“The Death of Superman Lives: What Happened?” was directed by Jon Schnepp in 2015. With a 7.1 on IMBb, it’s surprisingly good, from the expectation I had going in. The documentary goes over the history and background of a cut superhero movie. And How the story was influenced by outside forces and rivalries. In the end, they try and give a clear description of what the movie would’ve been like if it had been put into production.
This documentary is very structured but does not give away the other segments of the story. With other sections, being quite a good reveal and not being easily predicted. One thing I may not have liked is that the interviews were set up in places that helped carry out who they were about the story. I feel having a title card more often would’ve helped to remember who these people were. With some people being more popular with older generations, it’s hard to remember who they are now that they are not as popular. Credit to the story, I would’ve liked a bit more background on superhero movies coming up at that time, and well, it did go somewhat in-depth to its ties to the creator of the Batman movies. I would’ve liked to see if any other people went from the Batman movie to this cut movie. Another big plus for this movie is the overall tone knowing when to shift the tone to be a bit more hard-hitting and knowing when the shift to be a lot more upbeat. It has a very well gradient into the sections, even though the overall is very segmented.
The documentary is heavily based on interviews and testimonials not just the story of the cut movie, but also testimonials of what happened to the movie as it was cut and leading up after the cut. Following up on actors who wish they could’ve had a chance to be in this movie if it was ever fully produced. even better sets of reveals who is going to be in the movie and who struck the movie. with the setups being well done as they come off as a very shocking reveal. interviews are done all well with most people being set in environments that help collaborate them with where they are placed in the movie. With concept artists, being in more visually designed studios and actors being in Director seats. Some found footage is also interview clips from older television. Well, it’s not from the movie itself. They do tighten very well to feel like they took it themselves.
The before of this footage revolves heavily on found footage, of concept art from the movie and clip shot with background stage staff making props and costumes for the cut movie. My favorite asset is the concept art for Superman and his revival suit. Then with clips of the suit being made with a very interesting way of making the suit back as they didn’t have the special effects, we have today. It’s very interesting to see how many of the effects had to be made in-house back in the day instead of just being rendered on the computer.
As a digital art major and a person who is a big comic nerd, I thought this movie was really interesting. It used a good mix of found footage to taken in-house clips. My only big critique is that the music was not very notable. And in some sections, I would’ve liked a more in-depth explanation. Overall, I found the movie easily digested, digestible, and very intriguing. I think it tells a story that if not, I’ve told would’ve been lost to time. Would highly recommend if you have some time to kill.
