Do you want to see Superman Returns, just as Bryan Singer intended it?
If so, Latino Review has a post that might interest you — a petition for Warner Bros. to release Superman Returns: The Bryan Singer Cut. For those who think it could never be done, there is precedent: in 2006, Warner Bros. released Superman 2: The Richard Donner Cut.
The petitioners have put up a trailer, as well, which has some stills of Superman Brandon Routh in a black Kryptonian suit:
What’s most interesting about all this is the fact that, despite the talent involved, Superman Returns underperformed by a huge margin, leading DC Entertainment to waver on whether or not they even plan to take another live-action crack at the character anytime soon. Could this director’s cut have the magic that was missing in the full film? What do you think, Rama readers?
November 13th, 2009 at 11:37 am
Considering that I thought the original cut could’ve used infinitely less, I’m curious as to what qualifies this “Singer Cut.” But I’m waiting for more Superman on Blu-Ray, so I’m up for anything.
November 13th, 2009 at 11:44 am
Meh.
What is the difference between the cut that we all saw and the Bryan Singer cut, except some scenes with Clark in a black Kryptonian suit? Unlike the recut Donner edition of “Superman 2″ I’ve never heard of any significant story changes Singer was forced to make that would make this project to restore the original vision of the film worth the time and effort.
Bottom line: Is Clark still a deadbeat dad? If so, not worth the time. Is Lois still played by a horribly miscast actress? If so, not worth the time.
November 13th, 2009 at 12:13 pm
I liked the more menacing Luthor in SR, but disliked the deadbeat dad angle, the redesigned suit and how too much of the plot and lines were taken directly from Superman I. Superman should be bright colors and hope, not gloom. I don’t think a director’s cut will fix any problems.
November 13th, 2009 at 12:34 pm
Sure, I’d check it out. There were a lot of things to like about Singer’s version of Supes — the plane rescue, the “first night back” sequence, Spacey as Luthor. I’m not sure if a recut would get rid of the things I didn’t like — mostly, the stalkery stuff — but it would be worth seeing.
November 13th, 2009 at 1:19 pm
There was also a subplot about Ma Kent dating a new man. You see him pulling away from the farm at the beginning and he’s standing next to Martha in the crowd towards the end when Superman is “dead”. I would expect it’s meant to tie in the theme that with Clark gone, people moved on and things changed. Honestly, I wouldn’t say it was missed.
I would still buy a Singer Cut on Blu Ray. I’m a sucker for any restored or extended cut that showcases the “true vision” of a film.
November 13th, 2009 at 1:54 pm
Does it have Supes punching bad guys?
That’s what the movie needed.
November 13th, 2009 at 2:11 pm
I wish the Superman movie mythos would get away from all this crystal garbage. Where was that ever established in the books? They never thought of that in the golden age/silver age because audiences were used to seeing standard sci-fi formulas, but Superman Returns and Smallville are both obsessed with carrying on this obviously ’70s nonsense special effects
There was none of that in the Dini/Timm formula, and I would argue that was the best version of Superman since Reeve (until JL/JLU came around). And I also agree with Martin in that Superman should be a bright, positive movie to reflect the type of character he is. Unfortunately, Hollywood wants more moody treatments like Dark Knight and Watchmen, so instead of waiting and being patient and maybe taking a crack at the marketplace on the same positive bent with a lesser character (like Flash or maybe GL), some Hollywood knucklehead is going to shoehorn the character into a dark tone that he doesn’t belong in, it will continue to drive away the box office and frustrate fans that they can’t do a movie right like Marvel does, and we’ll be back on some message board like this in 5 years complaining about the same things.
November 13th, 2009 at 2:49 pm
Like the first Superman, the main plot is a real estate scam by Lex Luthor. No matter how you remix it that’s still boring and not a worthy plot for a Superman movie.
November 13th, 2009 at 4:30 pm
Pretty much have to agree with the above posts. Clark, Jimmy and Ma Kent were perfectly cast. The set design was beautiful. The effects were incredibly well done.
But…
Luthor’s evil plot was still a stupid real-estate scheme.
Lois was still horribly mis-cast.
The ENTIRE (as the posters above put it) “Dead Beat Dad” storyline. (It was sad how James Marsden did such a good job with a character that shouldn’t have even existed)
The fact that half the scenes are re-hashes of the original Richard Donner Superman.
Superman doing almost nothing but power-lifting.
No matter how much footage you restore it would not change the fact that the movie was incredibly flawed. I understand what Singer was doing. He himself was adopted and so he made a story about an adopted son having to give his own son up for adoption. That’s all well and good, it just doesn’t belong in a Superman story.
Personally? I’d love to see a streamlined version of the story in All-Star Superman. Superman fighting gods and rogue planets and all kinds of super sci-fi while at the same time having touching moments of humanity as he comes to terms with the fact he’s dying.
But that’s just me.
November 13th, 2009 at 5:53 pm
I loved Superman Returns and would LOVE to see an extended version with the ‘Search for Krypton’ sequence.
November 13th, 2009 at 7:49 pm
Oh for the love of corn… A LONGER version of Stuporman Redux? Yeah… THAT’S what the world really needs. Give it up people. So it’s going to have, what, a lengthy, boring set of scenes showing Kal-El searching for a dead planet? Well, that might make the Krypton scenes from the 1978 movie seem exciting by comparison. I mean, at least in that one there were people with pulses on Krypton. Barely registering pulses, but pulses nonetheless.
Unless there were a bunch of alternate scenes featuring a different Lois, no Superkid, a more terrifying Luthor closer to his comic book counterpart (since the 1986 reboot), a better plot than the real estate scam, and a Superman with an actual brain in his head, it’s not going to be worth it and it’s certainly not going to suddenly make more people interested in seeing a sequel to that travesty.
November 13th, 2009 at 8:21 pm
Russ said: “I wish the Superman movie mythos would get away from all this crystal garbage. Where was that ever established in the books? They never thought of that in the golden age/silver age because audiences were used to seeing standard sci-fi formulas, but Superman Returns and Smallville are both obsessed with carrying on this obviously ’70s nonsense special effects.”
I don’t watch Smallville, so I can’t judge that. But I thought that Crystal Crap looked lame back in 1978 when I was a kid (I wanted Krytpon to look more like a living, breathing planet with people I could care about and that wasn’t it), so for Singer to keep that concept was yet another reason why his sequel/homage/ripoff sucked.
“There was none of that in the Dini/Timm formula, and I would argue that was the best version of Superman since Reeve (until JL/JLU came around).”
Agreed… The Timmverse Supes looked great, had a great voice cast, and the stories were, for the most part, really good. There were some clunkers, but for the most part it was best non-comics adaptation of the character ever. Unclear what you meant about JL/JLU though. Did you not like it? I had issues with how easily Supes seemed to get pounded sometimes, but that happened on his own show too.
“And I also agree with Martin in that Superman should be a bright, positive movie to reflect the type of character he is. Unfortunately, Hollywood wants more moody treatments like Dark Knight and Watchmen, so instead of waiting and being patient and maybe taking a crack at the marketplace on the same positive bent with a lesser character (like Flash or maybe GL), some Hollywood knucklehead is going to shoehorn the character into a dark tone that he doesn’t belong in”
We don’t know that, Russ… Everyone took that quote from last year, or whenever it was, a bit too literally. Didn’t he say something about taking things darker “as the characters allow?” I think they know that Supes is not Bats. TDK was modern day film noir… We won’t see that happen to Supes.
What I WOULD like to see, however, is a total reboot that has a darker, more menacing industrialist Luthor who’s NOT the main villain (at least at first), and a heavier sci-fi plot that features Brainiac (follow the template from the Timmverse) or Darkseid (again, follow the Timmverse template) or a similar threat that’s truly epic and worthy of Superman. The villainy can be dark (who likes a jokey Luthor?), but Superman can, and should, remain a beacon of light in that darkness. It can work.
Besides… Am I the only one who thinks Superman Returns was plenty dark and depressing? There was no joy in that Superman or that movie. He spent the whole damned movie sulking, not paying any attention to what Luthor was up to even though the trail was easy enough for a non-Krptonian to follow, and even stalking his old girlfriend. All those Jesus-like shots of Supes hovering over the planet, Supes lying around, near-death, in a hopsital bed? Ugh.
I’ve been to funerals more fun than Superman Returns.
November 14th, 2009 at 10:25 am
If the “director’s cut” involves cutting 30-45 minutes from the movie, then maybe. I always thought Supes Returns could have been better with some serious editing down, ’cause it least it wouldn’t have felt so slow.
November 14th, 2009 at 6:35 pm
We’ve got the Singer cut already. This would be an extended cut. And yes, I would like to see it.
June 17th, 2010 at 9:53 pm
It is very hard to have topped the original Superman.