I could sit here and try to insult by telling you ways that Wolverine is the greatest comic book film of all time, I’m not going to because it isn’t. Wolverine is fucking retarded, but it is a brilliant, fun, action packed film that if you love the characters enough, the horrible script and terrible moments of CGI will not hurt that much. Some great acting is on display by Hugh Jackman, who really had that character down and now is that character, he should sign a ten picture deal and just grace us with a Wolverine film every year. My respect for Wolverine is limitless it didn’t try and advertise itself as the film to end all comic book films like Zack Snyder’s watered down Watchmen. Wolverine kind of knows its retarded and embraces his stupidly to blow shit up, if that doesn’t deserve respect I don’t know what does. Ryan Reynolds fulfills his prophecy as Deadpool (a role he had been after for years) and I can’t wait to see him in his own spinoff and in the Wolverine sequels that will follow. I guess my point here is go see Wolverine it’s awesome, he blows up a car with his fucking hand!
Now onto Superman Returns, this is probably the greatest reboot of all time, Batman Begins was brilliant but that wasn’t as much a reboot as the complete antithesis of the last campy cheesy disaster installment that was Batman and Robin. Returns stays in the same universe as Richard Donner’s original 1978 film and builds on the characters and how they have changed, we are rewarded with not having to see another origin and get to see Superman “return” to a world that has learned to live without him. Their quick acceptance of him is rather strange but then again he does save a huge jet plane hurtling towards a stadium full of spectators in one of the most exhilarating action scenes of all time. The cast are talented enough to step into these characters, Kevin Spacey nails Lex Luthor and Brandon Routh makes as good a Clark Kent as anyone could of. The film also has the same feel of the original movies which liked to build upon the relationship of Clark and Lois instead of superman saving the day every fifteen minutes. The film doesn’t move at light speed instead it builds up the tension and the spectacle of Luthor’s plots to conquer. It was always going to be hard to market superman to a new generation, Batman has very much been in the public consciousness since the first feature film in 1989 and has stayed popular for nearly 20 years. The last time Superman had such popularity was in 1980 after Superman 2 was released, and then in the same fashion as Batman, Superman 3 was met with harsh criticism and the next sequel was the nail in the coffin.
A new superman film had been in development for over 15 years, these included Superman Reborn, Superman Lives (which had a draft written by Kevin Smith and at one point had Tim Burton attached to direct,) Superman Aftermath, Batman vs. Superman (which at one point had Wolfgang Peterson attached to direct) and Superman Flyby which had McG and Brett Ratner attached to direct at times. Luckily all of these projects failed and Bryan Singer was brought in to direct Superman Returns. Singer opted out of directing the third film in the X-Men series which was probably one of the best moves in history by anyone because we all know how that film turned out.
Superman Returns has some amazing special effects (when he is shot in the eye!), the action scenes are brilliantly choreographed, and the look of the film is perfect, the pace moves wonderfully allowing moments of reflection after each action beat and characters are constantly entertaining and watchable. Sensibly Singer cast an unknown as Superman and he carries the film well, and Kate Bosworth nicely steps in as Lois Lane. James Marsden plays Lois Lane’s partner brilliantly, it’s a small role but it so interesting to watch how he deals with Lois and Superman’s previous relationship.
This film works so much it’s maybe the perfect Superhero film, maybe the perfect film, it is a cut above the rest, and Singer proves he is one of the best directors of our time. Unfortunately the film only managed about $390 million worldwide on a large budget of about $210 million, which whilst still profitable was not nearly as successful as the studio hoped for, the film is a classic and should hopefully gain a larger audience over the years. For me this is how you reboot a series, a brilliant film.
The new Star Trek film was released last Friday, and it was just a brilliant triumph, whilst the film had some of the largest gaping plot holes of all time, it was still an incredible movie and very well done, normally the amount of problems in this film would have annoyed me, but for some reason the action and cast were so entertaining that I was able to over look these aspects. The only reason why I mention Star Trek is because a sequel for Superman Returns has been announced with Singer to direct, he promises “to go all Wrath of Khan on it,” and to go Wrath of Khan on anything is bound to be fucking incredible.
Oh and whilst were talking about reboots, to add in on Niks previous post, Marc Foster fucked up Bond more than Die Another Day. Quantum of Solace - The Worst Bond film ever made, ruined the rebirth that was Casino Royale, how is this the same guy that directed the brilliant Stranger Than Fiction? What the fuck happend?
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