Thoughts Without Words: New Superman costumeS

Yes I said costumes.

Back in June DC announced it was rebooting the entire DC Universe and giving everyone a makeover. Now I have talked a lot about comic book costumes on here, so of course I will talk about these. Now I was always going to talk about the new Superman comic costumes, but it just so happened that they released an image of the new Superman costume for the new movie, so I will throw that one in here too.

So first up are the new comic costumes. Here is the one from Action Comics, which supposedly tell stories from his earlier days on Earth...in fact he can't fly yet, just jump.

What the?!?!?!? Is Superman wearing jeans and a t-shirt? Wow. Seriously, it looks like a commercial for Wrangler jeans...Brett Favre is in trouble. And how can he be wearing a t-shirt of his logo if he is just getting in the public eye. Did he go to like Cafepress or something and said "hey, I got a cool idea for a shirt..." It just looks bad.

Next up is the costume for the Superman title;

If you have read any comments online about this costume, they are all true. This costume looks like it was ripped from the 90's with the armor. I also don't like the fact that the red "underwear" is gone. The high collar isn't the worst thing about this, so it gets a pass. But seriously, if you are Superman...why do you have armor? Clearly, he was ok running around in jeans and a t-shirt, so why the upgrade?

Finally, the new movie suit;

Things I like about it;

• The big 'S' is back
• Those arms are huge!

Things I don't like about it;

• Cape is super long...I like it better than the original but I thought they got the length right on Superman Returns.
• The texture on the suit.  What's the purpose of it?  The new Spider-Man has it too...why?
• Colors are dark again.
• The hair...he needs a haircut...hippie.

Compare it to the other suits;

I felt the worst thing about the Returns suit was the small 'S'. The dark colors weren't too bad, especially on the film.  I am sure more pictures will come out in the next few days and I will post them and of course give my thoughts on them.

Tirades of Truth: Superman II - The Richard Donner Cut

I reviewed Superman Returns awhile ago and called it a sequel to Superman 2, which I loved. I heard about the Richard Donner Cut, but never saw it...until now. For those that never heard about what happened, basically in a nutshell Donner was making Superman 1 and 2 at the same time. They stopped filming on 2 to see how the first one did. It was a success, so of course they decided to mess with it and dumped Donner.

Well not only did they dump him, but they wanted him gone from the credits as well. So they needed to shoot 51% of the movie with another director. They did, but Donner had shot about 80% of his version already. That material was finally put together and released. Going into this movie I knew it would be choppy because of how it was made. It was basically taking bits and pieces of 2 films and pasting them together.

The end result? A movie better than before. I loved Superman 2. I considered it to be one of my favorite comic book movies of all time. There were a few things though that I never liked though. The first was the campy street people during the main fight in Metropolis. I don't want to see a guy on roller skates getting blown away or a man on the phone getting knocked over. It really took away from the overall tone of the film. Well my friends...that's all gone! It makes the scene much more powerful and entertaining...the distractions are gone.

For a list of all of the differences head over to Wikipedia, there is a nice list there (go down to The Mankiewicz script/original Donner shoot)

The Good

The Eiffel Tower scene that opened the movie is also gone. That scene was used to set up how Zod and his buddies were released from the Phantom Zone. Well in Donner's version, it is one of Luthor's missiles from the first movie that does it. I think that works better because it really ties the two movies together. The original was supposed to end with Zod and friends being freed from the Phantom Zone, setting up a cliff hanger for number 2.

Instead, this one opens with Lois figuring out Clark is Superman by drawing Clark over a Superman picture. Corny, but kind of like Superman Returns when the kid realizes Clark is Superman too. So what does Lois do to prove it? She jumps out of a window of the Daily Planet. It's great to see how Donner shows off his super speed to get down there and stop Lois from hurting herself and then back up in a flash. Great...better than firing a white laser from his finger (more on that later). It's a scene like this that really sets the pace that this version was going to be a bit more serious than it turned out to be.

Did I say more serious? How about how Lois finally discovers Clark's secret is done better here too. In the original version, Clark trips over a bear rug and drops his glasses into a fire and he gets them out. There is no burn, so Lois knows he is Superman. Cute. But in the Donner version, she shoots Clark with a gun! Really?!? Yep. This is probably the scene most people complain about because it was used with test footage. You see Christopher Reeve's hair change style a couple of times and the set is pretty...empty (look at the photo). It would have been great to see this done, but to be honest it really didn't bother me that much. Like I said though, most people complain about this one scene the most. Take it for what it is, a major plot element that never made it to the final shoot, but was necessary in the Donner version.

Marlon Brando's scenes are all back in place. They dumped him as well to save money and boy was that a mistake. I can't describe how much better he does of conveying the messages to Superman than his mom did in the original. Also what makes these scenes better is Lois is wearing Superman's shirt and Superman flies in his clothes...awesome!

The final confrontation in the Fortress of Solitude is shorter, but better. Gone is the stupid finger lasers, giant S getting thrown, and everyone having the ability to make a clone of themselves. I was/am a huge comic fan and this never sat well with me. Nowhere in the comics did these powers exist and yet there they were. It's a short sweet version that wraps up the film nicely.

One final note on the good, Gene Hackman and Terrance Stamp were much better in this version. The banter back and forth was better than the original. This is probably because Hackman wasn't brought in for the new director after Donner was dropped. So they had to paste a story with old footage.

The Bad

The ending isn't as good. The whole turning back time doesn't work for me. And it wasn't supposed to be used here either. When they went with the turn back time in number one, they were going to make a different ending for number 2, but it was never shot. I never was a huge fan of the "super-kiss", but it worked better than the turning time thing. In addition, by turning back time a few things were messed up.

Superman bringing the flag back to the White House is one of the best scenes in all of comic book cinema, now it is gone. He gives a great quote too;

Good afternoon, Mr. President. Sorry I've been away so long. I won't let you down again.

Sends chills down the spine as he is saying this over the White House with the American flag. This is probably the scene I missed the most.

It also messed up the continuity of the film. Clark still gets beat up by the diner bully. And he goes back and kicks his butt in the end, but if he turned back time then no one would remember Clark coming into the diner before because it never happened. Now I believe Donner would have done something to explain it (maybe having a different ending than the time thing again) because he shot these scenes and is actually an extra in the diner! It just doesn't work. Plus that's the last scene! Huh?!?!? that's how it ends? Yep.

I also missed some of the quotes. I mentioned the ending quote, but also the quote right before the big fight is changed. In the original version, Superman asks Zod; "General? Would you care to step outside?" Classic. He comes off as being confident and knows it annoys Zod. You know that this is going to be on big fight too. Has the throwback to the old westerns when they would ask this.

In the Donner version we get; "Haven't you heard of freedom of the press?" Really? That's just bad.

Final Thoughts

The Donner Cut is the better version overall. The story might have more bumps in the road, due to the lack of finishing the movie, but taking out all of the "campy-ness" and stupid powers makes this the definitive version of Superman 2. I really wish they could have finished this movie the way it was supposed to, I would have loved to see how it was going to end.

Tirades of Truth: Superman Returns

So Superman Returns was on the other night and I decided to review it. I will try to keep this review more focused than other ones.

Plot:
Well the main story is that Lex Luthor wants to create an island to live on out of a crystal found in the Fortress of Solitude. I know it's pretty weak, but is it any weaker than the first Superman where Lex bought desert land and then wanted to trigger a massive earthquake so the desert land would be beach front property? Allowing him to sell it off and make millions?

This movie came out after Batman Begins, so I think people were expecting a more "mature/dark" storyline. But for me it works. Lex Luthor is about greed and power. And this was another way he tried to do it.

The subplot involves Superman, Lois, and Lois' fiance. It doesn't work at all. I think the entire idea of a super-kid killed this movie. This movie was in effect a sequel to Superman II. So the idea was that Lois got pregnant by Superman during the second movie when they got a little crazy in the Fortress of Solitude. I don't know why they went this route. It was pretty easy to see that he was Superman's kid from the first second it was mentioned.

It's like Anakin and Jar-Jar in The Phantom Menace. If you take them out, it's a pretty good movie. Try watching it without the super-kid and you will be impressed at the improvement.

Cast:
Brandon Routh was made to play Superman. First off Christopher Reeve is Superman and the first still I saw of Routh, I thought it was a still from the first Superman movie. He does a good job of going from "mild mannered" Clark Kent to Superman. The first lines he has as Superman are funny too. After he saves the plane from crashing he tells everyone inside that flying is still the safest way to travel...classic.

They are rebooting the series again and I hear that Routh isn't going to be attached anymore. And that is a real shame. He did a great job with what he was given. He shouldn't be punished for a script like this one.

Kevin Spacey does a great job as Lex Luthor. Once again, I think people were expecting more. There are times that I feel like it is Gene Hackman up there. When he backs away when the crystal starts to destroy the basement...that's classic Lex. He is only looking out for himself.

He actually is a lot darker than Hackman's Luthor. He actually stabs Superman with a piece of Kryptonite to kill him. Hackman's Luthor put a Kryptonite necklace on him to kill it...which is more violent?

I guess I would compare it Nickolson's Joker and Ledger's Joker. They are both good, but one is just a little darker than the other.

Kate Bosworth is horrible as Lois Lane. I mean horrible. She looks like she should be on 90210 or some teen show. She is too young to be a believable reporter like Lane. Add on the fact, she is supposed to have a 5 year old son? When did she have the baby? When she was 15? She was a horrible choice. It was like DC didn't learn anything from the backlash of Katie Holmes being a DA in Batman Begins. In addition to that, she looks nothing like Kidder. This is supposed to take 5 years after Superman II and while Routh might pass off as being the same age, Bosworth looks just too young. If they wanted to go young, then start it as a new movie not a continuation.

She also comes off as annoying. When she starts asking questions on the plane, it was like shut up. Who cares only 1 network is covering the launch, what are you doing there then? She tries to be tough, but it comes off as annoying. Watching her get thrown around the plane was funny though.

The rest of the cast did a fairly nice job. The new Perry White was good, but not memorable. Actually, he gets screwed over by fans because he says the line "see if he (Superman) still stands for truth, justice, and all that other stuff." Now we all know he is supposed to say "the American way", but the studio didn't want Superman to be Americanized since we were seen as "the bad guys" in 2006.

Luthor's girlfriend, Kitty Kowalski, is great as a comical relief and does a great job. She is very reminiscent of Eve Teschmacher from the first film. She could have gotten some more screen time and it would have been ok with me.

Jimmy Olsen was ok. He was modeled after the old Jimmy and seemed a little out of place at times in this newer version.

Marlon Brando comes back from the dead as Jor-El. This just sort of cemented the fact that this was a sequel to Superman II. I can't really comment on his role because it was left overs from the original. Now it is a digital Marlon Brando and that is kind of cool to see.

Costume:
There is only one costume that matters and that is Superman's. Let's look at a side by side of the new and the old.There are a few things I like on the new suit. The cape is longer and I actually like the Superman 's' on the belt. But that's where it stops. Why is the suit darker? Is this the gritty Superman? The colors in the original suit were perfect. Why was there a need to change it? The red definitely reminds me of the "evil drunk" Superman in Superman III. Need to explain the "evil drunk" Superman? Maybe later.

The 'S' is so much smaller now, why? That's the best part of the costume. And what's up with the 3-D 'S'? I know they did it for effects, but it isn't needed at all.

I still like it though. The longer cape does it for me. If they had a bigger 'S' I might say it is better than the original.

Overall:
Good movie. It's a lot better than Superman III or Superman IV. If you go in expecting something like Batman Begins you aren't going to get it. If you go in with an open mind you are going to enjoy yourself. Skip the super-kid scenes and it's a lot better.

It could have used more action scenes, but the ones that were there were pretty good. The plane crashing was nicely done with some actual physics being used this time. And when that guy tries to shoot Superman in the eye...uncomfortable, but visually it was superb.