Superman movie gets new director and a lot of questions

Fans of Superman have something to look forward to, and that’s a new Superman movie, but the premise, and director have some wondering if it’s a smart move. Either way, WB is putting a rush on the property in an attempt to start production before 2011 so they don’t lose the rights to the franchise.

The first big announcement is Dawn of the Dead director Zack Snyder will be directing the reboot/sequel movie with Christopher Nolan helping with the project. You’ll remember Snyder as the director of 300 and Watchmen, and while both had varying degrees of success, he wasn’t WB’s first choice. Apparently, Black Swan director Darren Aronofsky was the first choice. I think Snyder is an interesting choice, and while Aronofsky has the bigger name, this could very easily make or break the director.

I’m sure there were plenty of reasons to choose Snyder to helm such a big movie, but reports are saying the main reason is due to the script being rushed, and not completed, and WB wanting to go through with the movie and not wait for someone to redo the script. Apparently they are counting on Snyder to rework the script and shoot the movie, which could be interesting. The movie is set to revolve around Clark Kent traveling the world as a journalist, trying to decide whether to become Superman or not and will feature General Zod as the villain.

There aren’t many clues as to who Snyder could be looking at to wear the cape, but rumors are swirling, and it seems Superman Returns star Brandon Routh is not one of them, despite doing a respectable job in the previous movie. WB show Smallville is ending it’s series this year, maybe they’ll get Tom Welling, which would be kind of fitting, considering the end of Smallville is said to have Welling’s Clark Kent pickup the Superman costume.

So what do you think of Snyder as director? Who would you cast as the big, blue boy scout?

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Nolan has the whole DC world in his hand

After Brian Singer’s less than enthusiastic rendition of the blue boy scout known as Superman Returns, nearly everyone had thought that Superman would be dead. When the studio wanted to do a reboot, all geekdom let out a small grown, not wanting to see another tale of how Superman learns to be Superman and stalks Lois Lane. And, after the rights to Supe’s origin story were lost back to the estate of the original creators, it seemed the 2006 Superman Returns would be the last time we saw such a movie.

Well, there seems to be good news from the DC camp in the form of Christopher Nolan. On the heels of news he is working on a third Batman script, it was announced the director of The Dark Knight is to be in a “godfather role” for Superman to ensure the project is successful. There is no word on whether he will direct the project, but most sources are doubtful.

The new movie, which is supposed to go in a completely new direction will be without an origin story, and will be a reboot of sorts. There was talk of a grittier Superman that is more modern and real, similar to the newer graphic novels, as opposed to the boyscout of the movies.

So, would you like to see a grittier Superman? How about a reboot? Does anyone even care about the last son of Krypton?

Is Superman dead? Are we responsible?

Superman is dead, and we killed him.

I read that title the other day, and I don’t have a link, so if anyone has it, I will post it here. The title got me thinking, and the article was even more interesting. The idea goes like this; Superman, the big, blue Boy Scout that stands for truth, justice and the American way can never be appreciated anymore. The world needs imperfection, it needs its dark place, and Batman, with all his flaws, his mortality and scarred psyche is a better fit with today’s America, leaving Superman out in the cold.

There is some interesting support to this hypothesis, and that is the same support for any argument in the movie business, the Benjamins. Superman comics have seen a considerable downturn from the days of yore, along with Marvels alternative, Captain America seeing the death of that character sometime ago. Also, the article credits the poor box office showing of Superman Returns to this hypothesis. Meanwhile, characters like Wolverine and Batman have both seen their renaissance and have shown massive popularity with their movies and comic sales soaring. Reports on the third Batman run rampant, and the second Wolverine movie, despite poor critical reviews is in pre-production already, so there maybe something to this.

Let me address the movie, Superman Returns, a movie that had many flaws. I agree the Superman in that movie has clearly lost his edge, I mean he was nearly killed by a mortal Lex Luthor and his thugs. The movie was panned for showing a lack of creativity and looking like a Richard Donnor remake. The other main critique in the movie was the lack of action, replaced by an increase in stalker-ness (not a word?). Execs seem to think the new Superman needs to be darker, like the Dark Knight, which set all kinds of records at the box office.

The problem here, in my opinion was three-fold. First off, the script was absolutely terrible, with the story being poorly thought out and kinda silly. The second was the direction; a lack of action and a very whiney Superman makes for a boring film. Thirdly, Superman had a very un-original villain in Lex Luthor. While Kevin Spacey played a great Luthor, we have seen him as a lead villain in nearly all Superman movies, and in this movie, his scheme was less than brilliant, I mean, he wanted real estate! I think, without a worthy challenge, Superman can never show his true worth. Dark Knight on the other hand, had two amazing villains in the infamous Joker, and an incredible two-face; while the movie excelled at not making a whiney Batman and focusing more on a bad-ass Batman, and showed it with the amazing amount of action.

Now, with the reason why the movie tanked being more about execution, and less about American values, the core idea is still valid, in my opinion. I do believe the days of the blue Boy Scout become increasingly numbered. Smallville is still going after 8 seasons, but mainly because of the flaws of Clark Kent and the ability to bring forth some great bad guys. I do believe society enjoys the flaws of the hero more than the strengths. As Willem Defoe’s Green Goblin said “the one thing they love more than a hero is to see a hero fail, fall, die trying” and while that isn’t always true, I do agree we like to see our hero’s fight through adversity and overcome their inner demons. What kind of inner demons and obstacles can a superman really have? If there are any, we haven’t seen them yet in movie form.

So, either Superman gets a raspy voice, a scarred psyche and a really great villain, or we can say goodbye to a hero that was an icon, and has now fallen to something left for tales from the days of yore.