Superman is the toughest Superhero to make a good movie from.
Reeve simply made the role his own and even the comics started emulating his look. The facial structure of Superman is iconic and if the guy who plays him looks less than olympian perfect, it looks like a dork in tights with too much hairgel and a cowlick (Superman Returns).
Superman is also difficult to really convey in a movie and his villains have never been used properly.
IMHO, the best way to do a modern Superman film is to make it an allegory to phobia of other cultures/races, alien immigration, etc. because the heart of Lex Luthor (not the stupid real estate tycoon of the 70s movies) is his xenophobia and he hates Superman because he's not human. He doesn't trust Superman's intentions. He's actually an anti-hero who is fighting for mankind. He believes that the human race cannot rise on it's own to greatness if we are always depending on Superman to save us.
The Following User Says Thank You to Hack&Lube For This Useful Post:
Not I. Evil Dead/Army of Darkness is always the BS that Raimi apologists trot out.
How quickly they forget that Evil Dead was supposed to be a legitimate horror film, but Raimi did such a bad job that it was taken as a joke. He just ran with it.
Sam Raimi is not good at what he does. As a matter of fact, he is absolutely horrible both at writing and directing.
Wouldn't touch Evil Dead with the "legitimate horror" stick myself. Are you kidding me? Pick up Campbell's book "If Chins could kill" which details the production. The thing could be called a schlock (shock) fest, or any number of things, but the (inventive) gongshow that the movie devolves into can't be called anything but horror comedy. Dont think Raimi has near the same amount to apologize for as some other directors. Totally appreciate that some people (probably many) reckon Raimi is a hack, but i think stuff like Drag me to Hell and Army of Darkness are alot of fun. Different strokes.
and jesus ... I never even noticed that Michael Bay part in that article.
The world cannot be that cruel.
Ari: "Nobody can shoot a movie in 65 days"
Vince: "Is there anything you can do? What if we call [James] Cameron? I can't even believe he's ready to do Aquaman 2 so soon"
Ari: *pause*....*facepalm* "He's not signed on to do A2..."
Vince: "...what? Who's directing?!"
Ari: *sigh*..... "Michael Bay"
E: *facepalm* "Jesus Christ..."
They are working on a Superman reboot.. from what I understand they are taking their time with the casting and story line, which is good.
Superman needs to not fight a rock. Out of the list of his villains for a first movie, General Zod, Parasite and Braniac make the mos sense. Lex Luthor is not entertaining enough to start and Doomsday or Darkseid is to heavy.
I would work Lex in for the second movie, then Doomsday or Darkseid in movie three.
The problem is, Superman is only really interesting when he is facing a villain like Darkseid or Doomsday.
I don't read much DC, I'm mainly limited to Batman stuff, otherworld stories and Batman//Superman. The only time I've been interested in Superman is when he's either turned evil or facing an enemy who is stronger than him.
It's the same with the animated series. The best episodes from the original series are parts of the Darkseid arc. Apokolips Now! and Legacy are the best parts of that series. In Justice League again same thing.
Superman isn't that interesting when he's fighting regular villains.
They should just go the non-traditional route, IMO.
Make the movie a horror-porno. Cast Bruce Campbell as Spidey, Kathy Bates as Mary Jane and make the film's story where Peter is constantly trying to get laid from mutiple high school chicks, and then one day has to fend off the man-beast known as Mary Jane who falls in love with him (who also moonlights at night as the Kingpin). The movie's climax (no pun intended) is a classic showdown between Peter and Mary Jane in the cafeteria (Bates' lair) that leads into an uber-horror movie sequel where Bates tries to destroy Peter with sex in her birthday suit.
Get one of the Golden Girls to play Aunt May and cast her as a New York alley hooker, one that Peter has to constantly save from trouble, including drugs and booze. Kind of a side plot, if you will.
Given the current story line in the Superman comics, I would pit him up against General Zod. This is a guy that can go toe to toe with Superman and will be seen as a threat to Earth. You can build up Lex Luthor in the first movie by observing these aliens fighting and trying to figure out a weakness, which will set the stage for him to attack Superman in movie 2.
Darkseid needs to be in these movies though, if they went the Doomsday route over Darkseid I would be pissed. Especially since Doomsday went through about 5 super teams and misc other heroes to get to Superman first. He was already weakened by the time Superman was able to take him down.
__________________ "In brightest day, in blackest night / No evil shall escape my sight / Let those who worship evil's might / Beware my power, Green Lantern's light!"
Given the current story line in the Superman comics, I would pit him up against General Zod. This is a guy that can go toe to toe with Superman and will be seen as a threat to Earth. You can build up Lex Luthor in the first movie by observing these aliens fighting and trying to figure out a weakness, which will set the stage for him to attack Superman in movie 2.
Darkseid needs to be in these movies though, if they went the Doomsday route over Darkseid I would be pissed. Especially since Doomsday went through about 5 super teams and misc other heroes to get to Superman first. He was already weakened by the time Superman was able to take him down.
Superman needs to stop retreading ground. Zod is a tired cliche now ("Kneel before Zod!") and not really interesting. What are his motivations besides ruling? Stupid tyrants who just want to rule everything are so paper thin, nobody buys them anymore. They are not interesting.
The only reason why Zod is working right now in the comics is because he's the leader of New Krypton who is militaristic and all but he just wants the best for his people and Superman is working FOR HIM.
Darkseid would be interesting, but again, you have a villain who's motivations aren't complex enough. Finally with Doomsday, Superman wasn't able to down Doomsday down, Doomsday took Superman down. Superman was only able to beat Doomsday by coming back from the dead and taking Doomsday to the end of time where nothing could survive/exist.
A Lex Luthor who discovers an ancient Krpyptonian battleship/armor/weapons might be interesting. That storyline worked well in the comics...but personally I actually want to see a Lex Luthor: Man of Steel based film.
Given the current story line in the Superman comics, I would pit him up against General Zod. This is a guy that can go toe to toe with Superman and will be seen as a threat to Earth. You can build up Lex Luthor in the first movie by observing these aliens fighting and trying to figure out a weakness, which will set the stage for him to attack Superman in movie 2.
Darkseid needs to be in these movies though, if they went the Doomsday route over Darkseid I would be pissed. Especially since Doomsday went through about 5 super teams and misc other heroes to get to Superman first. He was already weakened by the time Superman was able to take him down.
Doomsday wasn't weakened in the slightest. Infact he was strengthened by his battles before Superman as they helped remove his bonds. He cut through everyone before Superman like butter.
Let me re phrase that, if it wasn't for The Justice League, or Habitat, or anyone else that stood in front of Doomsday, Superman would not have been able to stop him. He himself admits this in the latest Justice League series, #1 when they are picking the teams and Booster Golds name comes up. I believe he also talks about in the Justice League cartoon.
He would have been dead, sooner, if it wasn't for them, and this is not something they could bring into the movie without exploding the roster.
__________________ "In brightest day, in blackest night / No evil shall escape my sight / Let those who worship evil's might / Beware my power, Green Lantern's light!"
I disagree Hack&Lube I think that General Zod would be great in exploring the origins of Superman, something they said this new film will revolve around.
They could also go the route that Smallville went, which was very popular, and drop the General tittle and bring him in before he is this military leader.
I would also love to see Parasite in the movie, I think that would really help keep it grounded. The problem is they would have to butcher his origins.. the original version was turned into what he is through chemical waste Superman brought back from outer space, and the modern day version was manipulated this way by Darkseid..
I just don't think people want to see Superman fighting a rock again. They need some action to draw them in. Lex Luthor is the original nemesis of Superman (Besides Ultra-Humanite, who you could argue Lex was created from) so he is essential to the story line. But we are talking about hollywood here, and they need to do what sells.
__________________ "In brightest day, in blackest night / No evil shall escape my sight / Let those who worship evil's might / Beware my power, Green Lantern's light!"
__________________ "In brightest day, in blackest night / No evil shall escape my sight / Let those who worship evil's might / Beware my power, Green Lantern's light!"
The Following 2 Users Say Thank You to GreenLantern For This Useful Post:
[quote=Hack&Lube;2259707]Superman needs to stop retreading ground. Zod is a tired cliche now ("Kneel before Zod!") and not really interesting. What are his motivations besides ruling? Stupid tyrants who just want to rule everything are so paper thin, nobody buys them anymore. They are not interesting.
Yeah, but in reality Superman is about as interesting as Vanilla Ice Cream.
yep, how can you have an interesting superhero when his only has 1 weakness? any Superman movie will always revolve around the same plot point, Kryptonite, so they get incredibly predictable. plus he's just too perfect, heros need to have some rough edges for people to associate with
The Following User Says Thank You to Hemi-Cuda For This Useful Post:
