Ok, this is the week a lot of you have been waiting on. Spiderman 2 opens, and the web-slinger (who in reality would have no shot at Kirsten Dunst) swings back into action against the evil Doc Ock. This week, our questions are about those quintessentially misunderstood, ill-treated, feared and respected champions of truth, justice and the Spandex Way: the Superheroes.
1. All right, have it out. What is the all-time greatest superhero movie? OK, it may not be the all-time greatest superhero movie, but I loved it. I am talking about Batman Returns. My reason for liking this particular movie so much is quite simple. Christopher Walken was cast as the villain! Oh, but he does that evil thing so well!
The only thing that I would like to change about that movie is the way that Catwoman killed him. She fried him with a tazer. I would have prefered something that left me with a pretty corpse instead of a pile of ashes, piercing his heart with her claws would have been good...
2. What superhero movie has not been made that you'd like to see? Which existing one would you have redone from scratch? When I was a kid, I used to watch this cheesey Japanese superhero show called Ultraman. I remember very little about it, except that the terrible dubbing of the English voices was hilarious. I would love it if someone would find one of the old scripts and make a movie from it using English speaking actors. As for the matter of redoing a superhro movie from scratch, there are not any that I would care to do. I would like to do a bit of recasting on the Spiderman movies, though. I would prefer a slightly older, better looking Peter Parker.
3. What qualities would be necessary to elevate a superhero movie from a simple action film to a memorable motion picture? Is it possible? Of course it is possible! You need only have a talented cast and a good script, the same as would be needed for any other type of movie to fulfill those expectations.
BONUS~ Most superhero movies take place in a more-or-less realistic modern world. If a superhero actually appeared in your city today and started fighting crime, what would be the actual public reaction? You're kidding, right? I can just imagine what would happen if some guy or gal appeared to fight crime in Pittsburgh wearing tights! Somebody call the guys in the little white coats! They're coming to take you away, Ha! Ha! Ho! Ho! Hee! Hee!
