Superman Returns What Purpose Did Clark Serve in SR?

[Zor-El]

my biggest problem with the secret identity in Superman Returns can be summed up in one line, "You're Lois Lane. They'll let you in." And sure enough, out of all the reporters and well-wishers, she's let into the hospital, presumably due to her relationship with Superman. But if the public knows that Superman and Lois are close, what's the point of a secret identity? Like most of you guys, I want to see a more purposeful Clark in the future... beyond just making it seem like he and Superman are separate people.

 

[daywalker2007]

clark didn't serve any purpose at all in superman returns.
if you cut all the scenes out, the movie would still be the same, except shorter and straight to the point

most of the scenes were poor, in particular the "swell" remark was quite stupid and not funny.

On top of that, Routh barely had less than a few lines as Clark,

and then Singer added a pointless flashback scene which served absolutely no purpose to the story whatsoever

Poorly edited, although maybe John ottman is to blame for that also.

It was a waste of the character.

Compare it to the Clark in superman the movie or superman 2 ,
you see much more interaction with Clark, Lois, Jimmy and Perry.

In Superman returns, we get a story that it is prolonged by more than 45 minutes for no apparent reason.

WB should have cut out approximately 30 to 40 minutes out of the movie.
They were mostly pointless scenes nothing to do with the plot.

All in all, Kitty's dogs served more purpose than Clark in this movie.

That tells you something.

 

[daywalker2007]

This works out beautifully because Clark's Superman personality tends to sometimes come out of Metropolis Clark Kent too; especially in front of Jimmy (who doesnt know Superman closely).

Lois knows Superman intimately but doesnt know barely anything about Metropolis Clark, he doesnt stand out to her.

Lex knows Superman intimately but has never even met Clark Kent (in both forms).

So this 3-way method of dealing with his identity works out believeably in this context.

What Singer needs to do for the future films is to throw more of a central focus to the real Clark. Hes essentially the guy who plays the two exaggerations of Metopolis Clark and Superman.

I dont consider Superman to be the real person becuase in the deleted Smallville scenes there seemed to be some debate with farmboy Clark as to whether he should even go back to Metropolis and be 'Superman' or stay on the farm.

Clearly 'Superman' is something he does, Kansas Clark is who he is. The greatest irony of all this is neither Lois, Jason, Jimmy, Perry or Richard know his true personality. Thats one of the more interesting facets of the character.

some of you people really like to talk a lot of rubbish and over analyse and try to make excuses for the movie.

This movie sucked hard and the scenes of clark were basically useless and added no character development, neither did they contribute to the plot.

It was a waste of time.

Routh barely had any lines as Clark, yet some of you come to the conclusion that Routh's Clark was so good.

Bollocks.

less than 15 minutes screen time with useless dialogue hardly makes Routh's clark a good one.

The whole issue stunk. At least Donner got it right by giving Clark proper dialogue and scenes.

All singer did was dress up routh in a suit, make him look like Reeve's kent,
spout out a few one liners, and then come out with the stupid "Swell" remark which so pathetic it actually is beyond belief.

And what did we see of the so called "clark of smallville".
Absolutely nothing, a couple of lines with Martha kent,
him watching the tv and making excruiating faces which lacked any talent.

Then having a pointless flashback scene.

The whole scenes of Martha kent and Clark should have been cut also, as they were completely useless.

Singer doesn't even know how to tell a story.

He truly lost his marbles as Clark served no purpose in this movie.
Cut out all of clark scenes and it wouldn't make a difference to the movie quality other than cut down the runtime.

 

[matthooper]

I went to go to the bathroom and I missed Clark entirely.


Singer was overheard at the premiere saying..."Wait, who is Clark Kent?"

 

[Dr. Fate]

I agree on the George Reeves version, and the whole tone of the show as an example of the proper use of the character(Superman),
but the mild mannered reporter on the Daily Planet staff is definitely a disguise.

The problem is that people are splitting the caharacter into seperate identities. It's really not that complicated. He is always the same man, who wears functional disguises, or uniforms if you will. Much the same as Bruce Wayne will disguise himself as Matches Malone, but no one would ever suggest that Matches Malone is the "real man".

At the time of the creation of the character a major metropolitan newspaper was the cream of the crop at gathering news and information quickly, hence the mild mannered reporter disguise at the Daily Planet allowed him to learn quickly of the need for Superman. His role as a reporter also allows him to investigate and gather info.

Agreed.

 

[AVEITWITHJAMON]

some of you people really like to talk a lot of rubbish and over analyse and try to make excuses for the movie.

This movie sucked hard and the scenes of clark were basically useless and added no character development, neither did they contribute to the plot.

It was a waste of time.

Routh barely had any lines as Clark, yet some of you come to the conclusion that Routh's Clark was so good.

Bollocks.

less than 15 minutes screen time with useless dialogue hardly makes Routh's clark a good one.

The whole issue stunk. At least Donner got it right by giving Clark proper dialogue and scenes.

All singer did was dress up routh in a suit, make him look like Reeve's kent,
spout out a few one liners, and then come out with the stupid "Swell" remark which so pathetic it actually is beyond belief.

And what did we see of the so called "clark of smallville".
Absolutely nothing, a couple of lines with Martha kent,
him watching the tv and making excruiating faces which lacked any talent.

Then having a pointless flashback scene.

The whole scenes of Martha kent and Clark should have been cut also, as they were completely useless.

Singer doesn't even know how to tell a story.

He truly lost his marbles as Clark served no purpose in this movie.
Cut out all of clark scenes and it wouldn't make a difference to the movie quality other than cut down the runtime.

No, what you've just written is bollocks, why would i make excuses about a movie on a character i never even liked before seeing it? SR MADE me a Superman fan, nothing else, amd i'm not making excuses when i say that Clark was far from useless in this movie. If it wasnt for Clark in SR, Superman wouldnt have met or been able to have conversations with Jason and Richard, and he wouldnt have found out Lex was out of prison or that Lois was missing. He did all this and more and yet people still say he was useless .

 

[FlawlessVictory]

If it wasnt for Clark in SR, Superman wouldnt have met or been able to have conversations with Jason and Richard,

Conversations with Jason and Richard? Clark said like two words to them.

and he wouldnt have found out Lex was out of prison

Finding out Lex was out of prison didn't do much to prevent Lex's plan from starting anyway. It's not like as soon Clark found this out piece of info he was able to prevent Lex from starting NK. So Clark finding out this info was irrelevant. He could have just as easily found out Lex was out of prison when he lands on NK and confronts Lex.

or that Lois was missing.

I'll give you that.

He did all this and more and yet people still say he was useless .

I liked that this Clark was not as dorky as Chris Reeve's was. That was just too over the top. What I don't like is when the audience is made to feel bad that Lois doesn't pay attention to Clark Kent. Why should we care? Clark Kent is not who he really is anyway. He or we shouldn't care that Lois doesn't spend more time with him because he is just a front. I just don't understand if we are supposed to sympathize with this Clark Kent character at all(being that he is not real). It's a strange set up in these movies.

 

[Justice Bringer]

Its because she hated Superman at the time, 'Clark Kent' was all he could use to reach out to her.

 

[AVEITWITHJAMON]

Conversations with Jason and Richard? Clark said like two words to them.

He still spoke to them and met them, finding out Richard wasnt an ******* and that Jason is very smart, which he wouldnt have done as Superman.

Finding out Lex was out of prison didn't do much to prevent Lex's plan from starting anyway. It's not like as soon Clark found this out piece of info he was able to prevent Lex from starting NK. So Clark finding out this info was irrelevant. He could have just as easily found out Lex was out of prison when he lands on NK and confronts Lex.

But it meant he immediatly knew who it was and what they had done, dont forget after finding out Lex was free he went to the fortress, were he found the crystals missing.

I'll give you that.



I liked that this Clark was not as dorky as Chris Reeve's was. That was just too over the top. What I don't like is when the audience is made to feel bad that Lois doesn't pay attention to Clark Kent. Why should we care? Clark Kent is not who he really is anyway. He or we shouldn't care that Lois doesn't spend more time with him because he is just a front. I just don't understand if we are supposed to sympathize with this Clark Kent character at all(being that he is not real). It's a strange set up in these movies.

He isnt just a front, there are parts of the real person there, and i think this Clark is closer to real person than Superman is.

Its because she hated Superman at the time, 'Clark Kent' was all he could use to reach out to her.

Exactly.