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Americana of Smallville. It’s important that this film shows Clark Kent as an alien becoming an American—a key character element of Superman throughout the franchise.
Christopher Reeve, Margot Kidder, and Gene Hackman are the gold standard that will always stand the test of time in the comic book genre. John Williams’ score married with Richard Donner’s photography, which creates emotional and rousing scenes that showed the beauty of stories based on comic books, are some of the best elements of the film.
This is a film that is only diminished by the time it was filmed in, when action sequences were much more difficult to orchestrate. The Richard Donner director’s cut is worth the viewing, as you will believe in Superman by the end of the film.
The Superman movies had quite the roller coaster in the success department. They started out high, went low, and then ended up back on top.
DAN
Superman kicked the franchise off strong. Beginning the film with the origin of Krypton and Kal-El was perfect. It set up Superman and Superman II in a short, concise manner. Christopher Reeve proved to be a perfect Superman, portraying both the roles of Clark Kent and Superman in a dynamic way that showed the differences in the two characters was more than just glasses and a suit.
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Reeve’s managed to show these characters did have different personalities and demeanors, giving the audience reason to believe the two weren’t one in the same. Reeve also did a great job at making the flying somewhat believable. Sure, it was obviously fake, but the way he moved around in the sky made you really think that he was flying and not just floating around on wires.
Gene Hackman was a good Lex Luthor, portraying him as an evil genius, who had plans to make himself rich, even if it meant the death of others. The character was at least somewhat realistic because he didn’t use crazy machines to complete his plot.
My biggest problem with the original Superman was that it ended in a way that just didn’t feel like a resolution. It was almost as if they decided to use a shortcut to get the ending. It was good, but it could’ve been better. Overall, this was definitely the best Superman movie from the first four in the franchise. Superman set the bar high, giving Superman II some big spandex to fill.
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SUPERMAN 2
BENNY
This brings us to the next movie, Superman II. Now it’s odd that originally these were both intended to be filmed at the same time. Because with the shift in director, and a few cast change ups like Marlon Brando leaving his role of Jor-El, we are left with a different type of Superman film.
This isn’t the beginning of the end, but it’s a sign of things to come. The pacing holds with the beautiful dialogue and new director Richard Lester’s unique brand of humor brought a new element to the story. It’s not like the original Superman. Its tone is more light hearted to match his style of romantic comedies, but that’s what makes it great. You don’t just feel like you are watching the same Superman movie. You walk out of Superman II feeling like you learned a little more about the character: a new side and a twist that you weren’t expecting.
To top it off, the increased budget is immediately noticeable with the larger stunts and the villains actually having Super powers as well. Since the first movie didn’t have any superhero fighting, you could have easily made this movie with nothing more than punching, wires and green screen and no one would have questioned you. But Richard Lester went for a full-out fight in the middle of Metropolis. It’s not quite on the level of destruction in Man of Steel, but it does give you a good feeling of Superpowers.
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Regardless of how Richard Lester did with the movie, the production as rife with controversies that to this day are still debated. Richard Donner, the original director, was pulled off of the project for unknown reasons (each side telling their own version of the story). While this doesn’t sound like a big deal at first, Richard Donner had completed 75% of the movie before leaving its production.
The new director, which was Richard Lester, needed to film 51% of the movie to actually get the directors credit. So he reshot many of the original scenes Richard Donner already shot. In the end, the movie wasn’t along the original idea that Richard Donner had. For years fans clamored for the original again. It wasn’t until 2006 that we would get a recut version of the film restoring many of Richard Donners original scenes. But the controversy was still there, and it was a sign of problems to come.
JASON
The first sequel of Superman, Superman II, was carefully assembled, showing how to continue an origin story with thoughtful character development. Richard Donner was originally set to direct both Superman & Superman II together. However, in the middle of production Donner was replaced with Richard Lester, whose comedic background changed the tone of the film from its previous film.
Even with that mostly disastrous change this is a superb sequel that shows Kal-El struggling to reconcile his personal life with his role as the sole hero of planet Earth.
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The story of Superman sacrificing his powers for the woman he loves (Lois Lane) will be used in many superhero stories to come. It has rightfully earned its place in film history. The superhero battle of General Zod and his lieutenants verses Superman is bar none one of the best super fights, even though it is not as fast paced as the action sequences that we see in film today.
While the end of the story has some bizarre displays of powers, Superman using his chest emblem to incapacitate an opponent and erasing Lois Lane’s knowledge of Superman’s identity with a “super kiss,” there are many parts of this film that have been used in superhero sequels even today. I always enjoy the scene in the diner where Clark Kent actually takes vengeance on the bully. The comedic beat that follows is priceless.
Christopher Reeve plays
