Superman Returns What Did Superman Returns Get Right?

[Lily Adler]

All I've been hearing is complaints and criticisms. I just want to hear what the film got right.

 

[Wesley Dodds]

Speaking for myself:

The Plane Scene. Best Supes action scene ever put on film.

Metropolis looked gorgeous, as did the cinematography.

Brandon and Spacey were perfectly cast. (They were just terribly served by a script that didnt understand the characters)

Aaaaaaaaannnnnnnd, yeah. That's all I could really get out of it...

 

[hopefuldreamer]

There are a few beautiful visual images, and I do like the plane scene and the 'bullet in the eye' bit.

Sam Huntington was a fun kind of Jimmy. James Marsden's character was likeable even tho his inclusion hindered the story.

I did like the bit on 'new krypton' when Lex stabbed Superman, whispering 'Now fly' into his ear. That felt like Lex.

That close up shot of BR's eyes when he wakes up on the farm (he has pretty eyes )

 

[BH/HHH]

It got quite a few things right in my opinion, the film is visually stunning and I loved the score (John Williams theme included).

The opening credits were superb, Metropolis looked amazing, Sam Huntington is my favourite live-action Jimmy Olsen, the scene where he lifts New Krypton is inspirational and when that score hits I get goosebumps, the scene where he saves Metropolis from the disasters and the 2nd best scene of the movie the elevator change.

The plane sequence is the stand out point, I still think this is the best scene I've watched in a movie, its so exciting.

 

[sf2]

off hand, i can think of a couple of things... the \S/ design is excellent. the sets are excellent, like daily planet, FOS, the ship, farm... and there are some iconic shots, the plane save, the car save, the globe save, the ship save... all are very cool.

 

[Lord]

what can i say?
That it was agood movie and so had more good thing than bad things

 

[El Payaso]

I only disliked the STM quotes and references, and Lex Luthor who should have been more serious. Also they should have explained better why Superman left and why didn't he say good-bye to Lois. Other than that I liked everything.

 

[Kal el]

The few heroic acts were spot on. They failed to do enough of that.

Plane Scene
Lifting the broken ship
Speeding car
Daily Planet Globe
The space scenes

All great stuff but the action was missing. No one expects this to be Batman smart movie. We all wanted the action scenes

 

[_Kal-El_]

There were enough powerful action scenes. The problem was that the filler in between took far too long. Excise all of that, and it works perfectly.

 

[Dr.]

What did Superman Returns get right?

I thought it was an interesting exploration of the “super hero paradigm.” Essentially, these figures can only exist in extreme or extraordinary contexts. Absent those contexts, there’s no role for them to play. So, by definition, the hero can’t have the normalcy that s/he fights to preserve for everyone else.

The first half of SR is about Superman’s desire for this normalcy. The second half is about accepting that he can’t have it. He embraces his place as the perpetual outsider. As the Hero, he must be the guardian of the thing that he can never have.

I wrote an essay about this theme.


http://www.eyesskyward.com/forum/showthread.php?1142-SR-A-Thematic-Analysis

 

[stargazer]

What did Superman Returns get right?

I thought it was an interesting exploration of the “super hero paradigm.” Essentially, these figures can only exist in extreme or extraordinary contexts. Absent those contexts, there’s no role for them to play. So, by definition, the hero can’t have the normalcy that s/he fights to preserve for everyone else.

The first half of SR is about Superman’s desire for this normalcy. The second half is about accepting that he can’t have it. He embraces his place as the perpetual outsider. As the Hero, he must be the guardian of the thing that he can never have.

I wrote an essay about this theme.


http://www.eyesskyward.com/forum/showthread.php?1142-SR-A-Thematic-Analysis

Very interesting, thanks for sharing!

 

[JaD]

I nejoyed a lot about SR (and I do have problems with it, don't worry )

But a few things for me personally that I particularly liked are;

Brandon Routh
Kevin Spacey
Plane sequence

Spoiler

Parker Posey
Clark finding out Lex got out of prison and nearly giving away his identity in the office (that look he gives Jimmy)
Superman's suit (although I am in the camp of thinking a bigger S would've worked and I never understood the cheesy S on the belt)
Painful Superman beatdown ("I'm still Superman!")

Spoiler

Clark at the farm (albeit short, great stuff)
The lifting of the boat I've always enjoyed

Spoiler

Supes flying sequence towards the end through the clouds (gorgeous, kind of thing you dream about)

Spoiler

 

[Micromind]

1. I thought that Brandon Routh as Clark Kent / Superman was perfect.

I particularly liked that Routh's Clark was not as clumsy Clark Kent who would draw all the attention towards himself, but a kind of fade into background so that no one notices him.

2. Spacey as Lex was a good choice, I wish they had a better story.

3. The Superman flying up to get a recharge in the Sun, is a great moment visually plus the plane rescue sequence and the bullet in the eye scene is great.

4. Sam Huntington as Jimmy Olsen was good.

5. I liked the fact that Singer finally showed us how the Crystals in Donner movies actually work (fictionally) to create space vehicles, Islands etc.

6. The Super Suit was good but needed a few modification here and there.

 

[November Rain]

they got brandon right and they updated the clark/superman personas really well

and they nailed that super save and fall from the sky

 

[KingKane88]

The special effects, not much more. What deeply bothered me was the kid, and the fact that sups seemed to get a bit jealous after finding out about Lois's man, so in return he starts spying on her in her own home!!! Creepy!!!!!

Where is this mans morals/ethics in this movie??? I lost a ton of respect for the Sups portrayed in this film, which is the exact opposite of what i should have felt leaving the theater the first time seeing this.

 

[MydnightPhoenix]

Best flying scenes I have ever seen in live action
Superman flying around and saving Metropolis
Flying through the fire
Lois saving Superman
Richard not being the stereotypical jerk to justify Lois leaving him for Superman
A beautiful flying scene between Superman*Lois, was even better than the one in Superman due to the long shots and no stupid inner voice over from Lois.
Great special effects
Superman falling to earth and making a huge hole in the park and the doctors rushing to save him.
Casting Brandon was a good idea, just too unfortunate he had absolutely nothing to do in the film.

 

[El Payaso]

Richard not being the stereotypical jerk to justify Lois leaving him for Superman

I was and am so thankful for this. Everybody was expecting the arrogant son of daddy for us to hate and to make Lois's decision an easy one. But this movie decided to go the opposite way and I'm glad they did.

 

[Nevaratoiel]

All the things mentioned above, hehehe :P

But seriously, I think Superman Returns got a lot of things right. Sure there were some lines taken from the Superman films with Christopher Reeve, and they didn't always have the same impact as when Reeve's Superman said it.

But to name a few:

Plane Scene
Lifting the broken ship
Scenes with Kitty
The layout of Metropolis/Daily Planet
Flying through fire
Superman saving Metropolis
Scene with Lex and Superman on New Krypton
Lois (and Richard) saving Superman
Flying scene with Superman and Lois

In overall I think the special effects were top notch, though in some you could see it was CGI (think when they show Brandon/Superman's face in CGI). I loved Brandon being cast as Superman (Kate Bosworth as Lois... not so much), still think he should do it again, but that's not going to happen. I loved him the most as Clark. Clark was well done.

And Kevin Spacey was superb. Sammy Huntington gave the movie a bit of humour, and Frank Langella was perfectly cast as Perry White. I thought it was great they made Richard White likeable (I've liked James Marsden since X-Men, and he was awesome in Enchanted).

What EtherMagic said about it being creepy that Superman 'spies' on Lois and Richard; Well, can you blame him. He finds out she's engaged to another man, has a child and doesn't want to have anything to do with Superman. I got the feeling he just wants to know where he stands in all this.

I think the film was great, but could've been better. I really enjoyed, even after the umpteenth time watching it.

 

[The Morningstar]

I think his power level was pretty spot on. Not stupid sneezing solar systems out of existence levels, and not severely depowered like the animated series.

Marsden was likeable.

Plane scene, and the cinematography in general.

That's it.

 

[Micromind]

The scene towards the end, where Sups talks to Jason in his room while Jason is sleeping was done very well, Brandon made it look good (IMO.), now Christopher Reeve was a good actor but I just cannot imagine him doing that scene that well.

 

[El Payaso]

The scene towards the end, where Sups talks to Jason in his room while Jason is sleeping was done very well, Brandon made it look good (IMO.), now Christopher Reeve was a good actor but I just cannot imagine him doing that scene that well.

I think exactly the same. That scene alone blew almost anything acting-wise I had seen in this franchise.

 

[Dozerman]

I loved the way superman flew to Lois on the roof. That is probably the best way Ive ever seen a anyone fly in a movie.

 

[AVEITWITHJAMON]

In all honesty there was a lot that Superman Returns got right, its a good movie that is flawed and so people focus on the flaws.

All the Superman save scene's were superb, but there was some great acting there as well, Brandon was awesome as Superman/Clark, and was pitch perfect in most scene's.

The line "You wrote that the world doesnt need a saviour, but everyday I hear people crying for one." was delivered perfectly, as was his speech to Jason at the end.

There were some great emotional moments in the movie as well, I still love it and still wish we would have gotten a sequel.

 

[MarvelKnight]

I thought Routh did a very commendable job as Superman. I thought they got that right..

Plane scene was good too.

Along with the speech to Jason while sleeping, I thought this was also spot. on: "I hear everything. You wrote that the world doesn't need a savior, but every day I hear people crying for one." the way he delivered it was great imho.

 

[MarvelKnight]

In all honesty there was a lot that Superman Returns got right, its a good movie that is flawed and so people focus on the flaws.

All the Superman save scene's were superb, but there was some great acting there as well, Brandon was awesome as Superman/Clark, and was pitch perfect in most scene's.

The line "You wrote that the world doesnt need a saviour, but everyday I hear people crying for one." was delivered perfectly, as was his speech to Jason at the end.

There were some great emotional moments in the movie as well, I still love it and still wish we would have gotten a sequel.

took the words right out of my mouth. Spot. On.