What negative press? Last I checked most reviews are positive.

Also, a giant spider would have been a nice thing to find hidden on that Krytponite contient! ;)

Also, I was wondering if after being away for so long Supes would be tempted to grab Lois and ask: "How many dicks did you suck?!?"

I think she knew full well who the kid's dad is, part of the reason why she was so pissed at superman for leaving and why she hasn't fully committed to cyclops

which means she got pregnant, found out she was pregnant, quickly for a bf (cyclops) and immediately started sleeping with him to con him into thinking he got her pergnant

Can we all agree that we were happy to hear John Williams' themes used again the flick?

TBH I have never been a big fan of superman so that may skew my opinion a bit, but i thought the movie was very slow and quite a bit too long. As i said though i'm not a big superman fan so either way i don't think i'd ever put this up to caliber with spiderman or xmen just because i am a fan of those comics. However I must say though, that if they ever go the way of the Death of Superman storyline I will be right on board, that was one of the best storylines i've ever read. Only topped by the Breaking of the Batman by Bane.

Oh and that's another thing, how is Parker Posey getting all these roles of late, IMO she is not a very good actress.

funny how they started to piece together clark fitting the description of superman so he purposely turns around with a dumb ass look on his face and waves like an idiot

"hey clark, you've been gone for 5 years. Know what really big thing happened during that time? Superman was also gone. Now you're both back. Cool huh?"

I guess they figured that ignoring Clark as much as possible would be the best way to play it off as believable that Clark and Superman would both be gone for the same amount of time and return at the same time.

Saw it again, this time in IMAX. The IMAX presentation was much better than the film print I saw last night. Colours were stronger and the 3D was phenomenal. I'm actually glad the whole film wasn't in 3D as it would have been distracting to the overall story. As it is now, the select scenes they chose are perfect for 3D and the FX look excellent.

After being a bit let down last night, I could enjoy the film this time for what it was. Highly entertaining, a bit flawed, but overall damn good. This time, I loved it. I agree with some of the hate for Parker Posey...I've never gotten her appeal, she is always the same and usually very annoying. I'm going to see it at least once more, either in DLP or if I fancy a drive, IMAX again. If you're within driving distance of an IMAX, make sure to see that version as it's a hell of a ride.

MATT

Anyone in the Daytona Beach area needs to avoid seeing the DLP presentation at the Ocean Walk cinemas. The contrast was off and it was really, really hard to see anything during the night scenes. No shadow detail at all. Fortunately in my case, I'll be enjoying the IMAX presentation in Tampa this weekend.

The only major gripe I had was not enough Clark Kent, but I really had to struggle to keep myself from bawling like a baby

I actually thought they used the Superman theme too many damn times throughout the movie. Yes, we get it, he's Superman! Not even the original Donner film had it being played that many times.

My biggest problem with the film was Routh's portrayal (and this is most likely a script problem than an acting problem) was far too passive. Superman should be agressive and proactive, but the Superman we see in SUPERMAN RETURNS is milder and meeker than we've ever seen the character played before.

Spacey was EXCELLENT as Luthor...probably my favorite on-screen portrayal of the character so far. He really carries the film.

I have a lot of plot questions, but this one bothers me the most:


I also thought the writers tried TOO hard to include dialogue from previous SUPERMAN films...a few nods here and there would have been fine, but some of the stuff was "word for word," which got to me after a while (example: How the heck would Superman be able to recite WORD FOR WORD his father's final words to him, having never heard them before? I'm assuming since Clark didn't recognize his father the first time he saw him in the Fortress in SUPERMAN: THE MOVIE, that Kryptonian babies don't have better memories of their youth than the typical human).

All in all, I'd say this movie isn't as great as you've heard, nor is it as bad as a few out there are saying. It's not as good as SUPERMAN I or II, nor even SPIDER-MAN 2...but it's still the best flick we've seen so far this summer.

I would say its probably the best superman movie, the first two are overrated. I think Spacey did the best luthor yet

I think from the flashbacks in the movie when hes a kid jumping in the corn. seeing this stuff I think it would of been awesome for singer to do an orgins with todays effects. cause I thought that stuff looked awesome. cause when you watch the old superman the effects etc dont hold up to well

Regarding Superman II:

I, too, found those words touching and was glad to hear Kal-El say it to his own son. It gave a sense of completeness and wonder to the movie just when it needed it most.

I didn't mean there was A LOT OF NEGATIVE PRESS, merely that A LOT OF THE NEGATIVE PRESS is unwarranted. That is, the small minority that seems to disregard the movie is largely unwarranted. I don't get Roger Ebert's review either. It seems like the only Comic movie he liked was Spider-man 2.

Whoever mentions SUPERMAN RETURNS in the same breath as SUPERMAN: THE MOVIE ought to have their head examined. RETURNS was awful!! And MAINGON, if u think the first 2 Superman movies r overrated, u have no idea what good cinema is.

KC

I thought the movie was awesome...for the first time in my 29 years of life, I got to see Superman and hear the famous crescendo play in the big screen. It gave me goosebumps and almost brought me to tears.

Yep, i heard that too. but it pisses me off, cuz the Bat doesn't need Superman helping him.

While I'm not going to thread crap in this thread, let me say that the only reason you say that is you were probably the right age when those movies came out. They are terrible, terrible movies that don't hold up.

Ok, I'm done.

I came close to having the same kneejerk reaction after reading that and other statements filled with hyperbole here and other places ("Routh is Superman"), but it's very important to realize that it is their opinion. And while it might differ from mine, s/he is entitled to it. Neither of us are "wrong".

Well, whoever's opinion differs from mine is...:p

I have to disagree with this. In fact, I respect those special effects more than I do in Superman Returns.

Lots of spoilers below:












Okay, took in an IMAX viewing, and the 3D is more hit, and not too much of a miss (when the action gets a little too fast, my eyes were going crossed-eyed at times), and so enjoyable nonetheless, and the final fly-by in 3D right before the credits is worth the price of admission for me. Damn, that was just sweet. I really enjoyed the IMAX presentation both visually and aurally. The sound effects were impressively presented and added to the power and majesty that were the super-feats on display in the film. I encourage anyone who has access to an IMAX theater to see this film on an IMAX screen.

For me, the film was paced better the second time around . I wasn't caught up with the expectations of some massive build-up throughout the film, but sat back and just soaked in all the scenes, and enjoyed the journey.

The crowd applauded loudly at the end of the film. That was gratifying to see and hear in person.

I figured out how IMAX fit 157 minutes of film into IMAX's limitation of 150 minutes runtime: They simply shortened the huge list of credits at the end of the film. I was going to watch the credits to the very end, but it ended within 2-3 minutes of the final shot from the film, while the regular theatrical cut ran the other 7 minutes of credits (and more musical scores).

I didn't realize that Lady Vanderworth was Noel Neill (one of George Reeves' Lois Lanes), but definitely picked out Jack Larsen (Jimmy Olsen) as the bartender. Richard Branson was one of the space shuttle pilots.

The heels of Superman's boot have the "S" symbol molded into them. Geez, Supes is a little obsessed with his family "S"-crest, eh?

One of the big scrabble words was "alienation"

Loved how Ma Kent's words about Clark "being the last of his kind, but he wasn't alone" came full circle when the presence of Jason changes Kal-el's perspective and life immeasurably. The same goes for Jor-el's words at the beginning and Kal-el saying them to Jason at the end.

There's a really great shot of Routh as Superman, it's during the Lois-Superman flight, and Superman is talking about hearing that people do want someone to save them, and the lighting of Routh's face is just amazing. It was like an Alex Ross painting, but better.

Definitely chuckled at the Addis Ababa, Ethiopia reference for the K-rock that Lex stole from the museum.

Loved the quick shot of "The Usual Suspect" lineup shot of Lex and his cronies in the basement of the Vanderworth house. Priceless.

James Marsden can't catch a break, always playing second fiddle (first in X-Men, now SR).

Routh plays Clark by pretty much making weird mouth movements/expressions. Thus, his "Clark" now has these tics incorporated into the performance, which can be a little disconcerting at times when Clark is on-screen, and he can come off more 2D than 3D. I don't think Routh gives Clark that octave-higher voice that Reeve did with his "Clark", which I would have liked, but it might not be in Routh's vocal repetoire. But when Routh speaks in his low voice to Jason in his room, it really sounded soothing and commanding.

If you pay attention to Lois's hairline, you'll see that it's all over the place within the film because it's a wig, and the hair/makeup person sometimes covered up more forehead, and other times exposed a lot of forehead (rivalling Klingon forehead space at times).

The fact that Lois can't even rattle off anything that Clark is passionate about gives you an idea that Clark is still vanilla to just about anyone working at the Daily Planet and lacks a hook for relatability. Sure, Clark is a good reporter, but after hours is where he's pretty much still a black hole, even to co-workers. I would like to see Clark more developed in the next installment.

I'm not all that put off by Superman's "unethical" eavesdropping on Lois and Richard. The man's been away for 5 years, he needs the drop on the 411! Plus, Superman hears so much, it's just a matter of filtering out the noise for the signal.

The simple utterance of the word "relationship" by Clark (after Perry forces Lois to cover Superman while Clark gets the story she wanted by default) is something that caused Clark all sorts of internal turmoil. It's like that scene with Bruce Wayne and Vicki Vale in "Batman" where Bruce has such a hard time uttering "I'm Batman, I'm Batman, I'm Batman" to Vicki.

As the return to Metropolis for Clark gets rolling, at the core, the Donner version of Clark has really only wanted to win over Lois by being Clark not Superman, but he's now got Richard to also deal with, and Lois has a right to be a little put off by Clark clumsy attempts to interject himself back in her life, who comes back and expects to pick up where their "work" relationship left off 5 years ago, but things change, other people take priority in the here and now. As it stands, Clark's stuck in a worse place than the Phanton Zone, he's in the "friend-from-a-half-decade-ago" zone. But as the film concludes, I can see Clark backing off of "courting" Lois, knowing that Richard is a good man, and would be a good father for his son, and provides the stability that Superman could not. These are the changes that bridge the Donner films with the Singer films. It's a subtle changing of the guard, and I don't have the problems with couching such a re-launch of the Superman film franchise within the beats of the Donner films. It think it's rather respectful of such good source material and inspiration, while paving new ground for future installments.

As to themes, the title is Superman Returns, but returns to what? He left because earth didn't have what he needed for his own persistent existence. Sure, he could save people 24/7, but altruism only goes so far for so long. Now, with the revelations, Superman has a reason to stay, to continue to retain his link to humanity.

I think Superman almost has to be more iconic, and change has to come from the people around him, who are inspired by him. That he doesn't have a massive character arc in his film missed why Superman has endured for so long in media. I think you have to extrapolate these changes that take place with Lois in the film (going from positively annoyed with Superman's absence and sudden return to going back to save him). Superman is more catalyst for change/inspiration because of his altruistic nature, willing to do for others who can't do for themselves. Note the effort by the hospital staff in doing what they can to nurse the man of steel back to health, and the crowds of well-wishers. Superman has this intangible way of getting people to want to do better and be better people. Superman is here not only to save the day, but help people be better version of themselves.

Total disagree. They did a great job making the "Third" superman movie and paying tribute to Donner/Reeves, now the came move the series on.

Next movie: Superman and Lois get back together at the end. Lois' kid saves her just before Superman does, then Lois looks at both of them and they just shrug their shoulders.

Third and final movie: Superman and Lois get married, boy is a Pre-teen or 13 years old. Now that would be cool.

As important as Singer makes Jason, I almost hope they pull an Alien 3 and kill him off in the next one. I just can't see him being anything other than a Robin type character, and we know that's not good.

I laughed there too, but couldn't figure out why Lexy had to take all that time scanning each of the meteorites in the dark when it was labelled. Then I realized I was nitpicking.

Yeah, but as many here have already said, he did a LOT better acting here than X-Men. It would've been nice to see him blow Wolverine off by saying "Screw you guys, i'm going to Australia where I can actually get a real (but still small) part."

Cue the new "Superboy" series on the WB.

errr...I mean, CW.

quick question, if this movie was supposed to be after superman 2, are we supposed to pretend that superman 3 and 4 never happened?