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#556 – Superman (1987)
Superman (1987)
Film review #556
Director: B. Gupta
SYNOPSIS: As the planet Krypton is about to be destroyed, the parents of a baby boy send him to Earth to escape the destruction. He lands in India and is raised by a couple who soon realise he has superhuman powers, but keep his powers a secret, naming him Shekhar. As an adult, he travels to the city in search of his childhood, Gita, while his old rival for Gita’s love, Verma, is a tycoon and super-villain who aims to become rich by causing a series of natural disasters across India and buying up the land cheap…
THOUGHTS/ANALYSIS: Superman is a 1987 Indian film and an unlicensed adaptation of the comic book superhero. This is not the first adaptation into Indian cinema either, with similar (unlicensed adaptations) in 1960 and 1980. The film’s story follows the typical Superman lore fairly accurately, as in the intro, we see the planet Krypton about to be destroyed, and a young baby boy being sent to earth as the only survivor. However, rather than landing in the rural U.S. as is canon, he instead lands in India, where a young couple find him and give him the name Shekhar. They soon learn he has superhuman powers, but tell him to keep them secret. When Shekhar is grown up, he heads to the city to find his childhood Gita, now working as a reporter (the “Lois Lane” of this version), while his old rival for Gita’s affections, Verma, is now a crime-lord who attempts to get rich by creating a series of natural disasters across India in order to buy the land up cheap (being the “Lex Luthor” of this film). The story, apart from being set in India, fits the established story quite well…a little too well, as it is essentially copying the 1978 Superman film point-for-point. The capsule which takes Superman to earth as a child is the exact shape as the one from the original film, but obviously made from silver foil rather than expensive (for the time) CG. Also, it straight up steals footage from the 1978 film’s ending, where Superman flies around the Earth so fast he turns back time, alongside using the John Williams theme is definitely has no permission for. As such, we can’t give the film too much credit for it’s story if it’s just taking it from an other successful film, but it follows the beats of the film fairly well. It also adds in some usual musical and dancing numbers, but these feel quite underwhelming compared to other films I’ve seen; almost like they were focused on making a Superman clone and had to add in musical numbers because that’s what Indian cinema does. Alongside this, they also use Michael Jackson’s “Beat it” in one dance scene, which again I’m pretty sure they did not have the rights to do so.
As mentioned, the characters from the Superman franchise are all recreated here quite faithfully, although being based in India rather than the U.S. Superman/Shekhar has Clark Kent’s naivety and Superman’s bravery, Gita has Lois Lane’s dogged determination, and Verma has Lex Luthor’s evil streak. We see the planet Krypton at the start of the film, adorned with a cheap set full of random coloured blocks, and there is also the fortress of solitude, where Superman goes to learn about his home planet, all loving recreated with nowhere near the budget of it’s Hollywood counterpart. Superman seems to have all of his powers such as super strength and flight, but also has telekinesis for some reason too, shown in a scene where he unwraps food and sets a table with his mind. The film has a decent mix of humour, action and drama, so it’s not uninteresting, although being released nearly ten years after the very successful film it is copying, I’m not sure if the audience would have already seen the original film subtitled or dubbed by that time. Nevertheless, I suppose it’s a pretty good adaptation of Superman, only because it is ripping off a good Superman film beat for beat. Otherwise, the obligatory dance and musical numbers are poor and uninspiring, and a bloated runtime of over two hours to incorporate more typical drama elements weighs the film down. The choreography, in both the musical numbers and the fight scenes is pretty dire, as you can obviously tell that none of the punches are connecting to anyone. Despite all this, it is still one of those films you really need to see to believe, so if your curiosity is piqued, then maybe you’d better put two hours aside to savour this cinematic wild ride.
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#555 – 400 Days (2015)
400 Days (2015)
Film review #555
Director: Matt Osterman
SYNOPSIS: Four astronauts are chosen to undertake a psychological experiment to survive 400 days on a simulated space journey to another planet, undertaken in an underground bunker. As the crew loses contact with the outside world and the long journey takes its toll, the crew emerge into a changed world, and the distinction between what is a simulation and what isn’t begins to blur…
THOUGHTS/ANALYSIS: 400 Days is a 2016 science-fiction film. The plot revolves around four astronauts who are chosen to undertake a simulated mission to another planet for 400 days in an underground bunker. As the mission progresses, they are expected to deal with the psychological challenges and unexpected issues that arise. However, as the mission nears completion, the crew start to feel like something is amiss, and leave the bunker into a completely different world, and the question of what is a simulation and what isn’t becomes increasingly prevalent. The film is a suspense/thriller film, but there is nothing really suspenseful or thrilling about any of it. Firstly, we hardly see any of the 400 day journey, apart from the beginning and a scene about halfway through, so we don’t really get a sense in the change of the character’s psychological state and how they are faring. Even when the characters emerge from the bunker into a strange new world, there’s not much more that’s added to the suspense and mystery. Any actual suspense is completely ruined by any jumpscares being telegraphed a mile off, with the pre-silence before a sting being so completely obvious you’ll know what is coming. Coupled with the cliché dialogue, there’s little to immerse you in the environment that the film creates.
The first thing you’ll notice about the characters is that none of them seem to be the type of people you would expect to be astronauts: their dialogue, on top of being cliché as mentioned, just seems uninterested and almost naïve: they definitely don’t seem to be the type of people you would lock together in a confined space for four hundred days. The acting isn’t bad. but the actors really aren’t given much material to work with. There’s a typical romance subplot that doesn’t really add anything, and the conflict that is generated between the crewmembers is ineffectual, and dissipates fairly quickly.
The film almost completely different during the second act: the crew emerge from the bunker after their 400 days to find that apparently the world has been plunged into darkness because the moon exploded and all the debris fell to earth causing some ecological apocalypse or something. Wandering around in a now b-movie plot, the crew stumble upon a town of survivors who all seem a bit mad, but the film just decides to constantly cast doubts on whether what they are experiencing is real, or just another part of the simulation, or it’s all in the astronauts imagination, which maybe was caused by the injections the medic was giving them under the guise of immunisation boosters? The film just throws more and more questions and points that contradict one another, but does it in such a haphazard way that you can’t really form a coherent opinion on what you think is happening. The whole idea that the moon exploded for some reason and somehow all the moon dust fell to Earth and destroyed everything is pretty farfetched, but a lot of the film feels unbelievable anyway, from the corny dialogue to the seemingly inept characters.
The worst part of the film is most certainly the ending: you probably know what is going to happen, as the crew are congratulated on surviving the simulation apparently, and just before they leave the bunker, the film snaps to black and the credits roll, leaving the question of what actually happened up for interpretation. However, this only works in films if what is up to interpretation is constructed properly, so you can somewhat imagine what has happened based on what you have experienced. This film throws out so much smoke and contradictions that it is almost impossible to imagine what happens next. The different possibilities have to be believable or derived from what the film gives you, but there’s just none of that here. The issue is definitely not the low budget either, it’s definitely a case of overwriting an idea and running away with it. Overall, 400 days is a bit of a mess, and undermines itself as a thriller, and falls short of being credible science-fiction. If you want a space-based psychological film, you can watch Solaris, and if you want a sense of mystery that gives you space to interpret the message, you can watch Inception.
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#554 – Superman (1980)
Superman (1980)
Film review #554
Director: V. Madhusudhana Rao
SYNOPSIS: Raja, a young boy, witnesses the death of his Mother and Father at the hands of burglars who have infiltrated their home. Raja prays to the God Hanuman for a way to avenge his parents, and is granted superpowers. He keeps the powers a secret until he is an adult, when he happens to find one of the men who killed his parents, and sets off to avenge them…
THOUGHTS/ANALYSIS: Superman is a 1980 Telugu film based on the DC comics superhero, although is definitely an unofficial and unlicensed adaptation. The opening sees the young boy Raja and his family on the eve of Hanuman Jayanthi, preparing for the day. While their preparations are underway, three burglars enter the home and kill Raja’s Mother and Father while he hides. Raja prays to Hanuman for the power to avenge his parents, and is granted super powers. When he grows up, he begins tracking down his parents murderers. As you can probably tell, the plot has absolutely no correlation with the “official” superman story. In fact, Superman barely figures into the movie at all; it’s mostly just a typical family drama about romance, and Raja’s adopted sister bringing shame to the family by becoming pregnant outside of marriage, and Raja having to get her to marry the man that got her pregnant. The whole vengeance story arc is interweaved with the plot, but it’s not really enough to make the film stand out, and the only superman bits are very typical scenarios where he saves out-of-control vehicles and such, made possible by some very cheap special effects and just reversing the footage.
Being an Indian film, there’s plenty of dancing and musical numbers interspersed throughout the film, although none of it is fairly memorable or impressive, which is odd, because this is the one element that these films typically excel in. The one that sticks out is the bizarre musical number with Superman/Raja picking up his wife and taking her to the moon or something? The shots of the moon and Earth floating around as the two sing is…very disorienting. The characters also have some some bizarre outfits, including “Superman’s” own outfit, adorned with a “H” on the chest, rather than the typical “S” (to represent “Hanuman” I suppose). The villains are overly dressed up in an almost comical fashion, with one wearing an oversized Stetson, and the main villain being absurdly overdressed like the cartoon version of an American businessman. Still, at least it makes the characters distinguishable.
Overall, Superman doesn’t really make use of the titular character it is unofficially using, and is overshadowed by a more typical family-based drama and romance that you would expect to find in this type of film. Even then, the usual musical numbers, dancing and costumes are also underwhelming. The special effects are daft, the fighting silly, and a surprising amount of obviously fake blood makes this a somewhat entertaining film to watch only based on how absurd it is, and how little they adapt the source material they do not have the rights to.
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#553 – Scooby-Doo and Krypto, Too!
Scooby-Doo and Krypto, Too! (2023)
Film review #553
Director: Cecilia Aranovich Hamilton
SYNOPSIS: Mystery inc. are called by Jimmy Olsen to Metropolis, in order to investigate the disappearance of the Justice League: Superman, Batman, and the rest. They arrive to a Metropolis overrun by villains, and Lex Luthor plotting to buy the Justice League headquarters and demolish it. The gang team up with Krypto the super dog, as they attempt to find out what happened to the Justice League…
THOUGHTS/ANALYSIS: Scooby-Doo and Krypto Too! is a 2023 animated film and part of a long line of direct-to-video titles in the Scooby-Doo franchise. This time, Scooby and the gang are travelling to Metropolis, where Daily Planet photographer Jimmy Olsen has sent for Mystery inc. (via Daphne, who he thinks is his girlfriend because they were voted “best red-haired couple” when they were kids at summer-camp), in order to investigate the disappearance of the Justice League. When they get there they are immediately set upon by villains such as Giganta, The Joker, Solomon Grundy, and the like: who are all running amok since Superman, Batman, Wonder Woman and the rest aren’t around. Meanwhile, Lex Luthor is trying to get the mayor to sell him the now abandoned Justice League Headquarters so he can demolish it. The plot is set up as a typical Scooby-Doo mystery featuring all the usual essentials such as Scooby and Shaggy stuffing their faces, a list of suspects, a trap, and searching for clues. Though it must be said that it being a typical plot is not a bad thing: Scooby-Doo is a rare example of a franchise that has been successful for over fifty years without making significant changes. The only time the franchise falters is when it attempts to re-boot or re-imagine it (See: Scoob!). As such, even though it’s predictable, it’s still fun. This isn’t the first time Mystery inc. has had a crossover with superheroes though, as they have met Batman more than once, even hinting at it in the story, which is a nice touch. What strikes me is just how action-packed the film is: there’s rarely a lull in the energy of the film, and as soon as it starts, we are treated to Mystery inc. being chased around the city by the various villains from the DC universe, and it’s a pretty cool showcase of all the different characters that provides a bit of a twist on the classic Scooby-Doo chase. In fact, the whole film is full of references to the DC universe: probably far more than I noticed, but because of the relentless pace of the movie, you’ll have to be quick to catch some of them.
The Mystery inc. gang are on very typical form here, with everyone being the characters you are familiar with. No lengthy character establishments needed here. The supporting cast that provide the suspects for the mystery fill out their roles well, and Lex Luthor joins the gang to provide some comedy relief for the most part, and his part fits in really well, and adds something novel and fun, alongside his dog, “Rex Luthor.” Krypto shows up about half-way through the film, and even though he can’t speak like Scooby, still manages to capture a Superman-style personality with his actions, and is a solid support character too. I think more could have been done to explore the dynamic between Scooby and Krypto, but I don’t think the movie really needed it: it’s just a bit of fun that doesn’t need an in-depth character study or complex relation building.
As mentioned, the pace of the film is quite relentless, and there’s plenty of high energy action scenes alongside the typical Scooby-Doo shenanigans. A criticism of some of these scenes, such as the opening chase with the super villains, and the finale with everyone chasing the Phantom Zone projector around, is that they perhaps last a bit too long without much variation to keep them interesting. The film does try, but they perhaps could have been cut down just a little bit to avoid viewers noticing that they have been going on for a while. But that’s just a minor criticism, and on the whole, Scooby-Doo and Krypto, Too! is a fun adventure that is full of life, character and references which turn a silly crossover into a solid Scooby-Doo adventure. The central mystery is a bit weak in places, and as mentioned some of the action scenes go on for just a bit too long, but overall it gets in all the classic Scooby-Doo tropes (plenty of “Zoinks” and “Jinkies”), while also giving room for something new, such as Lex Luthor’s comedic role providing some much welcome and unexpected humour. Obviously intended for younger audiences, but there’s enough fun for older viewers as well. Unfortunately, the film’s released was cancelled due to Warner bros. company restructuring; fortunately, the entire film was leaked online, probably by someone disgruntled with the decision, so go find it if you want some good old-fashioned Scooby-Doo fun with a superhero twist.
