The Death of Superman Lives: What Happened?

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

*** 1/2 (out of 4)

Remember SUPERMAN LIVES? You know, that new Superman movie that was going to be directed by Tim Burton and feature Nicolas Cage in the title role? It got into production but the film never managed to see the screen and this fun documentary explains why.

What's so great about this documentary is that many of the main people involved with the production are interviewed here. This includes Burton, producer Jon Peters, the three different screenwriters including Kevin Smith as well as people involved in costumes, set design and various others. What's even more entertaining is that those interviewed are willing too speak their mind on what went wrong.

As one person states, it would have been a great movie or something laughed off the screen and it seems Warner knew this and that's one reason the film was canceled. There's a lot of great stuff on display here including the interviews that are terrific. We also get to see video footage of Cage inside the Superman suit and having discussions with Burton and the crew. Speaking of Burton, you can tell that this film still bothers him.

If you're a fan of comic book movies or just disastrous Hollywood mistakes then you should get a kick out of this documentary.

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.

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.

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.

This movie is an intriguing look at the never completed Superman movie starring Nicolas Cage. It is a fascinating convergence of.movie making and comic books. More than that it is a look at how difficult it is to get a movie made in Hollywood and how the compromises and egos, as well as budgets can get in the way of artistic expression. The movie's premiss, the making of an alternative perspective on Superman's story as told by Tim Burton would never have happened had he not defied the odds with the unlikely success of his Michael Keaton Batman film. That shows how quickly leverage can rise and fall in Hollywood. The behind the scenes, and test footage, as well as the interviews make this a fun and unusual ride.