Aug 03 2009
Superman Returns. For Real This Time.
I love talking about comic book movies. Even if it’s starring a character I hate. Although I “meh” Superman, I think he can be done well. And as I mentioned in my last post, Superman might be getting a reboot sooner than expected. The movie will be a full blown re-do, with a new director, actor and style. I support this decision. Superman Returns had some problems, and giving Superman a kid puts a damper on future storylines. Any Clark Kent/Louis Lane romance is going to be bugged down by the super powered child in the room. Nah, it’s best to do what the Hulk did and forget the whole thing ever happened.
Now that we’ve gotten rid of any continuity problems by effectively erasing them, the writers have almost complete freedom to do whatever they want with the character. They can use any villains, cover any stories, anything. My first, humble suggestion is to NOT HAVE THE FIRST VILLAIN BE LEX LUTHOR. I don’t care if he’s the archnemesis: it doesn’t matter. Lex was the big villain in almost all the old Superman movies, and that got old. The best villain was General Zod, and it’s easy to figure out why. Superman could punch the guy. The big blue boy scout needs a villain who he can hit, and one who can hit back just as hard. I don’t know too much about Superman’s villains, but the one that stands out is Brainiac. He has close personal connections to Superman, and can physically take him on. He’s also the kind of guy (robot?) who can have devious master plans. Brainiac gets my vote for villain, and I know they can make that work. Something like Superman’s opportunity to defend his new home, even though he had that chance for Krypton. I’d go see that.
But who should play Superman? Routh probably won’t be coming back if it’s a reboot, so they need a new leading man. No one comes to mind though. Picking someone who can pull off both Superman and Clark Kent is always tricky, and I don’t have any good names in mind. I’ve heard some people suggest Tom Welling, and I disagree with this. If Welling were chosen, it would feel more like “Smallville: The Movie!”. No, a real fresh start works. Warners did have an actor in mind for the Justice League, so he might get another shot at the role. Still, I just can’t think of a guy who can pull off both those roles. And yeah, Lex Luthor can be in the movie. He shouldn’t be the main villain, but that doesn’t mean they can’t set something up for a future confrontation. As long as they clearly make someone like Brainiac the villain, they can do whatever they want with Lex. Kevin Spacey did a great job in Returns, but they still shouldn’t ask him back. if you’re going to do a reboot, everyone has to be replaced.
As for the director, some names have been thrown around. One pair that keeps on coming up is the Wachowski brothers and their protege who’s done alot of movies with them. This doesn’t excite me all that much. Sure, they did the Matrix, but they also did the two sequels. They did V for Vendetta, but they also did Speed Racer. These guys really go all out on a movie, and we will get something really different and unique. But is that what we want? I would like to see a classic Superman movie done very well. Not a clone of the old movies, but nothing like the seizure-fest that was Speed Racer.
Anyway, the movie is on the fast track to get made. If they can get the movie in production by 2011, then they get to avoid nasty legal trouble. The corollary to that statement is that if they don’t get it in production by 2011, their reward is nasty legal trouble. So if it does start filming in 2011, then the movie would surely come out in 2012, which seems likely. Even though the movie isn’t confirmed, it’s only a matter of time before we get a Superman movie of some kind.
