Comments on: Superman Returns: A Medical Review (Spoiler Alert)

By: Jeremiah

Jeremiah — Sat, 08 Jul 2006 22:09:57 +0000

Jimmy’s bow tie/plaid shirt combinations were too much though; no man is that color blind I beg to differ.

By: Ratbat

Ratbat — Fri, 07 Jul 2006 04:37:11 +0000

I think even if he’s invulnerable, they’d be able to get a bead on his heartbeat. It should still pump and push blood around his body and all the rest of it. I think they’d be able to detect it in many of the ways you can detect a non-superperson’s heartbeat.

But then, I might know Superman, but not medicine!

By: Zach

Zach — Thu, 06 Jul 2006 04:07:00 +0000

Could they even get a semi-accurate read on his heartbeat, what with the whole invulnerability thing? I don’t know how the monitors work, but I kinda think that, if they couldn’t defibrulate him or poke him with needles, wouldn’t that totally screw with the machine as well?

By: James Nicoll

James Nicoll — Wed, 05 Jul 2006 01:04:13 +0000

“Frankly the airplane aftermath scene surprised me. Lois kept getting slammed, hit, crushed, thrown. yet when the plane was set down she was the very first to stand up. Shouldn’t she be dead?”

That’s one reason why over on my LJ I speculated that when she leaned over in *that* scene to whisper to Superman, what she said was “My real name is Kara.”

That makes the whole problem with who fathered the kid (or rather, if we’re supposed to accept that Supers knocked her up in the second movie and then _erased her memory_ with Kryptonian roofie powers, which seems a bit at odds with the justice part of his slogan) go away.

Now, why hasn’t she revealed herself as Kryptonian? Because she’s shy and also it lets her play cruel mindgames on Kal, like pretending to be dead in the first film. Kryptonians love cruel mindgames, or at least the Silver Age ones did.

By: The Mighty Monarch

The Mighty Monarch — Tue, 04 Jul 2006 22:31:49 +0000

Mild Spoiler Warning

How cool was the bank robber scene? The part with the bullet had to be the best, most evocative display of just how powerful Superman is, even better than the continent-launch.

By: Blog@Newsarama » Meanwhile…

Blog@Newsarama » Meanwhile… — Tue, 04 Jul 2006 15:34:52 +0000

[...] Polite Dissent (Scott) First off, I enjoyed the movie very much. I thought Brandon Routh did an excellent job as Superman and the rest of the cast were quite good as well (Jimmy’s bow tie/plaid shirt combinations were too much though; no man is that color blind). The airplane/shuttle rescue scene was probably the best pure superhero scene I’ve seen in a movie yet. My main complaint is the villain. I just don’t think the movie Lex or his real estate plots are villainous enough to make him the needed supervillain. Or to put it more bluntly, as my wife did, the movie “needs more punching scenes.” [...]

By: Really likes Batman Better

Really likes Batman Better — Tue, 04 Jul 2006 11:39:00 +0000

How cool was it that the elderly woman that Lex as medical power of attorney over is played by Noel Neil of the TV series? I met her once – she is a lovely woman. And that Bartender? the original Jimmy Olsen!

By: Chris Arndt

Chris Arndt — Mon, 03 Jul 2006 21:48:31 +0000

Frankly the airplane aftermath scene surprised me. Lois kept getting slammed, hit, crushed, thrown. yet when the plane was set down she was the very first to stand up. Shouldn’t she be dead?

If not her brains scattered across the aisle, shouldn’t her blood be? I read Airframe. She was getting smacked for the most part between the Mesosphere and the ground.

The way Superman kept getting thrown around on that Island I’d think he should be worse off as well.

By: Scott

Scott — Mon, 03 Jul 2006 03:43:10 +0000

DrObviousSo:
I think about six…in the nation. But for a mohter who are shown to be so worried about her child’s health, you think she’s make it a point to have him use the inhaler right (on the other hand, you’d also expect her to quit smoking).

ohwilleke:
Good points. The smoking/asthmatic kid caught my eye as well. And speaking of diving underwater, how about the pressure? Isn;t it one atmosphere of pressure per 25 feet, or something like that?

By: ohwilleke

ohwilleke — Mon, 03 Jul 2006 03:05:51 +0000

Other medical issues:

(1) These people just have an immense tolerance for shock. Lois’s kid killed a guy, whom he had just been happily playing piano with and didn’t even seem shaken up. Lois nearly drowns, and has been conscious for just a few minutes, yet immediately dives back into cold ocean water, diving deep and rescues a 225 pound man.

(2) I guess they have special rules for non-relative visitors of Superheroes in Metropolis. They probably don’t have HIPPA either.

(3) Lois shows almost no signs of being a life long smoker. And, considering that her son has asthma or something like it and gillions of other meds, it is notable that she wasn’t able to quit.

(4) Did you notice that Jimmy has a glass window explode in his face, yet never appeared with so much as a scratch or bandage in the following scenes?

(5) Lesson From Scene 1: Don’t give Lex Luthor (or any ex-felon) your medical power of attorney.