with a new scheme in 5 years time? There was little natural progression for the Lex character, outside of getting a group of henchmen this time instead of just Otis and Miss Tessmacher.
All of the religious stuff should've been toned down as well. Superman has god-like powers, but he isn't a god. He is an alien. I think Smallville gets that better in how they portray Clark's isolation from humanity.
The casting itself was also largely weak. I didn't really care about any of these characters like I did for Blade/Whistler, Peter/MJ/Osbornes, Bruce Wayne, X-Men/Magneto, or even the FF.
Routh isn't Reeve, and it was a mistake to try to channel him. Singer should've left Routh to do his own take on Clark/Supes. However, Bosworth's tepid take on Lois left me wanting to see Margot Kidder.
SR is not a box office failure. It will make its money back, and probably do well in DVD sales. But I think the flat story doesn't warrant that many repeat viewings.
By grounding it in 'realism', there isn't a lot of Superman being super in the film for my tastes. Very little, outside of the plane rescue, that got my blood pumping.
What I hope is that SR makes enough money to warrant a sequel, but not so much that Singer won't be forced to reconsider the mistakes in the first movie and really knock it out of the park the next time.
