The Death of Superman Lives: What Happened? (2015) Reviews

• A nice tribute to an unmade mess

  davidbazuki2015-07-12

  Over the years, there have been talks of an unmade Superman movie starring Nicholas Cage, which has been the subject of controversy among not only fans of the character, but comic book fans in general. Pretty much all there was to show for it was a few leaked, horrible images of Nicholas Cage sporting quite a head of hair in a cheesy suit, Kevin Smith's shared experiences from being a writer on the movie, and a supposed leaked script. This documentary sheds light on the unmade movie and tells the whole story through incredible concept art, and pretty cool special effects tests all of which just don't belong in a Superman movie.In addition there's info from some of the crew members working on the movie at the time. People interviewed include concept artists, director Tim Burton, writer Kevin Smith, Producer John Peters, costume designers, special effects artists, and others caught up in the production at the time. The thing I personally found amusing was how almost everyone involved with Superman Lives had so little knowledge on the characters, mainly from producer John Peters who had the most insane, outlandish ideas that made little sense to not only the actual movie, but to the universe established in the DC comics. The movie truly felt like like it was doomed from the start. Anyways, it's a pretty good documentary that tells the tale of how outright bonkers Hollywood can truly be. I'd suggest you watch it if you're into the whole unmade movie type of documentary thing Reminiscent of Jodorowsky Dune, which is another documentary you should also check out.

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• A good Documentary that's worth checking out

  MattBrady0992015-07-18

  Nicolas Cage as Superman...hmm interesting. The Documentary delves into one of Hollywood's most enthralling 'what could have been' stories. In 1996, Warner Brothers engaged Kevin Smith to write the screenplay ('Superman Lives'). Director Tim Burton assembled an elite group of artists to work on Superman Lives, including Nicolas Cage as Superman. Warner Brothers scrapped the project shortly before principal photography began. "Superman Lives" a movie that never happened and the film was going to be directed by Tim Burton. Jon Peters as producer and Nicolas Cage himself starring as Superman. This was around the time where superhero movies or just normal movies were bombing at the box office and movies at that time wasn't getting well received by critics and yes we did get good movies around that time as well, but that was in fall time and most of the bad movies came out in the summer time so everybody just expected everything to suck at that time. So I think that's why this movie never happened just because of that and the movie studios were struggle at the time since every movie was bombing in front of them so when they got a new Superman movie starring Nic Cage of course they would say no to it since Batman and Robin and Steel didn't work. The Death of "Superman Lives": What Happened? was a pretty good Documentary. It showed me a lot of the behind the scenes and the ideas that Tim Burton came up with and so did the art designers. The ideas they had for the movie and they drawings they did for the monsters that Superman can fight were pretty good and quite creative designs. The Documentary kept my interested from start till finish and it actually gave me second thoughts about Cage as Superman and the whole project itself as I do believe it could have been somewhat good just by the unique draw out art designs. Watch it yourself and you know what I'm saying. I can't believe I'm saying this but Nicolas Cage could have been a good Superman. Watch the Documentary yourself as they put Nic Cage in the outfit and he looked good as Superman that's just me being honest here. What I never known about Jon Peters is that he used to be a hairdresser and now his a movie prouder, don't ask me how all that happened. I was pretty shocked about Jon Peters ideas for Superman Lives like he didn't want Superman to fly or even wear his Superman outfit, I mean what? and Jon Peters seems to have a strange thing with spiders because he wanted Superman to face-off with a giant spider and let's not forget that Jon was the producer of Wild Wild West where they were giant iron spider in that movie. Jon Peters at times didn't know what the hell he was on about and he doesn't really care about the character of Superman. Just doing it for money I guest. My only problem with the Documentary is that they only talk about the ideas about monsters and they only show you fan art of those designs, but I didn't really get a full gaps on what the movie could have been like and how the movie will start and finish, I never got that in this Documentary. Overall The Death of "Superman Lives": What Happened? is a good Documentary that's worth checking out.

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• Meandering and Over-Long, This Tug on Superman's Cape Needs More Focus

  drqshadow-reviews2016-01-28

  The infamous bomb to end all bombs, a doomed effort to relaunch the Superman franchise in the immediate aftermath of the catastrophic Batman and Robin, never made it to principal photography. Ever since it was unceremoniously dumped back in 1998, the film's been a secretive slab of buried pop trivia and this documentary, through interviews with virtually every guilty party, attempts to uncover what might have been. Facepalm-worthy mistakes abound, from overzealous producers with absurd requests to tripped-out directors with no affinity for the character to one of the single worst casting decisions in recent memory. There's no two ways about it: this was going to be a launchpad disaster, even worse than the slim shreds of leaked information may have led us to believe. The story of its abortion is fascinating, too, in the same way a slow-motion replay of a fatal F-1 crash might be. The documentary belabors many points, though, needlessly bloating its runtime, and the director/moderator is incessantly forced into most shots, which I found grating. As a slideshow of concept art and talking heads recollecting (often, stunningly, with fondness) the mistakes they were never given the chance to make, it provides a short-lived interest. The full duration is something of a chore to push through, however, and it really could've done with some critical editing before release.

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• What could have been...

  DanielRobertRoss2015-10-11

  Over the years I had heard about this failed Superman reboot, and then pictures started appearing online, but until this documentary I didn't know the full story. Much like Jodorowsky's Dune, this insightful documentary takes us behind the scenes, showing us not only how the wheels for this project started but finally answers the question of why exactly the whole thing came crashing down. There's in depth interviews with Jon Peters, Kevin Smith and some surprisingly emotional words from Tim Burton. Sadly Nic Cage declined to appear. Regardless, this is a fascinating journey into what could have been either one of the best comic books movies ever or the most bizarre mess since Batman and Robin. Tragically we'll never get to see Nic Cage as Superman shouting NOT THE KRYPTON! Our loss.

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• Not bad, but not good either

  siderite2015-08-12

  It is always fascinating to see the innards of the making of a movie. People that are working so much before you even know that the idea exists. Superman Lives, though, was not that special an idea. It would have been fun to see a long hared Nicolas Cage play Superman (and I honestly mean it, especially since he was still young and caring enough about his roles) and Tim Burton would have probably reinvented the superhero genre all by his lonesome. However it would have been neither completely revolutionary nor conservatory enough to appeal to movie studios. Its cancellation was not possible, but the most probable outcome. The documentary goes ahead and describes how the work for the movie started and how they prepared concepts and costumes and they were weeks from starting filming when the project was canceled. Fun to see Kevin Smith contradict Jon Peters on how things actually happened and who had which idea, but in the end the viewer doesn't care one way or the other. I feel that the documentary, unlike others in the genre, like Jodorowsky's Dune, failed completely in making the viewer care. You didn't see Cage heartbroken for not making the film (in fact he didn't appear at all, except in archive footage), you didn't see Smith or Peters cry tears of frustration for not getting the thing done, and the footage about their preparations and the minute details about the Superman costume left me cold. Bottom line: Good to watch it in order to learn how movies get conceived and made. Bad if you want to enjoy yourself or feel anything about this movie that was not made.

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