O.k., so now I have seen all the television ads for Superman Returns in addition to the trailer I mentioned the other day. I’m very excited. Between all of them, they paint a pretty good picture of what to expect. If you want to watch them, just go to the Superman Returns home page by Warner Brothers and click on the news link located at the bottom of the page. Looks like Lex Luthor is going to have some stolen super-powers. Hmmm.
I have to mention the article I just read in the June ’06 issue of Wired. There are two articles in this issue, but the best one is the one written by Neil Gaiman and Adam Rogers titled The Myth of Superman beginning on page 158. It was so good, I found myself choked-up at the end. These guys understand Superman better than Brian Singer ever will. This article relates why I, and so many other fans, love Superman so much. I am such a huge fan that ever since I was little, I always wanted to have a tattoo of the superman shield on my chest. That was one of my life-long ambitions, to get that tattoo. But the reason I like Superman so much is because of his divine-like attributes.
Other superheros, being human with enhanced abilities, had human vulnerabilities. Being bound to Earth’s laws of physics for instance, or making decisions based on current human knowledge. Superman defies both of these vulnerabilities, being physically superior and having advanced knowledge and resources. This is why, as the article points out, his “true enemies are disasters like earthquakes and hurricanes” and rogue meteors on a collision course with Earth.
It seems that Brian Singer may have neglected that trivial [fact?] myth, judging by the quick shots of Superman’s battle with a crash-imminent plane housing Lois Lane. As he grabs hold of the plane’s wing, it tears under the stress and sends him hurtling through air as though that reaction had not been anticipated. It looks like Superman has been reverted to just another superhero, like Batman or Spider-man. Because of that, I may have problems with the new movie.
However, Even though I am a hardcore fan of the original Superman (Christopher Reeve) movies, I have often had a problem with scenes such as, in Superman 3, when he freezes the pond and lifts it up by the edge to carry it over the fire. Well, we all know the sheer weight of the ice would have caused it to break off while he was lifting it from the edge. Had he gone under it and picked it up in the middle though, that would have been more realistic.
I guess we all have our own idea as to what should be considered realistic when dealing with impossible situations. Singer brings this issue up in that article when he discusses the cape being CG. Some of the things that look real to one person, just seem too phony to another. I happen to think that Superman having the ability to turn back time the way he did in Superman: The Movie is more realistic than all the evil critics of that “quandary”. By the way, Mr. Singer, it is gravity that keeps us from flying off, not centrifugal force.
