In the past 12 years Warner Brothers has tried a couple of times to revive the Superman film franchise. Which live-action film from the past 12 years is the best?
Poll Superman 2006-2018
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Superman Returns is underrated and unfairly maligned (particularly the nonsensical "deadbeat dad" criticism -- he didn't know Lois was pregnant when he left, people). And Brandon Routh does a splendid job at the impossible task of filling Christopher Reeve's boots.
Snyder's movies represent a fundamental misunderstanding and misuse of the character, as everybody recognizes and acknowledges, except people who are really weird and wrong. They do (presumably by accident) get a few things right, such as Clark's beautifully realized relationship with Lois Lane. All of CK/Supes's best scenes in MoS and BvS are when he's sharing the screen with Amy Adams's wonderfully human and humanizing Lois.
JL starts to reclaim Superman from Snyder a little. We'll see how things go from here.
The Donner cut of Superman II, while very interesting and in many ways superior to the original, doesn't really belong in this discussion or on the poll, I don't think.
Snyder's movies represent a fundamental misunderstanding and misuse of the character, as everybody recognizes and acknowledges, except people who are really weird and wrong. They do (presumably by accident) get a few things right, such as Clark's beautifully realized relationship with Lois Lane. All of CK/Supes's best scenes in MoS and BvS are when he's sharing the screen with Amy Adams's wonderfully human and humanizing Lois.
JL starts to reclaim Superman from Snyder a little. We'll see how things go from here.
The Donner cut of Superman II, while very interesting and in many ways superior to the original, doesn't really belong in this discussion or on the poll, I don't think.
This is wildly inaccurate as well as extremely condescending.
Personally, my vote goes to BvS, but only because Justice League isn't really a Superman movie per se.
It's accurate enough. As for condescending, I thought about putting a
after the "weird and wrong" part, but assumed people with a sense of humor would get that I was playing a little (and your reaction doesn't really contradict that assumption).
No, it isn't.
As for condescending, I thought about putting a
I'm sorry, but winking emojis can't "excuse" condescending comments.
I voted Superman Returns. It's not a great movie, but Routh and Spacey are great and good in it. I haven't seen the Donner Cut.
As far as Man of Steel... it's a terrible Superman movie. It's a fever dream of chaos and destruction. Cavil's potential as Superman is wasted. And I actively hated Pa Kent's... "Nah, better for you to not use your powers to save people..OH, GOD, I'm DEAD." The less said about BvS (MARTHA!) the better. Justice League isn't a terrible movie, but, not particularly good. It felt like a really expensive B movie or made for TV movie. I admit, however, I was happy when Superman punched the CGI baddie.
So... because Superman Returns is overall a better movie and Routh does a great job, it gets the vote. Cavill in his BRIEF appearance as Superman in Justice League was pretty good, but, because it's not that good of a movie...
As far as Man of Steel... it's a terrible Superman movie. It's a fever dream of chaos and destruction. Cavil's potential as Superman is wasted. And I actively hated Pa Kent's... "Nah, better for you to not use your powers to save people..OH, GOD, I'm DEAD." The less said about BvS (MARTHA!) the better. Justice League isn't a terrible movie, but, not particularly good. It felt like a really expensive B movie or made for TV movie. I admit, however, I was happy when Superman punched the CGI baddie.
So... because Superman Returns is overall a better movie and Routh does a great job, it gets the vote. Cavill in his BRIEF appearance as Superman in Justice League was pretty good, but, because it's not that good of a movie...
Superman Returns.
It captured the right magic of Superman at times. Routh was the best cast Superman of this era, and nailed the Clark/Reporter Clark/Superman identity right.
It was dragged down by Bosworth miscast as Lois, minimal action, and the Jason subplot.
The funniest part is WB was on a better path with Superman 12 years ago with a Superman film they deemed a misstep.... than they are now.
It captured the right magic of Superman at times. Routh was the best cast Superman of this era, and nailed the Clark/Reporter Clark/Superman identity right.
It was dragged down by Bosworth miscast as Lois, minimal action, and the Jason subplot.
The funniest part is WB was on a better path with Superman 12 years ago with a Superman film they deemed a misstep.... than they are now.
Superman Returns I remember seeing it in the theater and finding it horrible. Really, as I sat through it I kept thinking that I was more entertained by the Richard Lester version of Superman II (the Donner cut wouldn't be released till SR was released on DVD) than the joke that was on the screen. Plus I couldn't help but laugh at how bad Returns looked on the screen, since parts of the movie looked like it was being projected from a videotape (later when I got home I looked up the type of camera that the film had been shot on and it turned out to be a HD camera (the Panasonic Genesis which could record to the Panavision SSR-1 in Uncompressed 4:4:4, or the Sony Sony SRW-1 HDCAM SR VTR---Returns looked more like it had come from HDCAM SR tape than from Uncompressed) as some parts, especially the night shots with the dark blue/black skies since I could see smeared pixels on a screen in a theater that I knew was projecting from film. Then when it was released on DVD, the most common DVD format that I could find was the combo HD-DVD/DVD format (I only had a DVD player at the time so I could play the DVD side) in multiple stores, but I left them as I didn't want to pay $35 for one of the worst films ever made! I finally found a regular DVD copy in a pawn shop for about $5 a few years later just so that I could add it to my DVD collection of Christopher Reeve Superman films. I now have it on Blu-Ray, but only because I bought the Christoper Reeve Superman Blu-Ray box set that came out around 2012. I know a lot of people say that Superman IV is the worst of the Reeve films, but it's better than Superman Returns. Even the 1984 Supergirl is more interesting than Superman Returns. And I remember the night that I saw Returns in the theater, I went home and immediately put one of the Black & White episodes of the George Reeves Adventures Of Superman on and I found that, even with its primitive special effects, it was more enjoyable to watch than the movie I had just come home from seeing. (I might've even put on Superman And the Mole Men.) Also, Superman's costume was horrible in this movie. His costume and cape looked like they were made out of sheets of beeswax!
Man Of Steel I only bought on Blu-Ray because I did not get a chance to see it in theaters. And it's a good thing, because even now I have only gotten through about 1 hour and 10 minutes of it. I thought 'Superman Returns was bad, but Man Of Steel sunk to an all-new low. I found that the first hour just dragged on because it was a repeat of Superman's origin. And it stunk. Sure his origin has been told on film and on television before, however, MOS's had no originality to it, it just felt like an unoriginal retread of the origin story. The only good thing with MOS was that the Blu-Ray was $20 while the Marvel movies at the time were about $40 on Blu-Ray. This was suppose to be a movie that launched a movie franchise/universe, and really, it seemed to rely more on CGI and SFX to move the movie forward than a good story, and I've been trying not to compare it to the first Christopher Reeve Superman: The Movie from the 70's, but really Superman: The Movie has nothing to fear in terms of being knocked off its pedestal of the Best Superman movie ever or even the best Superman launch movie. When you think of the three Superman movies that have launched film series or TV series, I have to go Superman: The Movie (Christopher Reeve series, including Supergirl & Superman Returns), Superman Versus the Mole Men (1950's George Reeve Adventures Of Superman), Man Of Steel (2010's DC Universe).
Batman Vs. Superman again I didn't see it in the theater, and I bought the Blu-Ray that was supposedly an extended edition, but really I found that this movie should've just been a short movie, since I kept walking out fo the room while watching it, and yet I still got the story. Really, they should've made it about a 20 minute movie.
Justice League I still haven't seen, and considering Warner's poor track record I don't think that I want to, or if I find it on Blu-Ray or DVD at a garage sale or pawn shop for a couple of bucks, maybe.
Superman II: The Richard Donner Cut I must say was an improvement on the original 1982 Richard Lester version. Although, Zod still was not an interesting villain, and even when I compare him with the Zod from Smallville, there just seems to be something missing in both of them to make Zod just not that intersting. But still, out of the movies that have come out since 2006, and even though I place at 4th from the bottom in terms of the Christopher Reeve franchise (just after Superman 1, 3 & 4, but before Supergirl and the Richard Lester version of 2 & Superman Returns), the Richard Donner Cut is the best of the movies. My favorite scene is where Lois tricks Clark into revealing himself as Superman. Sure it's made up of takes from Christopher Reeve and Margot Kidder's try-out's, its better than the tripping over the bear rug that Lester put into the theatrical version of 2 that had Clark fall into the fire and not get burned (considering just how quickly he got out of the fire, I don't see how Lois could guess that he was Superman).. The non-loaded gun scene was way better. But with the Richard Donner Cut you can also see how the 2 movies were originally suppose to be a Part 1 & a Part 2.
Man Of Steel I only bought on Blu-Ray because I did not get a chance to see it in theaters. And it's a good thing, because even now I have only gotten through about 1 hour and 10 minutes of it. I thought 'Superman Returns was bad, but Man Of Steel sunk to an all-new low. I found that the first hour just dragged on because it was a repeat of Superman's origin. And it stunk. Sure his origin has been told on film and on television before, however, MOS's had no originality to it, it just felt like an unoriginal retread of the origin story. The only good thing with MOS was that the Blu-Ray was $20 while the Marvel movies at the time were about $40 on Blu-Ray. This was suppose to be a movie that launched a movie franchise/universe, and really, it seemed to rely more on CGI and SFX to move the movie forward than a good story, and I've been trying not to compare it to the first Christopher Reeve Superman: The Movie from the 70's, but really Superman: The Movie has nothing to fear in terms of being knocked off its pedestal of the Best Superman movie ever or even the best Superman launch movie. When you think of the three Superman movies that have launched film series or TV series, I have to go Superman: The Movie (Christopher Reeve series, including Supergirl & Superman Returns), Superman Versus the Mole Men (1950's George Reeve Adventures Of Superman), Man Of Steel (2010's DC Universe).
Batman Vs. Superman again I didn't see it in the theater, and I bought the Blu-Ray that was supposedly an extended edition, but really I found that this movie should've just been a short movie, since I kept walking out fo the room while watching it, and yet I still got the story. Really, they should've made it about a 20 minute movie.
Justice League I still haven't seen, and considering Warner's poor track record I don't think that I want to, or if I find it on Blu-Ray or DVD at a garage sale or pawn shop for a couple of bucks, maybe.
Superman II: The Richard Donner Cut I must say was an improvement on the original 1982 Richard Lester version. Although, Zod still was not an interesting villain, and even when I compare him with the Zod from Smallville, there just seems to be something missing in both of them to make Zod just not that intersting. But still, out of the movies that have come out since 2006, and even though I place at 4th from the bottom in terms of the Christopher Reeve franchise (just after Superman 1, 3 & 4, but before Supergirl and the Richard Lester version of 2 & Superman Returns), the Richard Donner Cut is the best of the movies. My favorite scene is where Lois tricks Clark into revealing himself as Superman. Sure it's made up of takes from Christopher Reeve and Margot Kidder's try-out's, its better than the tripping over the bear rug that Lester put into the theatrical version of 2 that had Clark fall into the fire and not get burned (considering just how quickly he got out of the fire, I don't see how Lois could guess that he was Superman).. The non-loaded gun scene was way better. But with the Richard Donner Cut you can also see how the 2 movies were originally suppose to be a Part 1 & a Part 2.
I love that you just called Superman and the Mole Men (note: not "Versus") a better Superman movie than Man of Steel. Because it's totally true.
![15209230785_7c40ef685a_o[1].png](https://www.trekbbs.com/data/attachments/5/5105-b924b9fe78564ce436556195e0156e3f.jpg "15209230785_7c40ef685a_o[1].png")
Agree.
Sigh. It feels like ages since I’ve seen the Cumbernope.
The Smallville S3 episode "Memoria" is, by light years, the greatest live-action Superman story; it's a legitimate work of art in a franchise of superhero silliness. That said, while I think it would play pretty well to a series newcomer, it is a third-season TV episode, so it's hard to call it a movie.
Ergo, the best self-contained live-action Superman film to date is the Smallville Pilot. It's not perfect, but the rest ranges from boring and mediocre (Superman Returns) to flat-out awful (Justice League).
Ergo, the best self-contained live-action Superman film to date is the Smallville Pilot. It's not perfect, but the rest ranges from boring and mediocre (Superman Returns) to flat-out awful (Justice League).
I think that Superman returns had the best potential, and Routh did a great Job as Kent and Superman
The one thing that I really don’t like with Returns and the DCU is that the try to present and treat Superman as a god, whereas the Christopher Reeve/George Reeves/Kirk Allyn films treated and presented him more as a human with super powers. Sure he’s an alien but he was raised as a human, not as a god.
^ Superman Returns exists in the same universe as the Reeve films.
I voted Superman Returns. I always enjoyed this movie, it's far from perfect but I enjoyed what action there was, and the nostalgia from the score. I enjoyed Man of Steel too, but only for the visuals and destruction (which was way too much), it didn't really feel like a Superman film to me though. Batman v Superman was just 'meh' and I haven't seen JL yet.
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