I’ll stop talking about Superman Returns eventually, I promise.
Now don’t get me wrong…I love John Williams’ score for the original Superman movie. I bought the two-record set when I was a kid (or I got it for Christmas, more likely), and I’ve since bought the expanded CD release. I honestly don’t know if there’s a piece of music that more says “Superman” than Williams’ theme.
However, something about the use of that music in Superman Returns slightly rubbed me the wrong way, and at the time, I couldn’t quite put my finger on why that would be. I was fine with the theme playing over the opening credits, because that was a particularly fun sequence, and it was nice to hear it booming through theatre speakers again.
But during the action of the film itself, whenever the theme played, it just seemed slightly…out of place. Now that I’ve had some time to reflect on the movie, I think my particular issue is that Williams’ heroic, bombastic, and more innocent theme seemed at odds with the more somber and reflective story that Superman Returns presented. Even during the more traditional superheroic scenes, it felt a little tacked on: “See, Superman’s being a hero, you can tell by our use of the Williams theme! Look how heroic he is!”
To be fair, the Williams theme did occasionally pop up here and there throughout the new film’s soundtrack with a more downbeat arrangement, which I thought was quite effective and fit nicely with the overall tone of the movie.
Again, and let me emphasize this, it’s a very minor nitpick. I’m not fuming over this like someone on the DC Forums: “How dare they sully the greatness of the John Williams theme by attaching it to this travesty” — you know, like that. It was just a thought that occurred to me, and thought I’d share it with you kind and understanding folks.
I think I really need to see this movie again to more fully pin down my thoughts and feelings about this flick. I’m sure it’ll be out on DVD in six months (or less), so maybe I’ll revisit it then.
In the meantime, let’s make fun of people:
Here’s a quote from an Amazon review of Superman Returns: The Official Movie Guide:
“Boring and misinforming
“This is among the worst movie tie in books ever. To put it mildly, the script looks awful, the film photos speak volumes of how cheap Singer made the movie, and how stupid DC Comics is for letting Warners call all the shots in the film making process.
“MAKE MINE MARVEL.”
This isn’t Superman Returns, but I haven’t yet met my quota for mentions of the “Death of Superman” storyline lately, so I thought I’d quote from some of Amazon.com’s reviews for said book:
“Much worse than the myths perpetuated by Dan Brown with his now infamous allegedly factual-based novel DA VINCI CODE did for the profanity of creating myths behind the myths alleged to Christ and Mary of Magdala — DC Comics did with their primary Legendary comic book charachter by all of these damned revisions that they made in the debacle of their period for having the desperate crud to gain sales – all in the spirit of the American way for the Almighty Dollar.
What’s next? Superman happen to be Gay?! And Jimmy Olsen is Clark Kent’s boyfriend! Might as well revise Supes into SUPERGAY then. Sheeez –!”“Wow. This book is so so. Now one there is no story no plot no twist.It seem that this bookis all action no story and citter chat that has nothing to do with this comic. i meen realy if super man is the mane carecter shy are all the other super heroes in this.I meen doomsday fights him whith pne hand in a steel shackle. when they all attack him at wonce then the shackle breek. i meen who the hell would free his other hand when he is already kicking there ass. they dont even tell you how he came to be or why he wuz in chains. if you are looking for only action this is for you”
“I can’t believe someone could write a 200 page comic book about nothing. I should have expected this when the first 4 pages showed a punching arm. JUST A PICTURE OF AN ARM FOR FOUR FREAKING PAGES. […] ‘doomsday comes out of nowhere and fights superman to the death’. There…. 1 sentence describes the whole 200 pages.”
“I prefer Lobo as an S-Villain. He is a bounty hunter,he has a space Harly he rides on and he has some great one liners. Plus he at least has an attitude.”
“This book was very obviously a marketing scheme to get sales up. I mean, did anyone actually expect Superman to stay dead? I think not.”
Um, as someone who was selling the “Death of Superman” comics at the time…yes, some people definitely expected him to stay dead.
Anyway, just so I’m not Mr. Negativepants, here are some positive reviews for the book:
“Man, This book does the best in explaining the fall of Superman, Domesday, the JLA. Just buy it even if you have the least simple intrest in Superman, still just buy it!!!!!!”
“I have read this book and it is one of the best superman books I have ever read. Doomsday should get stuffed.”
“This book is one of the best books I read so far I mean the pictures the story and the way they presented it was just great and I would recommend this book to whoever collects comic books to let it be a part of your collection”
“I hope they keep writing more stories like this one, just don’t kill him again…I don’t think I could handle it again.”
Well said.
