A couple of times now on other boards I've brought up
the topic of bad movie remakes. Instead of Hollywood
constantly spending millions to remake movies that
were already big hits, how about taking a movie that was
a total failure & trying to do it right this time? After all,
a lot of movies may start off with a good idea,
but just fail in the execution (bad script, bad actors,
bad director, bad budget, etc.) So maybe the second
time's the charm.

One movie that I think could be done well is Superman
IV: The Quest For Peace. I'm assuming most of y'all
have seen this (& probably wish you hadn't), but for
those who haven't (like maybe young Melissa & Harrison)
here's the link to Amazon.com which has some interesting
customer review on it that should bring y'all up to
speed:

http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/ASIN/ ... 40-9825625

So I was thinking, y'know, the plot of this movie is
actually good, & pretty relevant in this day & age.
I mean, this is the movie Bryan Singer should make.
Really. Just give him $200 million for the budget,
& let his partners heavily rewrite the script, get a
top notch cast (Jim Caveziel as Superman, Neve
Cambell as Lois Lane, Kevin Spacey as Lex Luthor)
& you've got a roarin' blockbuster on your hands.

So you have all the heartfelt drama as the little
boy pleads with Superman to disarm the
world's nuclear weapons. That could be played up
so well, with Superman going through all
of his internal turmoil over whether or not he
should take that step. Then you have him actually
doing it. The scene where he makes the announcment
at the U.N. would be a really dramatic one.

How does the world react? While a large portion of
the population might be supportive, I suspect a
lot of people (like me) would be uncomfortable about
the whole idea of Superman doing this. Certainly
most major governments would be opposed, but
what do they do? Do they openly challenge Superman,
& try to stop him? And if they want to, how
could they?

So that's where businessman Lex Luthor comes in.
In exchange for several billion dollars worth of
government contracts, he's put in charge of a
top secret project to create his own superhuman
to defeat the Man of Steel. He creates Nuclearman
(played by Vin Diesel, The Rock, or maybe even
Nicolas Cage ) & first has him acting as a
superhero, in order to gain the public trust.

Then finally LL sets him against Superman for the
big battle at the end. Look at the final Neo/Agent
Smith battle at the end of The Matrix Revolutions
(the only worthwhile part of that whole movie
IMO), amp it up a bit, & imagine that was
Superman & Nuclearman. I'm envisioning a
major fight, that circles the globe. They fight
on land, in the air, underwater, eventually
going up into outer space & ending on the moon.

After Superman wins, & exposes Luthor's
scheme, Superman returns to the U.N. & makes
a speech declaring that he still believes in peace,
but ultimately that is in their hands, not his, &
he hopes that mankind makes the right decisions
for themselves & for the children of the world.

And I'd probably end with Clark Kent proposing
to Lois, & she accepts.

So what about y'all? Any really bad movies you've
seen that you'd like to see remade?

Good idea, JR - I'd pay to go and see it!

And even with the originals, I would like to see them reworked with the FX spruced up a la Lucas - The Star Wars original FX were quite good, whereas much of the Superman movies' FX were spoiled by bad matteing and even worse colour balance (the green Superman costume?).

Great concept....can you get a meeting with Singer to pitch it? I would pay to go see that movie.

Edward

I think the taint of the original would keep Hollywood away from this version. Not saying it's a bad idea, but I can imagine... in fact, I KNOW... that the studios execs would balk at this.

The only reason SUPERMAN IV got made in the first place is that Christopher Reeve wanted to star in another movie called STREET SMART but the producers for that movie wouldn't cast him unless he agreed to also make SUPERMAN IV, which he had been on record as being opposed to doing.

STREET SMART's a bad movie but it's noteworthy for giving Morgan Freeman his first highly regarded performance. So, all you fans of GLORY and SHAWSHANK REDEMPTION, thank Christopher Reeve.

I can think of a few.

Event Horizon
Johnny Mnemonic
Supergirl


Michael

Y'know, I am a HUGE William Gibson fan, but I'll say right now that, not only did the movie version of Johnny Mnemonic suck, it isn't even the best story that WG did...sorry, but the whole secret-data-courier thing is, well...silly. For lack of a better word. At least it introduced Molly (go cyberninja!).

(although I cannot say that it was the worst thing for Dolph Lundgren to get involved in; nooooooooooooooooooooooooooooo, not when 'I Come in Peace' is still available for rent at crappy vendors near you)

Anyway. Maybe someone should take another shot at 'Judge Dredd' - dodgy plot, way-overdone ending, but the stuff looked cool, the sound design was amazing, and the ABC warrior really looked like it could walk outta frame and wipe out the theatre!! Really, it supplanted ED-209 as my all-time favourite movie robot (well, design and fx wise anyway - nothing can really better the personality of the gay robot from Star Wars...)

(I apologize - really, without the Simpsons, my friends and I simply wouldn't be able to communicate with each other )

Anybody up for a remake of 'Batman and Robin' with Adam West, Burt Ward, and Yvonne Craig? You know, while they are still alive and all (Yvonne Craig is still alive, right?). Hey, it couldn't be worse

Well, the saddest thing about Johnny Mnemonic for me was that Gibson was actually heavily involved in the movie.

I'm hoping Pattern Recognition translates more successfully.

Michael

Event Horizon was abominable, but I thought Dredd was okay. Maybe a more sophisticated version wouldn't appeal to readers like me, cuz Dredd works at exactly that level for me.
However, another volume could be entirely different; thats the way Dredd's comics are!

Event Horizon had a cool concept, great production design, and a strong cast. They could've done so much with it, but it was just disastrous failure on almost every level.

Michael

I think we can all agree that SUPERMAN IV isn't a bad movie, at least not today.

I beg to differ. Supey IV is a shockingly bad film.

Although, back in the dim, dark days of 2004, nobody had seen Ghost Rider.....

GR WAS ENTERTAINING

Superman IV would have been much better if they had gotten rid of Lex's nephew and changed the Nuclear man subplot into a Bizarro one with a few tweaks.

John Cryer... I was so disappointed in him.

Horses for courses. I found it totally boring. By the time GR appeared, flaming skull and all, I was over it.

When I left the theater after watching Superman IV, two thoughts came to mind...

1. The comic books of that time were more entertaining and better written

and

2. I could have directed a better Superman movie!

I don't think we need to revisit Superman IV at all in terms of a remake/update. I agree that the premise was interesting, but the execution was crap. Almost a parody of the first two Superman movies - ironic, because they were trying to get back the feel of those movies after Superman III.

Superman IV is what happens when you try to produce a $50 million dollar movie on a $25 million dollar budget. In this day and age, it's sort of fun to watch if you're in the mood for camp, but if you're in the mood for a good Superman movie, watch I, II (Donner or Lester cut) or even Superman Returns.

The best thing about Superman IV is the final shot of Superman flying around the planet, which they recycled from the first movie and used in all four Christopher Reeve movies.

I thought the best thing was the part where one strand of Superman's hair was holding up that huge weight in the Metropolis Museum. That was really comic-booky and fun.

Beyond that....yikes!

And then Luthor uses what appear to be ordinary shears to cut said hair.

WTF?

I thought it was bolt cutters.

When I was but a mere child of 7 or 8, Superman IV was my favorite movie.

That said, why try to shine a turd? The notion of Superman removing the threat of nuclear war is so far moved from reality that it seems to make a serious matter a bit trivial. Also, the Nuclear Man's Achilles' heel is so weak that it makes Superman a moron for not beating him earlier. The whole idea that Superman would interfere in human matters this heavily makes Superman seem too naive and short-sighted. Certainly there would be a backlash to a God-like being taking away the most powerful weapon humans have developed.

That said, I wouldn't mind seeing LL clone Superman and make him battle the clone. Instead of the Nuclear Man, maybe a more dangerous Bizarro. Also, Catherine Zeta Jones would be a better Lois than Nevee Campbell IMHO. ; )

The superhero film I'd want to remake more than any other is Daredevil How can they use that much source material and still make a stinker? I'd get either Paul Greengrass (of the Bourne Supremacy) or maybe even get the rodriguez/Miller combo to direct it. I'd have either Brad Pitt or Matt Damon as Matt, Maggie Q as Elektra, Jason Statham as Bullseye, and Sly Stallone as Battlin' Jack Murdock.

But Superman 4 was a classic?