Zack Snyder’s Superman
I’m not a fan of DC’s cinematic universe. I don’t have a problem with them going dark. It’s just that it’s all dark, and it becomes monotonal. If you could pit Richard Donner’s Superman against Tim Burton’s Batman, you would’ve had a spectacular conflict. The characters are polar opposites. Donner himself recognized this. In his commentary for Superman II: The Richard Donner Cut, he relates a story where the studio asked him (before the Tim Burton Batman) how he’d do Batman. Donner said Superman was a character of the light, while Batman was a character of the dark. (He then went on to say Tim Burton went even darker with…
A Look Back: Superman Returns
The first two Superman movies are brilliant because director Richard Donner understood the source material, and had a genuine vision to interpret the character to the screen (unlike some, who simply preferred to turn the character into somebody else under the guise of a contemporary update). I don’t think any other interpretation of Superman has been as faithful or accurate. Smallville (2001 – 2011) comes closest, but is the story of Clark Kent (Tom Welling). Superman makes only a fleeting appearance at the end, although actor Tom Welling – like his big screen predecessor Christopher Reeve – certainly emits the wholesomeness, nobility, and purposefulness the character needs. Donner worked on…