When Bryan Singer wrestled control of Superman Returns from Brett Ratner in the mid 2000's we all rejoiced. Singer had just made the excellent X-Men 2. Ratner was (and remains) a paint by numbers director. He took over X-Men 3. Most of us felt like Superman's gain was very much X-Men's loss. As it turned out, both movies are noteworthy for being very well made but missing something.
When I went to see Superman Returns in 2006 I was excited beyond belief and the movie started quite well. There's a simply incredible rescue scene early on which I hoped would be a tone setter. Check it out:
That ranks right up there with the very best Superman action sequences and Brandon Routh, while clearly channelling Christopher Reeves, did a great job in the movie... except for one thing. A thing that wasn't his fault. A thing that just doesn't sit well with me or anyone else to be honest. Despite all the thrilling heroics in the movie, Superman straight up creeps on Lois Lane. You could argue he has always done this but listening in on conversations between Lois (Kate Bosworth) and her partner Richard White (played by professional safety net guy James Marsden) was just gross... and Superman should never be gross.
Meanwhile Kevin Spacey did his best to dislodge Gene Hackman as the greatest Lex Luthor ever. He came up short. It's not that he was bad, it's just he seemed to be trying very hard to be evil. Hackman just played the character with ease. All of this was compounded by the fact that Superman Returns is a hard remake of Superman 1978 to the point that they added unused footage of Marlon Brando from the '78 movie and what it gains in some incredible technical wizardry carried out by the CGI team it loses in the charm stakes. There's no "you've got me, who's got you" moments here. And how could there be, especially with a kid in danger. This utterly brilliant scene showcases magnificent special fx and I do enjoy it very much but it is caught in that awkward spot between fun and actual genuine terror...
Again, that's just a showstopper of a moment and everyone concerned should be very proud of themselves.
Some people hated the idea that Lois and Superman had a baby. I didn't mind it. Might it have been shit in later movies? Yeah it might have been but we'll never know because Superman Returns was a box office failure. With a production budget of $270m Superman Returns only managed to pull in $391m. That doesn't even include advertising expense which was substantial but let's assume advertising cost fuck all, you might think that $120m is a decent return on investment? You'd be mistaken. Warner Bros don't put $270m into a production to cover expenses and get a few quid back. They throw that kind of money out there to make mega bucks and this movie did not deliver mega bucks.
Superman Returns opened to pretty good reviews and a reasonable opening weekend. So why did it fail to capture the mass imagination? Creepy Superman? Maybe. It's a remake of the first one? Maybe. Or is it that the character just isn't as engaging as he was in 1978? Hard to know. My feeling is that it was all of these things. I actually enjoy the movie on a surface level, I just wish it had cut ties with the 1978 movie. Clearly something needed to change and WB took their time before opting for a complete overhaul.
Enter Zack Snyder!
I went to see Sucker Punch and thought it was appalling. It looked great but, seriously, it was fucking stupid. Apparently everyone else thought it was terrible too as it took a critical mauling and bombed at the box office... big time! It had previously been announced that the director of this movie would be helming the new Superman movie... I was not impressed. But I couldn't argue that the man had a way with a camera. His movies looked fucking beautiful. Box office wise he was a mixed bag. He'd had some success with his well received Dawn of the Dead remake (I hated it) and 300 was a huge hit (wasn't a fan of that either) but he'd stumbled badly with Watchmen though it was received well enough by fans of the books... so this was a risk.
Man Of Steel was announced and Henry Cavill was cast as everyone's favourite Kryptonian... Nobody had a problem with this:
He really is a beautiful man! When the clip came out we all lost our shit. This looked INCREDIBLE. Look at that cast. Look at Costner's delivery of "you are my son". Again, check it out:
And so I went to the cinema to watch this. Despite Snyder's involvement I was excited and hopeful. And I must be 100% honest, I left utterly satisfied. To this day I still like the movie and happily view it from time to time. But we're getting away from the point.
Initial reviews were good. Initial fan reaction was also good but after a few weeks came an enormous backlash from fans who hated the movie. I'll come back to that but nobody could have a problem with the first half of this movie.
Starting on the doomed planet of Krypton we see Russell Crowe pulling off all manner of heroics (surrounded by beautiful and unusual visuals) to get his son off planet so he can survive. It's a fun watch. As is all the stuff leading up to Superman facing off against Zod. This is where the divide happens.
People were unhappy with the level of destruction in the movie and were even more upset by Superman's lack of respect for humanity. "Why wasn't he saving more people?". "This feels more like a Tranformers movie"... you've heard all the gripes. Later, people jumped on the hate wagon and started on the look of the movie. Apparently it wasn't bright enough... Fuck me, everyone's an expert these days!
For me, I thought it looked great and enjoyed that Superman was out of his depth against three fully trained Kryptonian's. There was always gonna be casualties. My one problem with the movie is where Superman and Lois Lane decide to kiss. It's surrounded by rubble where thousands of people have died and it just feels fucking weird. But that's my only issue. I'd rate it as good as something like Age of Ultron and I liked that Superman straight up kills Zod at the end. Again, many didn't like this. "Superman should never murder enemies". Well, I disagree. Zod left him no choice and it was an interesting take on the character. Then again, I don't read comics so maybe that's why I didn't care.
Man Of Steel cost $225m and pulled in $668m. While this was an improvement on Superman Returns, it was still less than WB had hoped for. Once again, Superman just wasn't connecting with audiences the way the studio had hoped he would.
They didn't like Superman Returns because it was too similar to Superman '78 and they didn't like Man Of Steel because it was too different... So what now?
Plot: After the destruction caused by Superman in his battle to save earth from Zod and his merry friends, Bruce Wayne decides the earth doesn't need this shit and decides to take matters into his own hands. Meanwhile Lex Luthor (Jesse Eisenberg) is planning to play the Bat against the Man of Steel. He also brings to life a "Doomsday" creation out of Kryptonian tech and the blood of Zod. Why? Well, he's nuts.
Whatever. We all went to see the face off and when it finally happens, it is brilliant. While Superman could have ended the fight pretty early on, he underestimates The Bat, who has procured Kryptonite and isn't afraid to use it. He quickly deploys it and kicks seven shades of shit out of Superman and is about to kill him only to be stopped by the fact that their mother's share the same name... no really. I still don't get it. But the movie carries on to its conclusion and Wonder Woman steals the show. Check out her intro:
What a moment that is! And moments are what Zack Snyder does well. That's why his clips look fucking amazing. It's the in between where he fumbles. In some cases his fumbling is movie ruining. Having said that, aren't super hero movies all about moments? Perhaps I'm defending him because I quite enjoyed BvS. But once again, it didn't hit the heights expected at the box office. BvS with a $250m budget reeled in a decent $874m. By no means a disaster and certainly made a few quid, WB would have been hoping for a billion. No question.
Since then, Wonder Woman has gone on to become the jewel in the DC crown with a superb movie of her own and a huge box office return. Can we apply her blue print to Superman? No, no we can't. He's already had his origin movie but what we can do is have Patty Jenkins more involved in future Superman movies. She is the best director DC have used so far and seems to have her hand on the pulse when it comes to what the public wants from these kinds of movies.
There were rumours that Mathew Vaughn would take on Superman. He certainly did a great job with X-Men First Class (the best X-Men movie in my humble opinion) and I could get behind this but again I'd love to see Patty Jenkins take a shot. DC should be in a better place and with names like Patty Jenkins, Joss Whedon and Mathew Vaughn hanging around one must be optimistic.
Justice League came out recently and has flopped... big time. Unfortunately the movie never really stood a chance. Snyder had to leave the project due to a family tragedy and Joss Whedon came in to "finish" the movie. As you can imagine, it's a bit of a mess. An enjoyable mess but a mess all the same. With a cost of €300m the movie has only pulled in $652m and with stiff competition in the cinemas now (Jan '18) it won't pull in much more. Those numbers simply are not good enough but the movie did something perfectly: Superman. All moustache bollocks aside (I didn't notice while I watched) Superman is a delight in the movie. After the stupid resurrection scene (I hate resurrections in movies) he is understandably pissed off, particularly with Batman. He singlehandedly beats the shit out of the Justice League before Lois Lane calms him down and he starts to come round. He shows up to save the League from certain destruction at the hands of Steppenwolf and he is both funny and charming while doing so. He also saves a fuckton of people and is just in great form. This, one has to assume is the Joss Whedon influence...
If Superman is to reclaim his place at the top of the superhero food chain, a couple things need to happen. Patty Jenkins should be heavily involved and having Joss Whedon around couldn't hurt either. Cavill has shown he can do this and do it well so he should be trusted to continue. As regards tone, some people would like a more Marvelesque tone, others enjoyed the "darkness" of Snyder's movies. I just think a good story with likable and enjoyable characters is the most important thing. The tone is dictated by the fucking story, not the other way around and if the movie is good you won't care whether it's dark or light.
Of course, given how badly JL has performed at the box office, some thought WB might pull the plug on the whole thing but this would be a mistake. In Wonder Woman they have a bonafide box office super star for this generation. They also have an Aquaman movie deep (ahem) in post production. They will be hoping James Wan (a great director) can work some magic there. If he does and with Wonder Woman 2 on the way, DC might just rescue this whole thing. But it needs a strong Superman. We all do...
Cheers,
G.
