Normally, I don’t lend much credence to articles posted at Ain’t It Cool News, but there was a link to this article from The Digital Bits, a DVD devotee site that’s very informative, and usually 100% dead on about what they report, so I have to take this as somewhat legit.
With the exception of Superman II (All hail Zod!), I’ve never much cared for the Superman motion pictures. (I had allowed myself to become excited at the prospect of Kevin Smith penning the next Superman film, but those hopes were quickly dashed, and with it, my interest in the project.) I don’t know if it was the crude effects of the late 70’s/early 80’s, or the fact that the scripts weren’t worth a damn. (Lex Luthor creates a genetic clone of Superman by sending bits of his hair into the sun? Come ON!) Nor to I care to invest any time in Smallville (or, as I like to call it, “Clark, the Generic Evil Slayer”). The Superman ethos, as much as it’s embedded into pop culture, never stuck me the way Batman did (human, dark background, possible psychological problems).
That said, I would love to see someone make a really kick-ass Superman film along the lines of Superman II. With today’s technology and the fact that modern audiences are capable of accepting some irony in their superheroes, Hollywood could write an dark, adult superhero movie with EFX that look somewhat better than someone’s iMovie. Based on this article, that’s not what we’re going to get. And that’s unfortunate.
The sad thing is, even if Warners bastardizes the Superman origin story the way this article describes (and I find it hard to believe that JJ Abrams has as much to do with this script as this article says he does), people will go to see this movie anyway. And it will probably make a truckload of money. Because as much as I believe there’s an audience for a dark, adult comic book/superhero movie (like, say The Matrix), there’s also an audience for this kind of pap. And that makes me sad.
On the up side, tonight’s season premiere of Alias kicked ass.