isamu

Gasp!!! I haven't watched this film in AGES. And now I've just completed watching the box set with all four films. Superman is the QUINTESSENTIAL superhero movie! There is no other superhero movie that can touch it! Batman? Spider-man? Blade? Halk? Daredevil? BOW THE **** DOWN!!!

Richard Donnar took this project back in 1978 and did the IMPOSSIBLE! He made a film about the baddest superhero in the world and made it great and CONVINCING!

Christopher Reeve ****ing NAILED the role! I mean...the guy IS the man of steel! There is no other actor that can pull off this role! And if the rumors of a remake is true, then they are making a critical mistake IMO. I would honestly rather see them take Chris Reeve and CGI him to make him walk and fly again than to see some retard take the role and mangle it!

All the sequels are fantastic too!

II had the badass villians and saw Supes give up everything for the one he loved, with a uber cool kickass climatic battle at the end!

III had a fun lighthearted plot with the help of Dick Pryor and we got to see Supes get all lazy and shit and actually boned that blonde chick on top of the Empire State building LOL! Oh and when he fights himself at the junkyard that was my absolute FAVORITE scene when I was a kid!

IV is the only one I was kinda meh about though.

Anyway Superman The Movie, and the quadrilogy as a whole, is the best comic book to film adaptation ever and don't you forget it!

Jackskeleton

Does not compute...

Superman III both sucked and blowed. then IV wasn't anything special either. Superman I and II were great.. then again Batman and batman returns was great but the rest blew. the point? If you milk a series long enough, the milk will turn sour. it is the case with superhero films and anything else. Superman is great, but man was it not the best superhero films around..

fumanstan

"He made a film about the baddest superhero in the world"

Uh, not exactly the word i'd use for ol' Supes. Especially considering he's typically shown as the boyscout goodie two shoes type.

El-Kabong

Why?

1 - The Music. Just something about Johhny Williams and his slow, stirring-then BAM in your face horn section that rules the roost. Danny Elfman cant score his way out of a paper bag - it took Shirley Walker to turn his flaccid Batman theme into something memorable - and as such was the kiss of death for Spiderman and Batman. Why this guy keeps getting work in Hollywood is beyond me.

2 - Character development. Hell, it's half an hour before we even get OFF Krypton and another 15 before we get Superman's Big Debut. All that time is sunk into fleshing out why Clark is who he is, and setting up General Zod for part two

3 - The cast. Reeves aside - and I just cant see ANYone in the tights other than him - we get a good villain. Hackman could read the phone book and make it good for two hours. Hook him up with a good script and . . . WINNAH!

4 - "Son of Jor-El, kneel before Zod!" best. line. ever.

5 - The effects. Imagine a young boy watching the movie in 1978. For the first time ever, you could believe that a man COULD fly. It was state of the art then, and has aged well. The new cleaned up DVD does some touch up, but frankly beyond some color correction - theres not that much to fix.

6 - The cool factor. Hey, it's Superman. You don't get much more cool than that.

I could go on forever why no superhero film even comes CLOSE to touching Superman 1 and 2 (Although I do have to admit that Batman: Mask of the Phantasam comes DAMN close) - but it's clear that Donner was firing on all cylinders. WB should give him a HUGE chunk o' change to go back and cut Superman II the way he wanted it before the Salklands fired him. That would truly rock.

Jackskeleton

Not to mention Lois Lane.. You couldn't find a better actress hiding out under her kitchen sink hyped up on powder sugar to fill that role. Top notch!

Kal-El

Amen. Stop trying to remake it already cuz NOTHING is going to top it.

Revoltor

Someone obviously hasn't seen Spider-man.

anyway:
1 - The Music- Ok, I won't touch this one.

2 - Character development. Spidey is nothing but character development. Of course when he establishes who he is, the movie turns into the run of the mill comic book hero movie (read: Superman 2-4)

3 - The cast. Tobey was awesome as was DaFoe. Hell, it even had the Macho Man Randy Savage.

4 - "With great power comes great responsibility"

5 - The effects. The CGI spidey blew but everything else like the Goblin glider and the Web swinging kicked ass.

6 - The cool factor. Batman can beat the crap out of Superman and I believe that Spidey beat Bats in the Amalgam crossover.

So in effect:

Superman < Batman < Spiderman

zero

I'll agree that Superman I and II were great but the ones that followed after are what I'd like to call mistakes. I would love to see a new Superman movie too, but Im not sure you can top what was already done with the first film, its just amazing. However I dont think it should be the blue print for all super hero movies. What works for one doesnt work for all.

fumanstan

Why Not?

1) Casting. Reeve may be as close to perfect as we'll ever get, but Hackman just feels wrong. Not evil enough, not bald enough.

2) Effects. Like any superhero movie, effects need to be top notch. And like most special effects, they don't age well. Show a kid today Superman and show them Neo. Unless you grew up having seen Superman, it'll look like the effects of a television show.

3) Otis. Wacky henchman bungles things again! Oh the hilarity!

4) Coolness Factor (or lack there of). Come on, guy in red and blue with boring powers (sans xray vision). Even Batman whose a regular guy oozes more style then ol' Supes. Spider-Man and X-Men, now those are powers.

5) The Enemies. Zod? Does anyone even remeber the names of the other two kryptonians? Gimmie a break, outside of Luthor, Superman's enemies = boring. Gimmie the Joker anyday.


Kind of exaggerated my opinions there, but just thought i'd mention reactions you might get against Superman

FuzzyBallz

'Cause he wears his underwear outside while the other super heroes wears it inside?

TonyLomak

Speaking of superman, how about a sick joke.

What's the opposite Chistopher Reeve?

Christopher Walken

Giantrobo

Captain Marvel can kick Supes ass

Superboy

If you're talking about DC's Captain Marvel, that answer would be a big no-no. Only twice has he ever confronted Superman. One was out-of-continuity, in Kingdom Come, but ol' Billy would never ever act so brazen unless he was being mind-controlled as shown. Superman could still have kicked his ass if he wasn't pulling his punches. The second time is when Marvel punched out Superman in JLA, but aside from the magical nature of his powers he caught Superman off guard. Marvel isn't even as powerful as Superman, he's actually in Wonder Woman's strength class. Another disadvantage is his child-like mentality. It's like a Boy Scout versus a Cub Scout.

Superman: The Movie was not the best comic-to-film movie ever. That award goes to Ghost World. It's still an excellent film though, minus the ending which was a relic of pre-Crisis Superman.

And the three Kryptonian criminals were named Zod, Ursa, and Non.

Numanoid

I'd like to buy a verb please Pat.

Geofferson

For the record, Superman I is - and probably always will be - my single most cherished film of all time.

chanster

I thought DaFoes' performance was absolutely horrible - but most of that seemed to be the inane "voice in my head script" that got really old fast.

El-Kabong

Oh no - I've seen it, and I've always thought that Spidey is the best live action Superhero movie . . . right after Superman 1 and 2.

It's a damn fine piece of work, I thought the cast was great, and Rami has a keen directors eye. However the ham-fisted Elfman score and the occasionally questionable special effects were the only things holding the film back from true greatness. As far as they've come in the last 10 or so years, CGI still has this un-natural quality about it. Even when it looks damn good, it'll never edge out a practical effect.

If they had just managed to overcome those two flaws, then I very well might have had to concede the crown to Spiderman.

Iron Chef

Spiderman sucked.

Kal-El

They even had a li'l homage to Superman 1 in it. So very obvious you couldn't have mistaken it for something else. I love that part.

Hokeyboy

I agree: Superman is the finest superhero movie ever filmed. Spider-Man, for all its high-falutin gimmickry, doesn't even come close... although X2 certainly runs a swift second.

Spooky

Superman: The Movie is so superior to other superhero movies, that the film shouldn't even be mentioned with the others (including the Superman sequels). Richard Donner made a masterpiece (he directed the best parts of Superman II, as well) and the script (written by The Godfather's Mario Puzo) is fantastic.

Not only is Superman: The Movie the best superhero movie ever, it's one of the top ten best sci-fi/fantasy films of all-time. Nothing else in the superhero realm of motion pictures has even come close.

Kal-El

Just have to add that it's actually an underrrated DVD too.

Inverse

They say the golden age of comics is 12, and I think this thread shows the same holds for superhero movies.

Charlie Goose

I agree with you. Superman: The Movie is the finest comic book hero flick. Part II was almost as good, thanks to Terence Stamp, but it had a cheesiness to it. Like the old guy in a glitter vest being blown backwards on rollerskates. Or the young boy in the small hick town that the villains take over ("Please Mr. General, please put my daddy down!"). He had a put-on southern twang that didn't even mask his real British accent. I know, small taters, but it still bugs me and takes away from the movie. By the way, in deleted scenes Non kills the boy!
Part III was godawful, despite the presence of "Dick Pryor".
Superheroes + Slapstick Comedy = Disaster
This same mistake was made with Star Trek IV.

And the Superman theme still gets my blood pumping!

Honk!

Hokeyboy

Well..........

By all reports, Mario Puzo's script was cheesy and campy as hell. "Creative Consultant" Tom Mankiewicz is really responsible for whatever screenplay elements (along with Donner's direction and the acting talents of Reeves, Hackman, Kidder, et al) made Superman pretty much the greatest comic movie of all time.