pathetic!

Still keeping hold of my HD-DVD's at the mo

If there was ever a franchise that needs a bloody good reboot, it's this one.

It's not worth picking this up.

When a Blu-Ray set containing all five movies is released, it will be a must-buy.

The Wilson Bros

Superman Returns wasn't bad, but not that good either, maybe a reboot would've done better, like Batman had with BB/TDK, not because the films are old, but some series shouldn't be continued after some while for certain movie series.

leigh1975 wrote: Actually the set makes sense, as the recent film is intended as a direct sequel to the first movie.
Nah, it was a direct sequel to the second film, retconning the third and fourth instalments.

leigh1975 wrote: Actually the set makes sense, as the recent film is intended as a direct sequel to the first movie.    
For the record, i think Returns is a rather good movie, and i never really understood the hatred towards it .
There are so many reasons why it's s**t. I lost my patience for it during the scene where the guy uses a gattling gun on Supes and after seeing that it had no effect, still opts to try and shoot him in the face with a handgun.

Then again, there's the shuttle scene. A large piece of the craft clearly flies off and Superman doesn't give a s**t. Where'd that piece land? Sloppy work, Supes... You deadbeat dad, you...

rebel-scum wrote: leigh1975 wrote: Actually the set makes sense, as the recent film is intended as a direct sequel to the first movie.    
For the record, i think Returns is a rather good movie, and i never really understood the hatred towards it .
There are so many reasons why it's s**t. I lost my patience for it during the scene where the guy uses a gattling gun on Supes and after seeing that it had no effect, still opts to try and shoot him in the face with a handgun.
Never stopped any of the criminals in the other films attacking Superman when they knew he was nigh on invulnerable, did it?

Quote: Then again, there's the shuttle scene. A large piece of the craft clearly flies off and Superman doesn't give a s**t. Where'd that piece land? Sloppy work, Supes... You deadbeat dad, you...
From what I can remember they weren't over a populated area (possibly even the ocean) and he pretty much obliterated it when he smashed through it. Surely there have got to be better reasons why you don't like it? Both of those things could be criticisms that you could easily make of the earlier films (especially Superman III).

Our love of Richard Donner's Superman work has been well-documented on other sites.  We helped to raise awareness of Donner's footage for Superman II and were among the many who campaigned for it's release.

When we first saw Superman Returns theatrically, we were just knocked out that it was made by someone who loved Donner's work as much as us and we were swept along by the whole thing.  When we watched it at the cinema for a second time, the cracks began to show.

Our ultimate opinion is that Superman Returns is a flawed movie and more of a nostalgia trip than anything.  The story structure is almost beat-for-beat of Superman: The Movie, with minor alterations and character changes.  It would have been fine for a new origin movie, but seeing as so much cash had disappeared into a black hole during the years of development, it wasn't going to make back the money and it was classified as a failure.

It would have been interesting to see what Bryan Singer would have been able to do if he had been brought back for Superman: Man of Steel.  It had been strongly rumoured that Singer had managed to charm Terence Stamp to return as General Zod - although it would have drawn criticism because he was copying Donner once again, it is fascinating to wonder what take Stamp would have had on the role from a more mature perspectve.

Whenever Supes makes his cinematic return, you can be sure that the word "re-boot" will be at the fore.

The Wilson Bros

That would be interesting - far better than the pathetic little back-story that Lester hastily threw together for the pre-credit sequence of his version of Superman II.

The Wilson Bros

Donner's Superman II - at least the version we got on DVD - is no better than Lesters. It has plot holes you can drive a truck through and a load of illogical b*****ks at the end that makes Superman look like a t**t. Some of the new footage was good (the Brando stuff), but the way they ruthlessly excised Lester footage and replaced it with stuff that wasn't even as good sucked.

Seriously, you turned back time again? Why did you bother to destroy the fortress then? Oh, and why did you go and beat up a random bloke in a diner when he had never even met you? I prefer the Lester version and I make no apologies for it!

Chris -

The ending of the Donner Cut was a compromise in that the idea to turn back time was the original ending of Superman II, but when the Salkinds decided to shut down production on the filming of II, it was decided to incorporate the ending into the first movie - the plan was for "creative consultant" Tom Mankeiwitcz to come up with something bigger and more spectacular than that, but when Donner left, this was put on the back-burner and never filmed.

When it came to assembling the Donner Cut, though Warner gave them a budget to re-cut the movie from scratch, because the ending hadn't been filmed, they had to go with whatever they had, and a few little bits of the orginal "turn back time" sequence had been shot, so the only option they had was to go with that.

The result is flawed, but it shows the original intention of Donner.  It's true that the scene in Don's Diner now makes Clark out to be a bit of a thug, it's a nice scene to end the movie on (so much so that Lester used it for the end of his version).

We prefer the Donner version, as it doesn't have so much crass humour in it (the way Lester perverts the Non character into a squeaking simpleton is unforgiveable), it seems a little more "mature" (within the confines of a comic-strip-based movie) and there is a greater sense of emotion - not to mention that Donner's version actually explains how Supes got his powers back.

The Wilson Bros

Donner wanted to have a periodic scrolling message during his cut on DVD to say that it was not completed (particularly during the hotel scene when Lois discovers Clark's true identity - the "tripping over a rug" reveal in Lester's is pathetic) and that it was to give an approximation of what it was supposed to look like.

The Wilson Bros

I guess it's because I've never had a problem with the Lester version. I grew up with that (it's one of the first films I remember seeing at the cinema, complete with glossy programme) and the only thing that really bugged me was the whole 'how does he get his powers back' bit of the story. As an adult I understand it's because Brando was out of favour with the Salkinds, and those scenes are actually very good, but it's about the only thing I would have added back in (with maybe the extended scene in the White House).

I loved superman returns Routh was very good and Singer is a tremendous director. The only thing that bugged me was the mystery about that damn kid. what was he boy or steel

Michael Friedrichsen wrote: The only thing that bugged me was the mystery about that damn kid. what was he boy or steel

The fact that he hurled a grand piano across a large room, didn't tip you off?