2011 Movie News Archives

June 1, 2011: Return to Krypton Sequence from "Superman Returns"

Superman Anthology The other day I received a nice surprise delivery from Warner Bros... "The Superman Motion Picture Anthology" Blu-ray collection. Warner Bros. sent it to me to write a review on the 8-disc collection. There was just one small problem, I didn't own a Blu-ray player.

Unable to get to the shop for a few days, I sat with the box on my desk, teasing me with content yet unseen. Top of this list was the never-before-shown "Return to Krypton" sequence from "Superman Returns".

Today, with new Blu-ray player purchased, I sat it on the floor in front of my TV, plugged it in to the side of the TV, plugged in the electrical cord into the closest available outlet, and inserted the "Superman Returns" disc into the player. I select the Deleted Scenes menu item, selected "Return to Krypton" and sat back to watch.

Now my newly purchased Blu-ray player is still sitting on the floor, as I wanted to get to the computer and type this up straight away.

The "Return to Krypton" sequence is pretty much what I imagined it would be...

Kal-El A small speck moves through the stars of space. We then move inside a crystal capsule, with crystals growing and changing in front of our eyes. Lights reveals a space inside the craft within which we find Kal-El, wearing a tight-fitting grey-ish suit with S on his chest. He rises and walks to a crystal control panel (which rises to meet his touch).

With a few hand movements Kal-El instructs the outer wall of the spacecraft positioned in front of him to turn transparent, so that it becomes a shield-shaped window through which he can see what's outside. With more movements of his hands over the control crystals he pilots the spacecraft through the rocky remains of his home world, Krypton. While most of the planet is destroyed, there are large sections that remain somewhat intact. As the craft flies around, spotlight searching this way and that, Kal-El's heart rate starts to increase. Beads of sweat dot his forehead.

Krypton The spacecraft comes to a large structure. Kal-El increases the size of the search light to reveal a giant beveled "S" shield - the crest of the House of El. However his heart rate continues to escalate, his hands start to shake, and he collapses in pain as we see that the remains of the planet all around the ship are actually heavily infused with deadly Kryptonite radiation. Unable to stand, Kal-El tries to pilot the spacecraft away from the Kryptonite, but it is everywhere. The spacecraft, under Kal-El's unsteady hand, careers through the debris, crashing into large shards of rock and Kryptonite, breaking off parts of the spires that make up the crystal spacecraft.

Kal-El desparately reaches for the control console, bringing up the navigational map, and selecting the planet Earth as the ship's next destination. The craft responds to the new command just in time to miss crashing into another large piece of the planet, flies through the debris field of Kryptonite, and heads into deep space for the planet Earth.

We pan down from the stars of space... to the Kent Farm in Smallville at night.

And that is where this 5 minute and 23 second deleted scene leaves off, leading into the start of the movie where Martha says goodbye to Ben Hubbard just before her adopted son's firey return.

I have to say that I was quite impressed with Brandon Routh's performance in this deleted sequence. He has no dialog, but his facial expressions really carry the scene. The sound effects (escalating heartbeat and Kryptonite crackle) help to set the mood. I understand however why this was not included in the theatrical release of the film. It is a bit slow, may have dragged down the pace for the start of the film, and doesn't necessarily add anything to the over all story.

Look for a full review of "The Superman Motion Picture Anthology" in the not-too-distant future.



2011 Movie News

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