This article is a few months old but I stumbled upon it a little while ago and thought it was very interesting, and with a Zack Snyder directed Superman looming it's also doubly interesting, considering the direction he's likely to take his film in.
It's an interview with Bryan Singer about the film 'Superman Returns' which he directed. The film opened to good reviews and overall earned over a $150 million in profit. Yet its performance was considered 'disappointing'. I haven't seen the film, so I cant offer my thoughts directly but would be interested to know what people who have seen the film think of this article. I find it odd and ever so slightly sad that as the director with an obviously a clear vision and a love of he subject matter would say such things. Choice quotes:
"I think that Superman Returns was a bit nostalgic and romantic, and I don't think that was what people were expecting, especially in the summer,"
"What I had noticed is that there weren't a lot of women lining up to see a comic book movie, but they were going to line up to see The Devil Wears Prada, which may have been something I wanted to address. But when you're making a movie, you're not thinking about that stuff, you're thinking, 'Wow, I want to make a romantic movie that harkens back to the Richard Donner movie that I loved so much.' And that's what I did."
Singer said if he were to take on another Superman film, he would do a reboot of the franchise by remaking the original and would make it a more "balls-to-the-wall action movie" with a different pace from Superman Returns.
"There are a bunch of movies I've made where I'm, like, 'Yuck, that was weak' or 'That could've been better,' and I can see why. But with Superman Returns. ... If I could go back, I would have tightened the first act."
http://www.hollywoodreporter.com/heat-vision/bryan-singer-why-superman-returns-179292
I really enjoyed Superman Returns because it was so nostalgic and romantic. I think it was refreshing to see a superhero film where any action in it is part of the plot rather than just gratuitous.
ReplyDeleteIt was probably a bit soul crushing for him when he made the film with so much heart but people didn't really give it much thought. It's sad to hear his thoughts on it.
The point about Superman Returns is that you had to absolutely love and admire the original 2 movies; you had to have missed Christopher Reeve, been moved by his death. Even the score, which interpolates the original love theme to great effect, relies on the fact that for some (for me), Williams' score is the pure stuff of childhood yearning and nostalgia. Personally, the bum notes in the film were all about the casting: I hated Kate Bosworth's Lois Lane, who lacked the rasp of Margot Kidder (Courtney Cox would have been perfect, had she not been too old at time of filming), and I hated the casting of the little boy - his appearance, I mean. That said, when I first saw Superman Returns at Vue in Islington - as soon as the opening credits began, I actually started to cry a little bit; a pure, unadulterated rush of feeling - for the past, for my youth, and for Superman - perhaps the most square, un-rebootable of super heroes - because, basically, he's good, and principled and decent. I found the film to be a very personal experience; I loved the time it took to re-establish him. Maybe the action sequences do lack a bit of 'more, and more, and more', but my focus was always on the emotional stuff. I can well imagine why many teenagers just thought 'so what?' and why the critics enjoyed it - I just think you had to be at least as old as me to get the most from a movie that treated itself as a kind of 'lost relic' - the third part of a trilogy of films. Anyway, that's probably enough from this misty-eyed, born in 1975 nostalgia-junkie!
ReplyDeleteoh - and the whole idea of Zack 'Hack' Snyder rebooting the franchise hurts my soul... I think the other fascinating aspect of Superman Returns is how it sits as a 'post 9/11' movie; indeed, arguably, the whole idea of Superman's absence in the film and the way he has to re-validate his role resonates with the idea of wounded, embattled and insecure superpower:
ReplyDelete"Superman’s return from his five year hiatus is a key theme in the movie. Disappearing from the world without so much as saying good-bye, Superman’s return is met with mixed emotions, particularly by one Lois Lane who has since married and formed a family. In fact, Lane is set to receive a Pulitzer Prize for a shocking editorial titled, “Why the World Doesn’t Need Superman.” Lane and the inhabitants of Earth, it would seem, have come to grips with Superman’s absence and have learned to cope without their savior; indeed, Lane’s bitter piece was fueled by an existentialist sense of unfair abandonment and could have very well been titled, “Why the World Doesn’t Need God.”
At first I was puzzled by the script writer’s decision to have Superman gone for so long, but the reason eventually dawned on me. Five years. Not an arbitrary number when you realize that we are quickly approaching the five year anniversary of 9/11. Like the arrival of the extraterrestrials in The Day the Earth Stood Still, Superman’s return is a quasi-messianic example of wish fulfillment in popular culture. Five years after 9/11, and deeply intertwined in the so-called war on terror, Americans are most assuredly looking to the sky for help..."
from http://ieet.org/index.php/IEET/more/dvorsky20060703
I agree! I died a bit inside when I discovered Zac Snyder was taking it on and here's the first image of his superman: http://www.empireonline.com/gallery/image.asp?id=53624&caption=&gallery=3345. I don't understand why he looks so dirty, mean and angry!
ReplyDeleteAlso, that article is really interesting. I felt he was a little harsh at the end but I've never thought about the film as a metaphor for the helplessness that the west is feeling and their need for rescue from something more powerful.
I should probably go and watch the original films now though, you know, as research or something :D
yeah - I didn't agree with all the sentiment in the critique either. Also, yes, I INSIST you watch Superman as important CGAA-based research...
ReplyDeleteThis is so funny! I recently moved back to Roch and the first thing I watched was Superman. I am a massive fan of the originals and Donner's movie is probably the reason why I got into films in the first place. I "believed a man could fly".
ReplyDeleteMolly I have the ultimate superman collection, it pretty much has every superman movie and spin off, even includes Richard Donner's cut of Superman 2 with restored footage and the Max Fleischer cartoons etc etc. If you wanna borrow it let me know.
I haven't read the critique yet, (i really need to get on with my work), but i totally agree with your comments. Not sure about Courteny Cox though. I did enjoy Superman Returns but there is something wrong with it and i can't place my finger on it, i wasn't 100% satisfied.
Routh nailed his performance as Supes / Clark Kent. The first time i saw it there were times i thought I was watching the late, great Christopher Reeve. I agree Kate Bosworth didn't show enough tenacity as Lois lane. Don't get me started on her annoying kid.
It's interesting Singer said he would have tightened the first act. The film could easily have been called Lex Luther Returns. I do remember seeing deleted scenes on youtube that delves deeper into Superman's disappearance and wish it would have made it into the film.
SR is a love letter to Donner's original and it get's plus marks from me for certain things like including Marlon Brando as Jor-El and John Williams original score to name a few. Like Phil it was emotional for me too, especially when Superman is getting battered by Luther and his thugs near the end. I remember thinking my childhood hero is getting beaten and almost shouted "leave him alone" in the cinema!
Of course there are comparisons to Superman being a Jesus like Messiah and I rolled my eyes at reviews talking about Superman being a stalker. i didn't know or care about this when i was a kid and I didn't going in to see this film. I just wanted to see Superman fly again! But like I said, i wasn't 100% satisfied. I also think that Singers target audience was pretty much reduced to fans of the originals because teenager know Superman as Tom Welling from Smallville.
I am nervous about Zack "slo-mo" Snyders' Man of Steel, the only good thing I've heard is I think Christopher Nolan is Producing? Hopefully he will keep him in check.