I was a big fan of the Christopher Reeve Superman films (even the 4th one), and was really expecting a lot when "Superman Returns" was released in 2006. Needless to say, I was VERY dissapointed. SR is not the worst film I've ever seen, but it definitely could've been a lot better. The character had so much potential, and having him fight a Lex Luthor who just wanted to have his own "island" (instead of world domination) was weak. There were SO many other stories that they could've done - the Superman character has been around for 50 years, and they could've easily mined the comics to come up with a better film.
The scene with Superman's "child" was fairly ridiculous as well. I don't know that this really added anything positive to the film.
The actress who played Lois Lane was also severely mis-cast. I was expecting someone with a slight edge (like Margot Kidder in the Reeve films), but this Lois was way too soft for the role.
If they do another film, they should ditch the continuity from SR and start from scratch. However, positives of SR that they should keep are:
- The actor who played Superman (Brandon R.) really looked and acted like the Superman from the comics - this was probably the best part of the film. He should definitely return if another film is made.
- The music in the beginning (an homage to the original John Williams Superman music) was also great, and should be kept and played at some point in the film.
As far as ideas for a new film, I have too many to list all of them, but here are some:
- Do a four-hour film adapting "The Death and Life of Superman" (the best Superman comic storyline ever, IMHO) where Superman fights Doomsday, supposedly "dies", and comes back to life. I know this won't happen, but one can dream
The problem with making this into a film is that there were so many plot-lines in the comic series that having this under four hours wouldn't work that well (I guess three hours might, maybe).
- Have an all-out alien invasion of Earth that Superman has to stop. I know this has been done in the comics.