I agree with Gaffer on that and that leads to something that annoys the piss out of me with 'Superman Returns', at least inasmuch as we've seen so far- Clark, the 'real' person, was brought up well by good parents who helped him to believe in himself and believe in what he was put on this world to do. So why oh why restart a franchise of films with a whiny bitching 'Oh whoa is me why am I here nobody needs me my girlfriend has a baby' soap opera bullshit? Do people occasionally feel that way in real life? Yes of course. Is that what Superman is all about? Hell no... not by any stretch of the imagination. So I suppose one of my greatest fears of this film is that a new generation of filmgoers will have Superman defined to them in this way. Just like a generation of filmgoers, god forbid, define Star Wars based on the prequel films.

I have previously enjoyed Bryan Singer's work but this just smacks of someone who JUST DOESN'T GET IT. I honestly feel that Singer had a crush on Christopher Reeve when he was a kid and saw the original Superman films and probably didn't think of Superman again until he heard the atrocious (IMHO) song by Five For Fighting:

I cant stand to fly
Im not that naive
Im just out to find
The better part of me

Im more than a bird...Im more than a plane
More than some pretty face beside a train
Its not easy to be me

Wish that I could cry
Fall upon my knees
Find a way to lie
About a home Ill never see

It may sound absurd...but dont be naive
Even heroes have the right to bleed
I may be disturbed...but wont you concede
Even heroes have the right to dream
Its not easy to be me

Up, up and away...away from me
Its all right...you can all sleep sound tonight
Im not crazy...or anything...

I cant stand to fly
Im not that naive
Men werent meant to ride
With clouds between their knees

Im only a man in a silly red sheet
Digging for kryptonite on this one way street
Only a man in a funny red sheet
Looking for special things inside of me
Inside of me
Inside me
Yeah, inside me
Inside of me

Im only a man
In a funny red sheet
Im only a man
Looking for a dream

Im only a man
In a funny red sheet
And its not easy, hmmm, hmmm, hmmm...

Its not easy to be me

That song makes me freakin' cringe everytime I hear it because again- THAT IS NOT SUPERMAN. A character will THAT much self-doubt and THAT much power is a freaking time-bomb ready to go off. One of the great things about Superman as a character is exactly the fact that he was raised well enough to put the personal petty shit aside so he can help people.

I'm not saying that, oh, maybe the 3rd film in a new franchise might not want to *touch* on some of that stuff but you FIRST need to establish WHO and WHAT a character is. Warner Brothers MUST know that most kids seeing this film will probably not have seen the earlier films so their only view of Superman will be a confused, pathetic wimp who ran away from trouble. Hell I even like 'Superman II' and I had a problem with him giving up his powers so he could score with Lois. And for those who say 'he's so old-fashioned and such a boy-scout' I counter with- yeah? So what? What the hell is wrong with having morals and values and being willing to use them to help people. In fact I'd challenge those who think heroes should have more 'inner turmoil' and be more like 'outsiders' or 'conflicted' to re-think Superman as a character- because these days if you DO have morals and if you ARE more of a boy-scout you ARE an outsider. Being a decent citizen and helping people with little thought for yourself IS different from the norm.

And that's what I had hoped audiences could get from this film. And maybe they will, but as I've seen nearly every 'spoiler' on the flick as well as having thumbed through the novelization I don't think this will be the case. You'll get, to paraphrase Bryan Singer, 'chick-flick' mentality with some well-done special effects. Well my friends good special effects do not a movie make (ie the Star Wars prequels, Matrix II & III). Do I think this film will be *bad*? No of course not, at least in a production value kind of way. Is it what Superman is all about? Not in my book... but then again, WTF do I know?