Superman has been deconstructed multiple times by many authors. I am very happy they didn’t go that route here. Every fairytale doesn’t need to be Shrek. Sometimes you just want to hear a fairytale.
This was my feeling too. I saw it yesterday. Thought it was just “ok”. Felt many of the parts leaned too far toward campy and tip-toed into “stupid”.
But others seem to like it. I may just be too old at this point in my life to appreciate it.
I saw it Tuesday and loved it. The whole message of kindness and positivity is just what the world needs more of at this time. I didn’t think it was too silly because comic books are inherently silly. I also think that its important to remember, no matter which IP from childhood, that we are not children anymore and no movie or show, no matter how well done, will ever make us feel like we are 10 years old again. I think that many people that are disappointed by sequels or remakes of their childhood favorites forget to calibrate their expectations around this fact.
The last 40 or so minutes of this movie are terrific, top tier stuff. Just excellent. The opening 1+ hours? Well, pretty good. Not amazing, though. Just pretty good.
So, uh, we are still using the Superman theme from John Williams? I guess…I mean, might be time to move on.
Loved the new guy as Superman, though. Lex Luthor was also terrific, and Nathan Fillion was a fun Green Lantern character.
Anyway, check it out. I hear people are seeing politics in this movie. I agree with Nathan Fillion who just said, “Come on, guy, it’s just a movie.” This was indeed just a movie. Nothing hugely political.
Yeah, Red Cross by me is giving away one movie pass as well. I’m not scheduled to donate until next Friday, so I hope it doesn’t have an expiration date. I already saw Superman and have zero plans to see this Fantastic Four movie coming out.
No, it’s not. That Superman theme is iconic and should remain in future films.
Agreed, much as the Star Wars theme is iconic (another Williams masterpiece). Though doing a variation of it inspired by the original as an homage is something I appreciate when done properly.
I saw this movie the other day and that’s pretty much what I remember hearing in it; a variation of the John Williams theme in and among an original score.
Just wish they’d worked in the “Can You Read My Mind” theme as well.
Managed to see this in a matinee showing the other day and loved it. Loved it. Loved it.
Quick random thoughts…
I want to echo those who are pointing out that this really does feel like a silver age comic come to life. Much more “comic booky” and then even recent Marvel movies. I also remember thinking as I was watching the fight scene with Superman and the other heroes against the giant Kaiju monster that it looked and felt like a live action version of a JLA comic penned by Mark Waid or Geoff Johns circa 2003 when I was at the height of my comic collecting personally. Big action. Big characters. Lots of colors. Nothing is taken too seriously. And I mean all of that in the best way. I don’t think I stopped smiling for a good 20 minutes.
It didn’t feel like a “Superman Movie” as I’ve come to expect them. This really felt like a quick lens into the DCU as I know it from the comic books. This felt more like an actual Justice League movie than Zack Snyder’s from 10 years ago. Even if all of the big name characters weren’t accounted for.
Loved David Corenswet and Nicholas Hoult. I thought they both did fantastic jobs.
Mr. Terrific needs to be a breakout character. I want him in a solo movie.
Krypto of course steals the show anytime he shows up. I also love that he did to Lex what Superman couldn’t.
Loved hearing the familiar strains of the classic John Williams theme mixed in with an otherwise original score. That Superman theme is easily as iconic as Star Wars or Indiana Jones.
Not sure what James Gunn’s age is off the top of my head, but it’s like he reached directly into my brain and pushed my nostalgia button.
Highly recommended to anyone who loves classic superhero comics. Can’t wait to see it again.
And yes it’s a nice temporary antidote to all of the cynicism that has overtaken our country in the present day.
Hard no. That theme is Superman.
We have very different ideas of what constitutes wonder and grandeur.
Oh, come on. The 1978 Superman movie was phenomenal on the big screen, especially to a ten-year old kid with nothing to compare it to. It was the first blockbuster superhero movie, and it took its source material seriously. (Something that the campy ‘60s Batman TV series did not do.) I’ll never forget watching the opening scenes in the theater as a kid and being awestruck. And while Christopher Reeve was relatively unknown, Marlon Brando was a real actor, akin to casting Alec Guinness in Star Wars the year before.
To be honest, by 1978, Gene Hackman and Ned Beatty could act circles around Brando who growingly just looked bored in the small cash-grab cameos he could be enticed into taking.
I really hope to see a lot of Mr. Terrific costumes this Halloween! After Black Panther came out, EVERY black kid I saw at Trunk or Treat had their Panther costume on. Terrific’s face paint is both easy and COOL.
James Gunn made playlists on Spotify for the movie and all the characters. My brother really liked Mr. Terrific’s - it’s all prog rock.
Sure. No thanks to Brando, though.
Sure. But he was neither grand nor wonderful by that point.
He’s adequate in the movie. A no-name could have equaled him, but he didn’t mess it up or give it zero effort.
Reeve, however, was not impressed.
As a Juilliard-trained actor, Christopher Reeve would know if Marlon Brando was phoning it in or not. Which he apparently did.
The reason why Brando was cast was to give the movie gravitas. Of course, if he hadn’t merely phoned in his performance, then he could have done even more for the film.
(Unlike Sir Alec Guinness in Star Wars. He reportedly thought that the film was schlock with “rubbish” dialogue, but you would never know that from his performance.)
Note that Marlon Brando received top billing for Superman, followed by Gene Hackman, and only then followed by Christopher Reeve.
In any event, that all went over my head when I was a kid. I just knew that the movie was a blockbuster, that it was larger than life, and that the presence of someone like Marlon Brando (a two-time Best Actor Academy Award winner) added to the reception the film received and the impact it made at the time.
There’s a reason Christopher Reeve felt the need to push back on what Brando really added to the film in the Letterman clip a few years later.
That’s because Sir Guinness was a true professional, and a true professional gives a professional performance regardless of circumstances. Which might also be why he earned a “sir” in front of his name and Brando didn’t.
He didn’t even bother remembering his lines. They were all on cue cards.
There was also the matter that he wasn’t British.