The Fan Film Menace reviews Luthor for President

THE FAN FILM MENACE, home to numerous reviews, interviews and articles of interest to the fan film enthusiast, has obtained a DVD copy of the feature-length "Luthor for President".

Further information on the project is available at their Web site.

I am posting a public review here, as it is a project that has not gotten much attention on TFN. While my review does not give the highest of praise, we cannot deny the importance of a feature-length fan film being completed, not an everyday occurence. So I felt it important to notify folks about, as well as treat my loyal fans (both of them) to some of my sterling prose.


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If there is one word to describe this film, it is "ambitious". The very fact that this epic stretches to ninety-one minutes is a sure assurance of its place in fan film history. It also is made by, and with, actors who have appeared in legitimate studio films and on television. In a way

With that said, I confess I was a little daunted when confronted with the DVD of the very long movie. Yes, I was interested in reviewing it, but my heart was sinking, envisioning the horrors of what I would be up against if the ninety minutes were filled with the content of subpar filmmaking.

I will save the readers of this review ninety minutes and say that watching this fan film is a task for diehards only. Perhaps it is for people with Superman and Batman (yes, Batman is here, though left out of the title) closer to their hearts, or people familiar with the specific issues of the comics that brought this screenplay about.

But let us get back to the title. A ninety-one-minute film called Luthor for President does not announce Luthor's candidacy until nearly twenty-one minutes in, and continues for about forty minutes after the election.

If there are additional words beside "ambitious" to describe this film, they are "sprawling" and "overlong". Cinema is an art of condensing, of getting to the point. I believe it was William Goldman who described the importance of entering a scene late and leaving it early.

For whatever reason this DVD was divided into chapters of roughly two minutes each, regardless (as nearly as I can tell) of the actual story structure. This allowed me to consider it as units of two minutes each, and judge if each chunk was well-used.

The opening shows much promise. It opens very cleverly, with an American flag and a quote, putting us in the mind of any normal political drama. It might have been more artful to fade the quote up and down, but it is a well-chosen quote, and this opening sums up for us important themes.

Then the opening strains of "Eine Kleine Nachtmusik". And then more strains. And more. As nearly as I can tell, the tune is on repeat, and we are treated to endless silent vignettes of Lex Luthor going about his day. We get a pretty nifty shot inside an elevator, but we also get some shoddily made props (newspaper and magazine), and the rather disquieting feeling that Superman has gone commercial, with a toy and an advertisement on TV. Is that what Luthor is so mad about? It is driven home for us again, and again, and again, that Lex is mad about something. I am getting sick of the wipes across the screen to the next unneccesary moment.

Furthermore, I am not getting the sense that the scenes were edited with the music in mind, and this does not help pacing either.

Then, after ten minutes, the movie actually starts. I'm wondering why there's no widescreen matte on the titles. I'm also wondering why it's taking so long to get things going. Granted, Richard Donner's 1978 film didn't start up quickly, either.

It takes thirteen minutes to get a line of plot-creating dialogue. Thirteen minutes. I know cinema is more about visuals than dialogue, but really, this has been excessive.

Hey, Catherine Grant... nice.

We get a news report about Lex's life. The use of old photographs is genuinely clever, and the Citizen Kane reference made me laugh out lou

 

And how does one get a copy of this DVD for themselves?

 

They have links to trailers off their website, but none of them seem to work right, for me anyway. They do have a few screen grabs, which aren't too bad.

Not much to see, so not much to comment on. If I were to go off on a limb, I can say Superman doesn't look bad.. other then his hair is too short.. I would of maybe told him to grow his hair out a little before shooting. Lex looks okay but a little like King Pin and Joker looks wierd. From the little I could see of Batman, he looked alright.

Anyhow, like Adam said, just because it's feature length.. and it's Batman and Superman, I'm kinda hyped to see some of it. If anyone has anymore info.. please do tell.

--- Edit ---

From Bat in the Sun Forum: http://www.batinthesun.com/board/index.php?act=ST&f=5&t=525&s=8f945a1adde30eb6a64da1e04de59378

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--Hello Everyone! This is Joseph from OCD Productions.I just wanted to let everyone know we still have copies of Superman:Luthor for President available for free on DVD.If you havent already requested a copy,please send your name and mailing address to luthor4prez@yahoo.com and we will be happy to send you a copy free of charge.I also wanted to let everyone know that if you have ALREADY sent in your name and address YOU WILL BE GETTING A DVD.It may take a little while for us to process all the requests,but so far everyone who wants one is getting one.Also,our website has recently been updated with more features-check it out here
http://www.geocities.com/ocdproductions/Su...4President.html

Once again,we thank you for your interest and support.
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This was from a couple months ago, so I don't know if it still holds true.

 

Nope. luthor4prez@yahoo.com doesn't work. Might try the E-Mail on their website.

 

From what I get from this review, it sounds like he took a great many scenes DIRECTLY from the comic collection "Luthor for President." I liked the comic, so I might watch this if I can ever see it for free.