The Modern Day Superman In Film Review Series - The Inevitable Comparison

Written In April 2014

Now let’s get into the basic criteria, I’ll be grading these movies by:

1. General Plot Development And Overall Simplicity In Story Telling
2. Quality Of The Action
3. Best Superman
4. Best Lois Lane
5. Best Villain
6. Best Supporting Cast
7. Who Told The Story Best

So, Khan, my dear friend, if you would please.

Plot Development And Story Telling Simplicity

This part’s easy. I can pretty much tell you what Man of Steel is about in one sentence without actually mentioning anything about Superman; “Two members of a dying alien race are forced into conflict over the future of Earth with one ultimately being forced to kill the other to protect this planet." Can I do the same with Superman Returns? Not really. "An alien traveler returns to earth after having left five years earlier in order to see if his home planet was truly gone. Meanwhile, his human partner has moved on from him and his old enemy has come out of hiding in order to seek a new way to cause chaos. The traveler hopes to rekindle his old love affair but finds that he can’t do to her being committed to another man. However, when the traveler’s former lover and her new family are placed in jeopardy, the traveler must sacrifice himself to save them. But the traveler is inexplicably saved by his old flame and finds that his former partner’s child is his own, and so then promises to never abandon his new home.” It may seem like I’m making Returns more complicated than it is, but that’s really the best I could actually some it up. That’s not to say that complicated stories are a bad thing, but a simple story to tell usually works best in Superhero, Scifi, Action, and Fantasy based movies. Now this again doesn’t apply to all movies of that genre, The Lord of the Rings films have multiple subplots and side storylines going at the same time as the main plot which is to get this one object back to the place it was created at so it can be destroyed. But the thing there is, those films, while they work fine on their own, they work best as three parts of one whole movie. There’s a film like Star Trek II: The Wrath of KHAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAANNNNNNNNNNNN!!!!!

I’m sorry. Let me rephrase that. There’s a film like Star Trek II: The Wrath of Khan, that is a fairly complicated film. It’s a movie about hate, revenge, life and death, youth, age, hope, gay aliens, etc. All of these themes are present in one movie alone, but the movie primarily focuses on two characters only. William Shatner’s Admiral James T. Kirk and Ricardo Montabalhan’s Khan Noonien Singh. This movie tries to focus on four characters. Lex Luthor, Superman-The Superhero, Superman-The Creepy Ex-Boyfriend, and Clark Kent. And then it tries to give a smaller amount of attention to Lois’s current beau and their kid. Singer, there are two things people hate when it comes to fiction. Kids and Love Triangles. You’ve unknowingly given everyone who was interested in seeing this movie the bird by giving us this.

Man of Steel however, while an origin story, only ever shows things that are integral to the plot or the development of the characters. We see Clark before he becomes Superman working at a Canadian bar. Why? Because it’s here we see A. This Clark Kent cares a great deal about people. When a female coworker is being harassed by some douche, he tells him to knock it off or he’s going to have him leave. And B. It sets up the next scene where we meet Lois and Clark finds out who he really is. Everything is shown with deliberate intentions.

While with Superman Returns, you can tell that Bryan Singer and the writers thought that certain ideas could be really cool, but had no idea how to correctly execute them. “Let’s give Superman an illegitimate son! A lot more people these days are having children out of wedlock than they were in the late 70s and early 80s, maybe this will make Superman more relatable to modern audiences!” Except you’re forgetting that Lois has no idea she ever slept with Superman, you idiots! You’ve basically made Superman not only a stalker ex-boyfriend AND a deadbeat dad, you’ve made it so that he’s an implied rapist!

So yeah, like I said. Easy answer, MOS told it’s story much better.

Quality Of The Action

Well again, that’s an easy question. Man of Steel was done by an action director! I mean Singer’s done great action before, like I said in my Superman Returns review, X2: X-Men United has some of the best action I’ve ever seen in a superhero movie. It’s intense, it’s kinetic, it’s well choreographed, it’s well acted, the stakes are high

And this is 2006, we are not before the time when CG can create intense and exciting action sequences. We are three years after the Return of the King, two years after Spider-Man 2, one year after Peter Jackson’s King Kong, and a year after this we’ll be given Transformers, Zack Snyder’s 300, Spider-Man 3, and Die Hard 4! You can make great action sequences with CGI!

And yet, pretty much all this Superman was relegated to was stopping bullets and catching or lifting heavy things. And in one scene, he outright takes a beating from Lex when exposed to massive amounts of Kryptonite. Singer, I understand that you wanted to make Lex the villain and so you don’t have a lot of opportunities for big set pieces, but give me something here man! I know you can do action, show me something cool!

Besides the eyeshot thing, oh my God!

Meanwhile, Zack Snyder not only did 300 (and produced it’s recent sequel) he also directed 2009’s Watchmen! Which was not short on action! Take a look at this sequence with Rorschach. Screw cops, right? So you know what I’m saying when I say that in Man of Steel, Snyder stepped up his game big time! Take a look at this thing of beauty. C'mon Singer, give me something here! What about that scene where Lex’s thugs beat Superman up, what do you got there?

Okay, something I find noteworthy in both scenes is Superman is seen trying to get away from his foes. You know what the difference is? In the former scene, Clark is trying to get away quick enough to get back on his feat so he can keep fighting, while at the same time trying to get the bad guys just a little bit further away from the civilians. While in the latter scene, it comes off like Clark is trying to run away. He doesn’t try to fight back, except for when he grabs Lex’s foot, It comes off like he’s given up and he just wants to the pain to stop. This is something I take genuine issue with. Superman is the kind of guy who would fight back even if he were powerless. If he came to stop Lex Luthor and found out that he was weak here, he’d still give it his everything.

So yeah, once again, I’m giving this to Man of Steel.

And now for the big question, Best Superman

This one, is not as a question to answer because these two actors were going for different things.

Brandon Routh was basically directed to give his best Christopher Reeve impersonation, which I think he pulls of nicely. While Henry Cavill, the first and only British actor to play Superman, is the first big screen actor to go for a separate take from Christopher Reeve. His Superman has to convey authority to the point that you feel the need to listen to him, but not to the point that you’re genuinely intimidated by him. And also, his Superman is the first one to be a badass! This guy gets into some serious fights throughout this film, and he even wins a couple of ‘em! I know Reeve’s Superman fought Zod and his cronies back in Superman II, but do you really consider this to be an acceptable action piece? Personally, I don’t think so.

Now I think there are two moments in these movies that are unequivocally Superman to me. One is this scene where Superman tells everyone not worry about flying, it’s still a very safe way to travel. The other is when Supes is being interrogated by Lois and the General.

Ultimately, I wanna call it a tie, but I’m gonna go ahead and say Henry. He just reminds me a lot of the Superman I loved to watch as a kid when I turned on Cartoon Network to watch Justice League. Always authoritative, but never intimidating. Always polite, but never a pushover. Perfection!

And that’s no slight towards Brandon, he does the best with what he has!

Best Lois Lane

Which of these ladies would you say looks like a Pulitzer Prize winning journalist? Which of these ladies would you say looks like someone who has worked in journalism for over a decade? Which of these ladies looks like a woman who could single handedly piss off people like the Pentagon? If you’re confused, I’ll give you a hint, it’s not the girl in purple.

No, but seriously, it takes several years to get a degree in journalism and then a good while to get an actual job writing something and then even longer to actually come up with something worth winning a Pulitzer Prize over. They don’t just hand those things over to anyone. So based on that, Kate Bosworth was unqualified to begin with. She was 23 at the time of this movie’s release! Amy Adams however turned 39 two months later.

But even looking at the actual performances, Amy comes off like she IS Lois freaking Lane! Kate comes off more like a really smart girl on the school paper. I could easily see her one day becoming Lois Lane, but as is, I cannot see her as Lois Lane now. Point for Man of Steel!

Best Villain

Now THIS is the tough part. Not only do you have two amazing actors in these roles, but their both playing two of the most iconic Superman villains ever brought to life.

In Superman Returns’s corner, we have the great Kevin Spacey as Lex flippin’ Luthor! In Man of Steel’s we have the one and only Michael Shannon as the mighty General Zod! These two gentlemen turned excellent performances, in fact, while I am extremely excited to see Jesse Eisenberg as Lex, I would have loved to see Man of Steel 2 pull a Casino Royale and bring back Kevin. After seeing him as Frank Underwood on Netflix’s House of Cards, he could’ve owned it as this new DC Cinematic Universe’s Lex! But hey, we’ll see what Jesse brings to the table, I’m sure it'l be great!

But speaking of Man of Steel, we’ve got a certain General to talk about. Now, after seeing this movie in theaters, I decided to do a review series on Michael Bay’s directorial efforts, and what I gathered from it is that Michael Bay really knows how to waste talented actors! Especially Michael Shannon, and what’s worse is he wasted the guy in two separate movies!

Here he is playing a fool in Pearl Harbor

And here he is playing a racist fool in Bad Boys II, which is a God awful movie! It’s far worse than anything you could possibly hate about these movies.

Anywho, let’s talk about the villains themselves. Zod is the definition of Lawful Evil. He outright spells it out, I will do anything and everything to ensure the survival of my race, even it means destroying a whole other race. You can tell at times, he doesn’t want to be doing these things, but he feels like it was the only way to ensure what he needed to ensure.

Lex on the other hand has ZERO moral qualms with anything he’s doing. When his henchwoman, Kitty, asks him if billions of people will really die because of what he’s doing, he simply says yes. He doesn’t even given the tiniest indication that the idea of killing the majority of the world population is anything he genuinely has any thoughts about, in fact, if you’ll recall the confrontation he had with Lois earlier, he even seemed kind of excited by it. I think his best moment in the movie isn’t actually the scene where he stabs Supes with the Kryptonite shank, but just a couple minutes before it where he outright calls Superman an alien.

If I were to compare the two with other villains, I would say Lex is the Davros to Superman’s Doctor, while Zod is his Master. The former is a character who believes that his own will is supreme and that his intelligence makes that so. While the latter is the only other member of Superman’s race and would sooner kill them both than surrender to him.

I again, want to say it’s a tie, but Michael Shannon’s Zod really leaves more of an impact, it’s partly for the same reason why I think Henry was better than Brandon. This guy got to do his own thing, he had no one else to live up to, while Kevin and Brandon were both doing a version of the same thing someone else did. Terrence Stamp’s Zod was just a megalomaniac even more so akin to the Master than Shannon’s, while Michael’s Zod is a military man who wants desperately to do what he thinks is right even if it goes against the very nature of being a decent person.

Kevin, you’re fantastic, but point goes to Michael!

And now for the final two, starting with Best Supporting Cast

Returns pretty much only had Jimmy Olsen, Perry White, and Lois’s beau, Richard. I mean, you could maybe count the little kid and Lex’s crew, but Jason doesn’t do anything, and the only one actually says anything is Parker Posey’s character.

On the other hand, Man of Steel had Perry, Jor-El, Ma and Pa Kent, Steve Lombard, two military guys who have something resembling a character arc, Zod’s own henchwoman (Faora), and Emil Hamilton! And what’s great about them is they serve a purpose within the movie! To be honest, there’s really not much point to Superman Returns’s cast. So yeah, another point for Man of Steel.

And finally, Who Told The Story Best

Look, I did genuinely like Superman Returns! I don’t think it’s a crappy movie, I just don’t think it’s an especially great movie! I can honestly say I’d rather sit through this than something horrible like Sharknado! But, I have to say, I don’t think this really works for what it was going for. It’s some sort of weird limbo between the full reboot we got with Man of Steel and the original Christopher Reeve films. I understand that Bryan Singer wanted to make his own little tribute song to those first two Superman movies, and I can understand why. I mean I grew up loving the Tobey Maguire Spider-Man movies, and I’d love to make my own little homage sequel to those movies, but even then you have to move the story forward. While Man of Steel takes Superman in new and exciting story directions, Superman Returns just leaves the series off slightly better than it was after Superman III came out.

What I like about Man of Steel over Superman Returns could really be summed up pretty well in a Frozen quote, “I’m never going back, the past is in the past!” In other words, you needed to let it go Singer. The Christopher Reeve films were done with. I think what you did was an interesting experiment that could pay off with other stories, but not yours I’m afraid to say.

As for you Snyder, you told the best story you could and you told it brilliantly! And once again to quote Frozen, I don’t care what they’re going to say. This movie was perfect, and I’ll have no arguments otherwise. This movie said, screw the old stories, this is our story and we’ll tell it how we want to! If it flops, it flops. If it’s critically panned, it’s critically panned. And what’s life without a gamble every now and again? Unless you’re a recovering gambling addict in which case, hang in there buddy!

So when it comes right down to it, I’m going to give the prize to Man of Steel.

Thank you for reading this and have a wonderful day!

The Modern Day Superman In Film Review Series - Superman Returns (2006)

Written In April 2014

Superman Returns is NOT a crappy movie. It’s arguably overlong, a little bit slow, a little bit boring at times, and does lack any truly great action sequences for a Superhero movie, but it does not lack good action, good performances, or interesting story elements. When I saw this movie in the Winter 2006 (because I never saw it theaters) I thought it was alright. I thought the scenes of Superman lifting things and letting bullets bounce off him were cool, ESPECIALLY this scene here

You can hate this entire damn movie if you want to, but that scene was fucking awesome! But, if I’m honest with myself, and if I’m honest with you, I won’t say I’m this movie’s biggest fan. I never really got why Bryan Singer decided this movie should be set in the modern day. Actually, apperently it’s not even in the modern day, it’s set TEN YEARS from it’s release date. Why? If you’re going to be a sequel to Richard Donner’s Superman and Superman II, go all the way! Pay Gene Hackman through the nose to come back as Lex! Get a lady who looks as much like Margot Kidder as Brandon Routh did Christopher Reeve and then have that lady play Lois! If the movie takes place five years after Superman II, make it take place in 1985! Make it like X-Men: First Class, period backdrops and setting, modern clothing. Instead, we have a movie that looks like 2006 because it came in 2006. We have an actress who looks nothing like Margot Kidder and acts nothing like her Lois Lane did. And we have Kevin Spacey playing a Lex Luthor who… At times plays it as goofy as Hackman did, but even then he’s playing it more wry and smart alecky, and at other times is far more aggressive and violent than Hackman’s ever was. And finally, is having Superman having a bastard child REALLY needed? Good God man. Anyway, let’s get into the plot so I can actually go further into this matter.

Plot Summary Taken From Wikipedia:

By 2016, Superman (Brandon Routh) has been missing for five years, since traveling to the location where astronomers believed they had discovered the remains of Krypton. During his absence, Superman’s nemesis, mad scientistLex Luthor (Kevin Spacey) was released from prison (due to Superman’s failure to appear at Lex’s trial) and married an old rich widow (Noel Neill) to obtain her fortune upon her death. Superman, having failed in his quest to find surviving Kryptonians, returns to Earth and, as Clark Kent, resumes his job at the Daily Planet in Metropolis. He subsequently learns that Lois Lane (Kate Bosworth) has won the Pulitzer Prizefor her article “Why the World Doesn’t Need Superman.” Meanwhile, Lex travels to the Fortress of Solitude and steals Kryptonian crystals, to use for an experiment that causes a mass power outage on the East Coast. The power loss interferes with the flight test of a space shuttle to be launched into space from its piggy-back mounting on an airliner, occupied by Lois Lane, who is covering the story. Clark flies into action as Superman and stops the plane from crashing onto a baseball stadium.

The world rejoices at Superman’s return, but he has difficulty coping with Lois’s fiancé, Richard White (James Marsden), nephew ofDaily Planet editor-in-chief Perry White (Frank Langella), and his 5-year-old son, Jason (Tristan Lake Leabu). With Superman distracted by an out-of-control vehicle, a diversion involving Lex’s partner-in-crime, Kitty Kowalski (Parker Posey), Lex stealskryptonite from the Metropolis Museum of Natural History. Perry then assigns Lois to interview Superman while Clark investigates the blackout. Lois and Jason inadvertently board Lex’s yacht and are captured after Lois decides to investigate the blackout story, which she connects to Luthor’s experiment. He reveals to them his latest scheme to grab land and power. By combining one of the stolen Kryptonian crystals with Kryptonite, Luthor can grow a new continental landmass in the Northern Atlantic Ocean, one that will cause sea levels to rise drastically and have Lex the opportunity to get revenge on Superman, as well as kill billions of people and afford him full control of the only available land for the survivors.

Noticing that Jason experiences a slight reaction to Kryptonite, Lex asks who Jason’s father really is; Lois asserts that the father is Richard. The crystal begins to create Lex’s new landmass, while Lois attempts to escape but is attacked by a henchman. Jason throws a piano at the henchman, killing him and proving that he is actually Superman’s son. Meanwhile, Superman is attempting to minimize the destruction in Metropolis caused by the growth of the new landmass when Richard arrives in a sea plane to rescue Lois and Jason from the sinking yacht. Superman soon arrives to help and then flies off to find Lex.

Meeting Lex, Superman discovers the landmass is filled with Kryptonite, which weakens him to the point that Lex and his henchmen are able to beat him. Lex stabs Superman with a shard of Kryptonite and pushes him into the ocean. Lois makes Richard turn back to rescue Superman, whereupon she removes the Kryptonite from his back. Superman, after regaining his strength from the sun, lifts the landmass after putting layers of earth between him and the Kryptonite. Lex and Kitty escape in their helicopter; Kitty, unwilling to let billions of people die, tosses away the crystals that Lex stole from the Fortress of Solitude. She and Luthor are stranded on a tiny desert island when their helicopter runs out of fuel. Superman pushes the landmass into space with the crystals trapped on the landmass, but is weakened by the Kryptonite and crashes back to Earth. At the hospital, doctors remove more Kryptonite from Superman’s wound, but their surgical tools and hospital machines are either damaged or destroyed when they try to revive him. While Superman remains in a coma, Lois and Jason visit him at the hospital where Lois whispers something into Superman’s ear and then kisses him. Superman later awakens and flies to visit Jason, reciting his father Jor-El’s (Marlon Brando) last speech to Jason as he sleeps. Lois starts writing another article, titled “Why the World Needs Superman”. Superman reassures her that he is now back to stay, and flies off to low orbit, where he gazes down at the world.

PROS:

• Brandon Routh as Superman. He does the best Christopher Reeve impersonation anybody ever could, I wish this movie had done better because he was terrific and is a terrific actor. His IMDb deserves to be longer.
• Kevin Spacey doesn’t play it the exact same way as Gene, and in my opinion, that’s an improvement! He’s terrific as Lex here! Especially, in the scene he stabs Supes in ribs and hisses “Now fly!” Very bitter, very evil, very awesome. Although I’ll admit, it was a little weird hearing him talking in his normal speaking voice after watching all 26 episodes of House of Cards, haha. Speaking of which, I won’t say they had a missed opportunity HERE, but I think he could’ve killed it in the Man of Steel sequel. But I, like Kevin, think Jesse is going to “f***ing own it!”
• I think between Kate Bosworth, Amy Adams, and Margot, Kate is probably the weakest Lois we’ve had on the big screen, but she’s far from bad. I think she works as this sort of working mother/businesswoman type of gal. I wouldn’t have called her, but obviously I’m not Bryan Singer, she was pretty good.
• Frank Langela kills it as the classic Perry White! Absolute pure perfection!
• Sam Huntington is also terrific as Jimmy Olsen! I especially love his first scene where Clark arrives back at the Planet and accidentally knocks his camera off the desk and only barely catches it. Jimmy objects to this (because it’s expensive as hell Clark! You superjerk!), without knowing who it is. So he turns to confront the douche who almost broke his camera, then upon seeing it’s old friend from work screams out “MR. CLARK!” then tries to fix it, because it’s improper to refer to his superior by his first name. That nothing short of fantastic!
• I’m not the biggest fan of James Marsden, I can’t really say why, there’s just something about the guy that gets on my nerves. But I liked his character here, especially in the scene where he asks Lois if she was ever in love with Superman. You can see it in his expression, he’s got a mixed curiosity. He’s in awe that his girlfriend may have at one time been Superman’s flame, but at the same time he feels kind of territorial because what guy has a fucking chance against someone like fucking Superman!
• The few scenes where Superman actually gets to use his powers are amazing! Especially the aforementioned bullet to the eye scene!
• The scene where Superman is dying on the hospital bed is very effective, especially when the doctors are trying to stick him with a needle, and the needle just bends against his skin. It was really heartbreaking and really begged the question, how do you care for an invincible man when that man becomes ill?
• If you’re a fan of really, really, really old Superman stuff, there’s a couple of terrific cameos in the movie! There’s a bit where the actor who played Jimmy Olsen, in the George Reeves series, cameos as the bartender where Clark and Sam Huntington’s Jimmy are drinking. And the elderly woman that Lex apparently seduced and married after being released from prison is actually played by the actress who portrayed Lois in the 1940’s serials and again in the George Reeves show. How cool is that?
• Parker Posey makes for a pretty fun Lex Girl, as Smallville once called it. I really love the scene where she’s screaming at Lex because the son of a bitch actually cut the breaks on the runaway car she was driving to distract Superman.
• The wonderful Eva Marie Saint makes good use of her few scenes as Martha Kent, real nice work ma'am!
• John Ottman does a terrific rendition of John Williams’s score, and even has some dazzling pieces of his own in the mix.

CONS:

• I don’t understand the point of Superman having an illegitimate son. I don’t understand why this child actor was cast, he’s the biggest deer in the headlights I’ve ever seen a child actor to be.
• The first Transformers movie was one year away at this time, Peter Jackson’s King Kong remake came out the year before. You could show off a character like Superman kicking some serious ass. And Bryan Singer isn’t a complete slouch when it comes to action movies, he did do the first two X-Men films. In fact, X2: X-Men United, has some of the best action ever presented in a Superhero movie in my opinion. So why the fuck would you not show off the fact that “Hey, this is a guy who can shoot beams of heat that are than the freaking sun and could punch a whole in the earth if he felt the need to, let’s show that off a little!” And the movie kind of does, but you never really get to see Superman cut loose! He never gets to see red, as Pa Kent put it in J. Michael Straczynski’s Superman: Earth One. I don’t get this.
• I said it before, and I’ll say it again, why make a sequel to a movie that came out in 1980 that takes place only five years after that movie, if you aren’t going to set in what would be five years after that movie! It doesn’t make any Goddamn sense!
• This movie looks less real at times than the 1978 movie. The overall aesthetic of the movie makes it looks so fake, hell, even Brandon himself at times looks fake! He looks like a digital creation instead of a real person against a digital backdrop. Whoever did his makeup and hair in the movie really did a poor job. Also, if you’re going to cast an actor with a different eye color than your character, leave it be. Any Harry Potter fans or Percy Jackson fans who are pissed they didn’t cast a green eyed actor for the title role, or at least didn’t try to give the Daniel Radcliffe and Logan Lerman color contacts, don’t be. Look at this picture here and tell if it looks natural. 
  Yeah. I rest my case.
• It doesn’t make a large amount of sense to cast so young for Lois and Clark. Brandon was 27 at the time the film was released, Kate was only 23! Christopher was 26 at the time the first Superman film was released, but here’s the difference, his Superman was only just arriving in Metropolis, while Brandon’s is returning to the city after being gone for FIVE YEARS! That means Clark was 21 when he left, and I don’t know of very many professional reporters under the age of 25, let alone only just became of legal drinking age in the US. And also, if Superman was only 21, that means Lois was 18 when they did the nasty. Which, while still legal age of consent, is kind of cutting it close guys. And furthermore, how many reporters got a job at EIGHTEEN! How many women could manage to have a job as a reporter, be a mother, and meet someone within the period of conception to be close enough to believe they were the father, and then stay with that person for five years and eventually be ENGAGED to, all before turning 25? I know Lois is basically the Superwoman to Clark’s Superman, but even this is re-Goddamn-diculous!
• I hate that A. Lois and Clark are written to be an extramarital affair. And that B. This movie continues the tradition, started by the Christopher Reeve series, that Lois loves Superman not Clark Kent, instead of loving both.
• This has been talked about to death, but it’s still a sticking point for me. Clark slept with Lois in the Fortress of Solitude in Superman II, then at the end of the movie when becomes Superman again, he erases her memory so she won’t have to take the pain of knowing who that she and Superman cannot be together. He erases all memory of them being together from the point where she first suspects Clark is Superman to the moment before he kissed her. That means she has NO MEMORY that she fucked Superman. So why the hell isn’t she outraged when she realizes her kid is Superman’s? Why doesn’t she walk strait up to the so-called Boy Scout and demand to know when they slept together and why she doesn’t remember? Why doesn’t she ask if he raped her and then somehow made her forget it? Singer, you just threw grenade at your audience, but I don’t think you expected them to throw it back at you! Because this thing just blew the fuck up in your face!

Okay, now despite my quibbles, I do like this movie. It’s not one of my favorite superhero movies, and it’s not really even my favorite DC Superhero movie or really my favorite just plain Superman movie. It’s a movie that has a lot of issues, but I’d rather come down on the side of supporting than damning it. I’m going to give Superman Returns a 6.2 out of 10.

Join me tomorrow, when I sink my teeth into the delicious feast I call

Boo-Yah!

The Modern Day Superman In Film Review Series - Man Of Steel (2013)

Written In April 2014

“Superman murdered Zod!”

“Superman destroyed Metropolis!”

“This movie had too much action!”

“Zack Snyder is a fucking hack!”

“Man Of Steel’s Superman didn’t care about people!”

What part of

are you idiots not getting?

Plot Summary Taken From Wikipedia:

The planet Krypton faces imminent destruction due to its unstable core, the result of depleting Krypton’s natural resources. The ruling council is deposed by the planet’s military commander General Zod and his followers during a coup d’état. Knowing that the use of artificial population control has ruined their civilization, scientist Jor-El and his wife Lara launch their newborn son Kal-El, the first naturally born Kryptonian child in centuries, on a spacecraft to Earth after infusing his cells with a genetic codex of the entireKryptonian race. After General Zod kills Jor-El, he and his followers are captured and exiled to the Phantom Zone. However, they are indirectly freed after Krypton explodes.

Kal-El’s ship lands in Smallville, a small town in Kansas. He is raised as the adopted son of Jonathan and Martha Kent, who name himClark. Clark’s Kryptonian physiology affords him superhuman abilities on Earth, which initially cause him confusion and ridicule. He gradually learns to harness his powers and uses them to help others. After revealing to a teenage Clark that he is an alien, Jonathan warns him not to use his powers in public out of concern that he will be rejected by society. After Jonathan’s death, an adult Clark spends several years living a nomadic lifestyle, working different jobs under false identities, anonymously performing good deeds, and struggling to cope with the loss of his adoptive father.

Clark eventually infiltrates a U.S. military investigation of a Kryptonian scout spaceship in the Arctic. When Clark enters the alien ship, he uses a Kryptonian “control-key” from the ship that brought him to Earth, which allows him to communicate with the preserved consciousness of Jor-El in the form of ahologram. Jor-El reveals Clark’s origins, the extinction of his race, and tells Clark that he was sent to Earth to bring hope to mankind for a better future. Lois Lane, a journalist from the Daily Planet newspaper who was sent to write a story on the discovery, sneaks inside the ship while following Clark and is rescued by him when she is injured by its security system. Lois’s editor Perry White rejects her story of a “superhuman” rescuer, so she traces Clark back to Kansas with the intention of writing an exposé. After hearing his story, she decides not to reveal his secret.

Meanwhile, Zod and his crew seek out other worlds that the Kryptonian race colonized long ago, only to find out that none of the outposts survived after Krypton abandoned them. Zod and the others eventually pick up a Kryptonian distress signal sent from the ship Clark discovered on Earth. Zod arrives and demands that the humans surrender Kal-El, whom he believes has the codex, or else Earth will be destroyed. Clark accepts, and the military hand him and Lois over to Zod’s second-in-command, Faora, at Zod’s request. Zod reveals that he intends to use a terraforming ”world engine” to transform Earth into a new Krypton and use the codex to repopulate the planet with genetically-engineeredKryptonians, killing all of Earth’s indigenous life in the process. Clark and Lois escape Zod’s ship with Jor-El’s help, Clark defeats Faora and another Kryptonian, and convinces the military that he is an ally. Zod deploys the world engine and initiates the process in Metropolis and over the southern Indian Ocean, increasing the Earth’s mass and atmosphere.

Clark, now called “Superman”, destroys the world engine, while the military uses the spacecraft that brought him to Earth in an aerial strike on Zod’s ship over Metropolis, sending Zod’s forces back into the Phantom Zone. Only Zod remains, and he engages Superman in a destructive battle across Metropolis using his newly developed powers. When Zod attempts to murder cornered civilians as revenge for his defeat, Superman is forced to kill him. Some time later, Superman warns the government that, if it wants his help, it will be on his terms. To create an alias that gives him access to dangerous situations without arousing suspicion, Clark takes a job as a reporter at the Daily Planet.

So yeah, if you didn’t gather it from that intro, I do not understand the criticisms of this movie. I thought the action was exciting and entertaining. The destruction in the movie didn’t seem any better or worse than the destruction in any other big blockbuster. People said it had more destruction than Avengers, I actually think Avengers had more, and for the record, The Avengers is a movie that I LIKE! I’m not dissing Marvel. I think really the only reason that people think the destruction was so severe in this movie was the lighting. The battle of New York in the Avengers was shot in broad daylight, the fight between Superman and Zod in Man of Steel was mostly shot at about late in the day/early in the evening, so subsequently the city was darker and looked grimmer. Now, let me take a moment to criticize not the complaints people had when they saw the movie, but the ones they had BEFORE they saw the movie.

Grace Randolph, writer of the BOOM! Studios comic book series, Supurbia, reporter for Bleeding Cool, and the YouTube personality behind Beyond The Trailer and Think About The Ink, was a very early negative speculator for the film, at one point outright theorizing that Man Of Steel would goes so far as to not only change the look of the costume, but outright refuse to destroy Krypton. People in general were speculating that this movie was changing so much about the superman mythos. I asked then how do you figure? And I ask now, how much different is this guy from the one in the comics? It, like a lot of comic book movies, was written as a patchwork of different stories to make the filmmakers’ own story. It derives from John Bryne’s Man of Steel, Mark Waid’s Superman: Birthright, Geoff Johns’s Superman: Secret Origin, J. Michael Straczynski’s Superman: Earth One, Grant Morrison’s All-Star Superman, and so much more. I’m not going to criticize the ignorant masses who mostly don’t read comics for not knowing this, but if you’re a comic book fan who regularly follows Superman, you should bloody well recognize at least a couple of these elements. I mean hell, in that first teaser trailer that they released in front of The Dark Knight Rises, you either had a narration from Kevin Costner as Pa Kent, talking about how one day Clark, whether he became a good man or a bad man, would one day change the world, or you had a narration from Russell Crowe as Jor-El giving Jor’s speech from All-Star Superman! The promotional material did not show anything you’d never seen before if you know your right from your left in comics.

But enough of my complaints with people, they are a silly a bunch. Let’s get into few issues with this movie and my high praise for the rest of it!

PROS:

• Henry Cavill as Superman. You couldn’t have hired a better guy, you just couldn’t have. There’s no two ways about it. Thank you Zack Snyder!
• Amy Adams as mother fucking Lois Lane! The minute I went over the casting for this movie and saw Amy Adams’s name next to Lois’s I just sat back and proclaimed “Oh My God Yes!” Again, I don’t think there’s a woman out there, who could do a better Lois than this woman!
• I never really knew who Michael Shannon was before this movie, but watching him here, I want to find out! Because he not only made me hate Zod as a person and love him as a villain, but he legitimately made me feel sorry for the guy. He outright says it more than once in the movie, his entire reason for existing to ensure the protection, the security, and the safety of Krypton and it’s people, even if it means being destructive. You get the feeling at certain times that he doesn’t actually want to hurt anyone, but he feels that he has to in order to ensure the survival of his people. The scene where he holds the ashes and gravel from his destroyed ship and laments “Look at this. We could have built a new Krypton in this squalor, but you chose the humans over us. I exist only to protect Krypton. That is the sole purpose for which I was born. And every action I take, no matter how violent or how cruel, is for the greater good of my people. And now… I have no people. My soul, that is what you have taken from me!” It leaves you not knowing how to feel, you get the feeling that Zod is about to attack Superman (and he does) but at the same time, you feel genuinely awful for the guy. He has literally lost his entire reason for existing. The fact that Shannon can convey so much as just one character speaks volumes to me! I really want to check out more of his work!
• I have loved Russell Crowe ever since I saw him in Ridley Scott’s Gladiator, when I heard he was Jor-El I was so happy! I was already excited when I heard the guy who directed 300 and Watchmen was directing a Superman movie produced and co-written by Christopher Nolan, but when I saw that one of my favorite actors was playing Jor-El I leaped with joy! And I did an even bigger leap when I saw how awesome the guy was in the movie! The minute I saw the movie in theaters I just said to myself, “Screw Superman! I want a fucking Jor-El prequel!” And I stand by that! Snyder, Goyer, DC, Time Warner, give me my Jor-El prequel! 
• Now you know who else I love? Laurence Fishburne! Look at this guy Doesn’t he just scream awe- Oh wait! Shit! That’s not Laurence Fishburne! Okay! There! That’s Laurence Fishburne! In fact, that’s Larry Fishburne himself as Perry White in this movie! While Frank Langela played it a bit more J. Jonah Jameson, Fishburne plays it strait up serious newspaper man. And kicks some serious ass at it!
• Diane Lane and Kevin Costner not only kill it as Ma and Pa Kent, the destroy it! Every scene they have with Clark they make it fucking count! And they have terrific chemistry with the scenes they have with Henry, and young Clark actors, Dylan Sprayberry and Cooper Timberline. You really feel the difficultly they had with raising their child to be a good man, but at the time telling him, you can’t actually go out and show people who you can do, it won’t end well. The last scene with Kevin as Jonathan Kent, is absolutely heartbreaking. You can see every fiber of Clark’s being wants to run strait over there and save his father, especially after the terrible thing he’d only just told him, and Jonathan tells him don’t. Don’t expose yourself, not to save me. Please son. It’s fucking horrible. And every single scene with Diane is terrific! She is just such a mommy! It’s wonderful really!
• In case you don’t actually follow me on here, I am a HUGE House of Cards fan! I LOOOOOOOOVE that show! And one of the things I love most about is Michael Kelly! The guy is such a great actor who does great here as Steve Lombard, the sort office dickhead who sort of makes some good natured, but somewhat irritating, ribbings at his coworkers, particularly Lois. But what I really like here, is that he may be a bit of a dick, but he’s not a terrible person. In the scene where the World Engine is leveling Metropolis and Perry is trying to get their coworker, Jenny (Olsen(?)), out of large chunk of debris. You can see he briefly considers leaving them behind to save his own skin, but says screw it, and grabs a fallen street sign and helps try to save his coworker. He may be a dick, but even dicks can be decent human beings.
• Hans Zimmer’s score is fantastic! I can’t wait to hear what he and Pharrell Wiliams are gonna do together for The Amazing Spider-Man 2, and I REALLY hope he comes back for Man of Steel 2! It’d be really awesome to hear him come up with a completely new Batman theme!
• The action throughout is incredible! More so in the Smallville fight than the Metropolis fight, but that was still pretty fucking awesome too!
• Harry Lennix is in this movie.
• Christopher Meloni is also in this movie.
• If you’re a Smallville fan, there’s a couple guys from the show with very small roles but you might recognize them. The guy who played Lex’s disfigured clone in season 10, who set Lois up as a scarecrow like the jocks at school did to Clark back in season one, plays the Kryptonian scientist aboard Zod’s ship. And the guy who played Emil Hamilton in 14 episodes actually has a small role here as one of the army guys at the Canadian base where Lois first meets Clark. I’m not sure if these guys were purposefully put in here, but it’s a nice little coincidence.

CONS:

• I think it’s kind of dickish of Jor-El to not try to make a computer program for Lara’s consciousness so that she could see their son too.
• This one’s more of a nitpick, but what exactly is Zod and his crew’s ages supposed to be? Michael Shannon is 39, and Antje Traue, who played Zod’s second in command, Faora, is 33. But they spent 33 years in outer space. I mean, I know your body ages more slowly in space, and you can tell Zod’s a little older. He’s got some grays on his head, and he’s got a goatee with a lot more gray, but everyone else looks pretty much the same. So how old are they supposed to be exactly?
• This isn’t a con with THIS movie, but I really wish Snyder had done at least one solo sequel before bringing in Batman and Wonder Woman. But that’s a minor quibble.

What am I going to give this movie? Do I need to tell you? … Well, yes, I do, I guess that’s part of the review. I’m gonna give Zack Snyder’s Man of Steel an 8.5 out of 10!

I loved the hell out of this movie, and I can’t wait for the second movie in 2016! Especially since it comes out the day before my birthday! In any case, please stay tuned for my comparison of these two films, I hope you enjoyed this review and have a terrific day!

DC Animated Superhero Retrospective Series - Superman: Unbound (2013)

Written In February 2014

One Word:

And I mean it, this movie is perfect. It is not flawless, but it is PERFECT!

DC, you know that Jay Olivia guy you just had me review? And who I’m gonna review two more times?

Yeah him. Delete his number, block it from your phones, take him off your email contacts, and block him there, unfriend and block him on Facebook, and unfollow and block him on Tumblr and Twitter. Now James Tucker, the man I’m reviewing right now?

Yes him. Give him another job! He’s not only directed the best animated superman you’ve made so far- Wait what?

Smart thinking DC! Smart thinking!

Plot Summary Taken From Wikipedia:

Offering herself as a hostage, Lois Lane is caught in an aerial confrontation between her terrorist captors and the unpredictable Supergirl before Superman arrives to save the day. Soon after, knowing Superman’s civilian identity, Lois attempts to get Clark Kent to make their relationship public despite his fear of the consequences, but their argument is halted by a Daily Planet staff meeting before Kent leaves when they are being alerted to a meteor. Intercepting it, Superman learns the meteor to be a robot and that he promptly defeats before activating its beacon and taking it to the Fortress of Solitude. With help from a fear-filled Supergirl, Superman learns the robot is actually a drone controlled by a being named Brainiac, a cyborg who was originally a Coluan scientist who subjected himself to extensive cybernetic and genetic enhancements. As Supergirl reveals from her experience with the monster, Brainiac seized and miniaturized Krypton’s capital city of Kandor prior to the planet’s destruction with her father and mother attempting to track him down before they mysteriously lost contact with Krypton.

Fearing more drones would come, Superman goes flying all through the galaxy in an attempt to track down Brainiac before finding his drones attacking a planet. Though he attempted to stop them, Superman witnesses Brainiac capture the planet’s capital like he did with Kandor before firing a Solar Aggressor missile to have the planet be consumed by the exploding sun. The explosion knocks Superman unconscious and he is brought upon Brainiac’s ship, coming to in the examination room and fighting his way through the vessel before he discovers a room full of bottled cities prior to being attacked by Brainiac. At this point, confirming that he spared Krypton because of its eventual destruction, Brainiac reveals that he has been collecting information of all the planets he visited before destroying them. Using Superman’s spacecraft, Brainiac decides to chart a course to Earth while sending Superman into Kandor. Inside Kandor, his strength waning due to the artificial red sun, Superman meets his uncle Zor-El and aunt Alura. After spending time with them, Superman formulates a plan and escapes Kandor using the subjugator robots. From there, Superman disables Brainiac’s ship and spirits Kandor to Earth. At that time, Lois learns from Supergirl of why Superman left and alerts the Pentagon for a possible invasion by Brainiac as he eventually repaired his ship and arrives to Metropolis.

Despite everyone, including Supergirl, doing their best to fend his drones off, Metropolis is encased in a bottle and both Superman and Supergirl are captured. Having hooked Superman up to his ship, revealing that Earth offers nothing to him, Brainiac tortures Superman to obtain Kandor before destroying the planet. However, telling his captor what Earth means to him, Superman breaks free and then frees Supergirl and convinces her to stop the Solar-Aggressor from hitting the sun. Remembering Zor-El’s words about Brainiac’s ideals, Superman knocks him out of the ship and they crash into a swamp. As he fights Braniac, Superman forces the cyborg to experience bacteria and micro-organisms among the various chaoses outside his artificial environments he created. Eventually, the combined mental and physical strain reaches its toll on Brainiac as he combusts and is reduced to ash and molten machinery. After restoring Metropolis, taking Kandor to another planet to restore it to its normal size to establish a Kryptonian colony, Superman makes his love life with Lois as Kent public with a marriage proposal. However, placed in the Fortress of Solitude, Brainiac’s remains are still active.

There’s two moments in this movie that reminded me of something else, one where Kara expresses fears and doubts about her and Clark facing Brainiac, and Clark tells her that she has powers and she can fight back this time. This reminded me of a quote from Raliegh at the beginning of Pacific Rim. He’s basically talking about how being instead a jaeger is fucking awesome, saying 

“There are things you can’t fight - acts of God. You see a hurricane coming, you get out of the way. But when you’re in a Jaeger, suddenly, you can fight the hurricane. You can win!”

I really liked this moment for that because it really sends home the fact that Kara’s aggression throughout the film was due to Brainiac coming in and fucking shit up basically. Another moment I dug was during the final fight between Clark and Brainiac when Brainiac was taking every in and didn’t know how to process it. It reminded me of the moment in Man of Steel busts open Zod’s… Helmet I guess? And Zod is just wide eyed taking in the atmospheric differences between earth and krypton and also new found abilities in regard to his senses. He can suddenly see through his own hand and hear all the chaos he and Clark had just caused. Now a lot of folks complain about how Clark spent the better part of his life getting used to his powers while Zod took at most a good 24 hours adapt to them. Well let’s think about that. Clark was an infant when he first arrived on earth and had no idea why he had these powers, where they came from, and knew no one at all that had them as well. Zod was a battle hardened general, a MILITARY leader, guys like him go into places with extremely harsh conditions ALL THE TIME, and on top of that he’s spent several years involved in military action ON OTHER PLANETS, plus he’s aware of how and why this is happening, he knows that this is normal for a Kryptonian on Earth. It’s not going to take extremely long for him. And then there’s Brainiac, he’s part man and part machine, who has not set foot outside his ship for multiple millenniums! There is no way in hell this guy could adapt at all.

But enough about other movies I love, let’s talk about why I loved this particular movie.

PROS:

• Matt Bomer as Superman/Clark Kent.
  
  
  
  He’s okay I guess. (also I would’ve added something for non-binary folks, but I couldn’t find a GIF for you guys, sorry!)
• I don’t watch a lot of Castle, but I LOVED Stana Katic as Lois Lane! Actually, I just plain loved this Lois Lane! Look at this GIF
  
  She and the rest of Metropolis have been miniaturized in that scene and she’s flipping of fucking BRAINIAC! I repeat, she’s flipping off BRAINIAC!!!!!!
• Molly Quinn, who plays Richard Castle’s daughter alongside Stana, who plays his on again off again lady friend, does a terrific job as Supergirl!
• John Noble as Brainiac. 
  So much better than what’s his face from Brainiac Attacks.
• Diedrich Bader plays a great misogynistic asshat in this movie as Steve Lombard, the guy who always picks on Clark and flirts with Lois to ill effect.
• Wade Williams as Perry White…  I love this guy!
• The Lois and Clark dynamic and the Supergirl and Superman dynamic are spot on in this movie, I think this might just be the best I’ve seen them in animation, not even barring TAS! It’s that good!
• This movie was based on a comic by Geoff Johns, that makes me want to read some of Geoff’s other work!
• Another one of my favorite scenes in this movie, is when Clark is on Kandor, and he gets to sit down and have a meal with his aunt and uncle from Krypton. And he expresses delight and amazement at the fact that he’s actually getting to sit down, talk to, and enjoy ACTUAL Kryptonian food with his ACTUAL Kryptonian family! That is fucking fantastic!
• I haven’t watched the show in a while, but I used to be a big fan of White Collar, so I kinda know what Matt Bomer sounds like. Here though, I can’t tell it’s him. All I hear is SUPERMAN! Which makes me kinda sad, he was at one point considered for MOS and Superman Returns, along with some other Superman films that never quite got off the ground. I liked Brandon Routh, and I love Henry Cavill, but I really would’ve like to see this guy play Superman! Shame we likely won’t then.
• On the brighter side, I love that Clark and Lois have ACTUAL couple problems that would ACTUALLY come from being a superhero with a secret identiy and having a significant other who is essentially, a normal being. Might be a tad insulting for a woman like Lois, to call her “normal” but you get my point.
• Clark asks Lois to marry him and she says yes. Everybody go home, we’ve got the perfect animated Superman movie, arguably the best one Superman movie period.

CONS:

• The only real con I can think of, but there’s a scene where Superman is on Brainiac’s ship, and after temporarily incapacitating him he take’s Kandor and hits the road. I get why he’d take Kandor specifically, but why didn’t he try to save some of the other cities? 

All in, this movie was a pure delight, and I enjoyed almost every second of it. I’m going to Superman: Unbound a 9 out of 10! Yep, it’s that good!

DC Animated Superhero Retrospective Series - Superman Vs. The Elite (2012)

Written In January 2014

Plot Summary Taken From Wikipedia:

The movie opens up with Manchester Black watching multiple news stories about villains and how they’re given second chances. As, all of the news stories close down to one solution, the world wants solutions to all of the evil in the world; by killing it. When Manchester sees that this is what the world wants, he turns off the TV and begins his plot to keep the world safe….by any means necessary.

Back at Metropolis, Lois and Clark witness the death of multiple people in the streets at the hands of the Atomic Skull who was killing people to draw out Superman. As the battle erupts throughout most of the city, Superman ends up defeating Atomic Skull by throwing him into a lake. After this Superman gives a speech at the United Nations about the greater good that is found within everyone. During this the leaders of Bialyia and Pokolistan begin to fight due to their peace treaty being broken, Superman leaves the United Nations to stop their armed forces from destroying each other.

As Superman arrives in Bialya, the Pokolistani forces release a bio weapon on the Bialyan military which destroys most of their ground forces. As Superman gets the soldiers to safety from the bio weapon, The Elite arrive just in time to help the Man of Steel destroy the bio weapon.

Superman returns to Metropolis to report the news and also gain more information on the Elite. Superman and Lois fly to England to find out if they, and the world, can trust the Elite. It is revealed through Manchester Black that he gained his powers near puberty and used it for the first time to save his sister Vera from being hit by a train.

Through telepathy, Black gets a painful headache of multiple people screaming. The Elite and Superman arrive on the scene to save the civilians on a subway train which was trapped underwater due to a terrorist attack. After Superman and Black save the passengers, Black interrogates the terrorists that bombed the train nearly killing them. Superman begins to be concerned about the motives of his new-found friends.

Back in Metropolis, Clark and Lois talk about the information they had found on the Elite and also the back-story of Manchester Black. Lois tells Clark that there is no death certificate or birth record of Manchester’s sister Vera. This makes Clark further question the origin of the Elite and what they are really trying to accomplish. When Manchester broadcasts a message for all the world to hear, he ends up telling them that they will take care of all the bad guys in the world by killing them.

After the broadcast, Superman returns to the Fortress of Solitude to search for reliable information on the Elite. Having failed in finding information, Superman travels to Bialya. While there Superman is hit by an EMP which weakens him. Closing Pokolistani forces are about to attack him when the Elite attacks. Powerless to stop the chaos that the Elite inflict on the Pokolistani military, Superman ends up passing out. He eventually awakens at the Elite’s base of operations and is teleported back to Earth after he fails to convince the Elite that they don’t have to kill to be heroes.

In Metropolis, Atomic Skull breaks out of prison and looks for revenge on Superman. The Elite arrives but have little success against the overpowered Atomic Skull. When Superman arrives, he coordinates an attack with the Elite to get all the extra power away from Atomic Skull. After Atomic Skull’s power is drained by Coldcast, he is killed by Manchester Black under the vote of a boy whose father was one of Atomic Skull’s victims.

After protecting Pokolistan from Bialya’s jets, Superman is visited by the Elite who tell him that they have killed both the Pokolistan and Bialya leaders and that peace can reign supreme in that area once again. Angered by Manchester’s uncontrollable urge to kill the villains, Superman punches him in the face and the Elite take it as a statement of war against the world’s “favorite heroes.” They tell Superman that they will kill him for this outrage.

The next day, Superman stands in the middle of Metropolis telling the Elite that he is ready to fight. Asking them to do it somewhere safe, they teleport to the Moon where they begin their fight. Almost dying, Superman begins to understand how to protect the world. Injecting Menagerie with a poison that causes her sym-beasts to abandon her and forcing her into a state of death. The Hat attempts to exploit Superman’s known weakness to magic but is suffocated by a whirlwind displacing oxygen and sucked into the funnel.

Against Coldcast’s wishes, Manchester teleports them to Metropolis to use the innocent civilians as cover. While Black gives the order to combine powers to destroy Metropolis when Superman appears, a flash blur of red and blue appears and Coldcast is gone. Superman appears informing Black that the blow knocked Coldcast into orbit. Manchester attacks Superman with everything he has but is effortlessly avoided. Through heat vision, Superman lobotomizes Manchester, stripping him of his powers. Believing his death to be seconds away, Manchester tells Superman that the world knows he is no better than they are and will never again trust him. Superman reveals that he did not kill any of the Elite, but he had his Super-Robots protected all of the citizens and created the false illusion that he had killed them. They were really transported to the Fortress of Solitude to be stripped of their powers, then sent to a prison. In the end, the people of Earth see that Superman’s way is best for all of mankind. After that, he flies off with Lois and they kiss.

If Brainiac Attacks is to Superman what Mystery of the Batwoman is to Batman, then this is Superman’s Under The Red Hood! It’s a challenge to our hero’s morals and contains a hot headed young man who has the stones to say, let’s kill the bad guys instead of just locking ‘em up! And both times the titular hero gives the best answer they could why they won’t do it. The differences are inherent to the characters, and also I think in the presentations of the bad guys who want to get their hands dirty. But I’ll explain that in a moment or two. Let’s get to the pros and cons.

PROS:

• This movie and Injustice prove two things to me. 1) George Newbern is HORRIFYING as an Evil Superman! 2) George is also the best voice for Superman in general, I think Tim does the better Clark Kent, but George Newbern IS Superman! This monologue isn’t in this movie, but listen to this clip and tell me it isn’t perfect! Now listen to this clip that actually is from this movie… This is the same guy talking both times. This guy can do Superman threatening to make Darksied a greasy smear on his fist and can turn right around and say that dreams are what will save humanity in the end. Give this guy a trophy! And give it to him now!
• Pauley Perrette as Lois Lane! This chick got it! I’ve never watched NCIS, but this and Mark Harmon’s Superman back in Crisis on Two Earths really gives me the incentive to watch it!
• The action in this one is terrific as always!
• I love how this movie actually challenges an idea that far too many people have nowadays. When people say “Superman is outdated.” I say “Bullshit!” I’m all for the grim and gritty heroes like Batman, The Punisher, or Judge Dredd, but at the end of the day, those aren’t superheroes. They’re antiheroes, except for Dredd, they all do what they do because they lost someone and it drove them so mad that they decided they would ruin their life just to make sure criminals paid the price. That’s not a superhero. A superhero is someone who realizes that they have the ability to stand up for truth and justice, and realize they have the responsibility to do those. But at the same time, superheroes aren’t the law, they may work with and alongside it, but they are not the police. They are there to protect the innocent, not enforce law. And they are certainly not there to reestablish it. I do think that Superman should kill, but I think it should only ever be in a situation where doing so would neutralize a threat to the people that would other wise persist.
• While I don’t think they’re given the best characters ever, I think the actors who voice the Elite do pretty good work.
• Fred Tatasciore as Perry White! That’s it. He doesn’t say a ton but he’s great!

CONS:

• The Elite are some of the dumbest villains I’ve ever seen. They claim to be good guys, and even to be enormous fans of superman, but they do things that would clearly be frowned upon by any good guy, Superman included. Even the characters themselves are terrible. Machester’s a wannabe punk rocker who thinks he’s Malcolm X or something. Menagerie’s constantly making sexual remarks about Superman which is about as far as her character gets. Coldcast is just a thug. And Hat’s just a drunk They’re all morons too, they go ahead and kill all the leaders of two entire countries and act like they fixed a problem when they’ve only made it worse! Even if you're for the death penalty you shouldn’t support these guys because they’re idiots!
• The people in this movie are morons too. Superman’s been protecting their ungrateful asses for years, and out comes these young hot headed dumbasses who say “Hey! Let’s bypass the courts on whether or not these guys are guilty enough to merit a death sentence and kill 'em already! And while we’re at it, fuck diplomacy! Let’s leave two unstable countries in total anarchy! Because total anarchy is cool!” And everyone is like and
  
  
  and I’m just sitting here like
  
• There’s this one scene that really got on my nerves. When Atomic Skull goes on through Metropolis the second time, he kills this pundit who was advocating for Superman at the UN. The son mourning practically begs Manchester to kill Atomic Skull. Did you never once listen to your father you little brat? And more importantly, do you not realize that your talking about a living person here? I know you’re mourning and you want revenge, but do you really think your father, who was VOUCHING for Superman to remain on his no killing stance, would really want you to avenge him this way? THINK ABOUT IT YOU NIMROD!

All in all, I think this is the second best Superman movie I’ve reviewed so far, I don’t think it’s quite as good as Doomsday but it is much better than Brainiac Attacks! I’m gonna give Superman Vs. The Elite a 7.5 out of 10.