The Death of Superman Lives: What Happened?

Fascinating behind the scenes look of Hollywood craziness. Makes you wish they had made Superman Lives!

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.

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.

Back in time to 1998 when Tim Burton was in talks and fully involved during pre-production to direct the major new Superman film, Superman Lives! Nicolas Cage would be Clark Kent and the costume screen tests is amazing footage, particularly seeing how great Tim and Nic would have collaborated. Featuring interviews from spectacularly gifted artists who provided the concept art, producer Jon Peters with his strange approach and early drafts of the screenplay by none other than the mighty Kevin Smith, not only is it a really enjoyable watch but really captivating and I personally think it's such a shame it was a failed project. The concept art looks incredible and to see that on screen would've been something else. Maybe it'll rise to studios interest again in the future.... the documentary itself is essential viewing though and although I would've liked to know more details about the films story which is barely referenced to, it's still really well edited and clearly made with a passion for its subject

A fantastic story told by an uneven documentary. The best parts (for me) were the Kevin Smith scenes. He seemed really happy to regale the audience (again) with his bizarre turn as scriptwriter for Superman Lives, and he's a nicely expressive personality. The downside to this is that he's not presenting anything new, and you can still get the same entertaining story in one of his "An Even With Kevin Smith" stand-ups.

Outside of that, the reason to see this movie is the wealth of uncovered costume-test footage with Nicolas Cage and Tim Burton. This paints a different tale than just the pictures we've had on the internet for so many years. Still would've made for a whacko movie. The director conducts a stilted interview with Burton himself (poor lighting and all), but give the man credit; have you ever heard a Burton commentary? They're not easy to get through.

The Death of Superman Lives is worth a watch, and it'll hold your attention, but you can get by with Smith's testimony of events in one of his on-stage conversations. And he makes for better subject matter.