Amph "If You Seek His Monument, Look Around You" - The Man of Steel and Announced Sequel Thread

Well it's on one of the versions in my dvd set. Wikipedia says in the tv version they were arrested and that it was included in the 2006 Superman II: The Richard Donner Cut, so I guess it's that version.

 

Number of product licenses for MAN OF STEEL outnumbers that of SUPERMAN RETURNS

Good sign?

 

It only means this move is more toyetic than Singer's. Then again even Schindler's List was more toyetic than Superman Returns.

 

Are you kidding me? I remember buying the Kryptonian Landmass action figure. That was a blast!

 

True that, because you're guaranteed to have Superman punch something or someone.

 

I will never for the life of me understand why this is such a priority for people. A Superman slugfest always strikes me as one of the most boring and uninspired uses of the character ever.

 

I wanted an NC-17 version so we could see Superman murder Zod and his followers in horrifically Bad Lieutenantesqe ways.

 

But you gotta admit, it's a hell of a lot better than Superman being a deadbeat dad/stalker.

 

Not really. I don't hate SR like everyone else. It wasn't perfect but I prefer introspective character study over mindless brawny brawls.

 

I need some X-Kryptonite.

 

Sorry, to be a deadbeat dad you have to know you have a kid. Does not fit the definition.

 

That part at the end where he tells his kid, "Life's gonna be tough for you, so long and good luck" doesn't count?

 

He gave the same speech his father gave him about being different and left the house he doesn't live in. He didn't abandon the child.

 

I agree with Spider-Fan. Besides which, if you want to watch Superman punch things on film, watch the theatrical cut of Superman II and watch Superman IV. Have fun. Funny how the ones where the punching were the focus, they became mindless goofy slapstick romps for the kids.

 

Yeah count me in the "don't hate SR crowd". It was a loving homage to the Donner films and whilst it's misguided as it's own entity (plus unsure of it's identity) the fact that a film could be made that so lovingly refers to other films made 25 years prior is an achievement.

Though the suit looked so much better recoloured as red rather than mauve.

 

I'd rather have SR than not have it... I've certainly watched worse.

P.S. It's good to be back on the JC Forums!

 

Surprised this hasn't been posted yet:

 

I dislike how muted it all looks. I'll still see it, I just don't think I'm a big fan of the visual style.

 

Apparently, Kryptonians are not immune to receding hairlines.

 

Spoiler: EW Spoiler

This film reveals that even on Krypton, young Kal-El was a special child, whose birth was cause for alarm on his home planet.

 

Messianic Plotting!!! Yeah!

True, but I also prefer introspective character studies that have something worth saying in that character study. SR is more of a somber stroll around Singer's memories of seeing the original film as a child than it is a character

I don't, there are plenty of movies (most of them these days) that refer to other movies. Homage has been a key ingredient in cinema going back, at the very least, to Sunset Boulevard. Many of those films have also managed to do interesting things with those homages, like the aforementioned Sunset Boulevard's deconstruction of celebrity, or Chinatown's reconfiguration of the private detective as a fundamentally useless force in society, or Brian De Palma's synthesis of Hitchcock's methods to comment on the schizoid voyeur society that was developing at the time.

I suppose in a world of defanged slasher remakes, Superman Returns might seem admirable, but at the end of the day it is simply a well-shot that, while lacking purpose, is not completely terrible, but ultimately has little to recommend it other than that.

 

Spoiler

Why does everyone want to turn him into Jesus?! He doesn't need to be a messianic figure to still be powerful and moving. IMO the better way to portray the character is to humanize him as much as possible.

 

I'm fond of the messianic symbolism they give him in the Donner/Singer films. I like the idea of him as an outsider looking in, taking an observational role toward us as humans. It's my favourite element of his character. And no matter how much they choose to focus on that aspect, they can't get away from the fact that he was raised by human parents, so I see no risk of making him too alien either. Especially as his earth parents are in all versions of his story portrayed as the ones who instilled his values and morals in him, so he is actually taking the best aspects of humanity and giving it back. At the same time, he is trying to inspire and guide humans to be better, so he automatically takes on a role of outsider as well. Perhaps comparable to the life of a Jedi. In some ways they are among and a part of society, but in other ways they are separate from and observers of it. Since this is a Star Wars forum, I found it the easiest parallel to compare to.

Spoiler

That said, I like the messianic aspect as a symbolic element, not a literal fulfilment of prophecy.

 

I wasn't very happy about reading that either. The messiah bullcrap has been done to death.

 

Apparently it's not a messianic thing, apparently it's more in line the John Byrne kryptonian genetic engineering thing.