VHS : Superman II

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Rating:

- Superman II: One Of The Best Comic Book Movies Ever
I loved the first film in the Superman series, "Superman: The Movie", and I really wanted to check out "Superman II", which is supposed to be as good (some say better) than the first. I watched "Superman II" today, and I must say that I loved it. It is tighter, sleeker and more excitign than its predecessor.

Christopher Reeve returns to his most beloved role, Clark Kent aka Superman. Superman is still the hero who fights for truth, justice and the American dream, while his alter ego Clark Kent is still a shy, mild mannered reporter. Lois Lane (Margot Kidder) is now developing feelings for Superman, and she discovers the truth about Clark. This poses a serious decision for Superman: give up his powers for the woman he loves or vice versa. He decides to surrender all his power and spend the rest of his life with Lois. However, this decision could not have come at a worst time. Three prisoners from the planet Kryptonian have made their way earth, the evil General Zod (Terrence Stamp) and his henchman (Sarah Douglas and Jack O'Halloran). With their arrival and Superman's lack of power, they wreak total chaos throughout the United States. Superman now must regain his powers and fight to save the world once more. The film climaxes with a spectacular showdown to save Metropolis.

As I said, this film is amazing and better than the first. Reeve is once again the perfect Man of Steel and continues to convince us that a man can fly. Kidder and Stamp add strong support, and Gene Hackman plays Lex Luthor to a t.

This is a film that belongs in everyone's dvd collection along with the first film. I hope the upcoming "Superman Returns" is as good as this is.

Rating:

- Entertaining like the original
I don't know why but I always got this "the movie sucks" feeling from everyone who watched the film. While of course the original is a comic book movie classic, it was also slightly strange in its pacing but understandable since it was the first film. The second picks up after the first one so it does feel like one big movie, with more better story and character moments and some really oddball things too.

The romantic relationship/triangle between Clark, Superman and Lois Lane is reaching a new high, especially since Lois is having suspicions on his identity. Clark decides to give up his powers indefinately, only it's really bad timing as a nuclear explosion in space (Superman flew it up there rather than let it blow over Paris) breaks the Kryptonian warriors seen at the beginning of the first film, including General Zod. The film is part romantic comedy and slugfest as Clark has to deal with not only Lois but saving the Earth from 3 warriors as strong as he is.

The film in a way seems better than the original: it's got better pacing with scenes that help the story and are interesting to watch, whereas for some reason I never liked the Smallville segment in the original. The effects, while still being not as polished, still look great for its time with even some new powers and one ridiculous one with the "cellophane S", parodied on Family Guy. The reference was funny, joke was not but anyway.

One problem I always had with Lex Luthor in the original was that he never seemed to be that much of a threat, he was basically there to give Superman something to do and not feel outright menacing. General Zod on the other hand has that perfect menacing tone and looking downright cool while doing it ("Come, son of Jor-El, kneel before Zod!"). The girl warrior is quite easy on the eyes but the Frankenstein-esque warrior is just so funny it's sad.

An obvious tie-in to the upcoming Bryan Singer directed film, the film will be re-released sometime around June with Superman director Richard Donner providing his own cut while also including this one. It's a good film anyways but I'm really curious as to how Richard Donner's version holds up.

Rating:

- This movie was just like the 1st one
Superman II was more exciting and fun to watch. I loved everything about the movie. The Three Villians from Krypton was awesome, also Superman giving up his powers to be with Lois Lane, and Superman and the villians facing off. I compare this review with my other review for the 1st Superman movie. I think this is where they should have ended it because III was lame and IV was a little okay.

Rating:

- BUYER BEWARE
I GIVE A 1 STAR TO THE DVD'S NOT THE MOVIES. JUST TO LET YOU GUYS KNOW ABOUT A NEW COLLECTOR'S BOX SET COMING OUT SOON. READ BELOW.
Yes... looks like it's true. We've known for a while now that Warner Home Video was working on new DVD special editions of the Superman films to tie in with the release of Bryan Singer's Superman Returns later this year (in theaters 6/30), but now we have the first actual confirmation... from Ilya Salkind, who co-produced the first three Superman films! Salkind has acknowledged that he's working with Warner on the new DVDs, and that all of the films in the series are being restored and given deluxe new special edition treatment, a-la last year's Batman Anthology collection. By far the best news in all this, is that it seems that Warner is FINALLY allowing Richard Donner to create his original director's cut of Superman II! How damn cool is that?! As many of you know, Donner directed Superman: The Movie and most of Superman II back to back, but was eventually fired from the sequel. Director Richard Lester was hired to replace him, and it's Lester's cut of the film that we've seen all these years. What's cool is that Lester's theatrical cut of the film is being given special edition treatment as well, so you'll be able to fully explore BOTH versions of Superman II on DVD this summer. Lester MAY even do an interview for the DVD - something he's been reluctant to do over the years given the controversy. This information comes from Salkind via The Superman Homepage fan site, which expects to publish a full interview with Salkind in the coming weeks. Very cool news indeed (though keep in mind that until Warner announces this set, it's all still unofficial). Thanks to Bits reader Matt K. for the heads-up on this.

Rating:

- Special edition coming of classic live-action comic strip entertainment
It's very rare for a sequel to eclipse its predecessor (The GODFATHER and X-MEN series feature examples along with THE EMPIRE STRIKES BACK and SPIDERMAN 2) but this movie comes close to being a better picture than the classic superhero movie that preceded it two years earlier, almost - but not quite.
Perhaps it is the fact that the two were originally shot back-to-back (before the Salkind brothers fired Director Richard Donner and brought in Richard Lester) but this movie shares a tone and panache of the first movie in the series that the subsequent films lacked. I suppose it is no surprise then that the upcoming (at the time of writing) big screen SUPERMAN RETURNS takes place after this entry thereby totally negating the slapstick SUPERMAN III and horrendous SUPERMAN IV.
At the beginning of the first movie we saw Superman's father Jor-El prosecute three criminals and send them out hurtling into space. These events are recounted at the beginning of this movie, and I still remember watching the opening in a darkened theater one night in the early 1980s, wondering if the first movie had accidentally been placed in to the projector.
These three criminals are led by the excellent Terence Stamp (who would later provide the voice of Jor-El in the SMALLVILLE television series) as Zod and included the very sexy Sarah Douglas as Ursa. They subsequently make their way the Moon and after decimating an Apollo crew head for Earth marveling at their superhuman abilities.
Meanwhile on Earth, after rescuing Lois Lane (played by the very appealing Margot Kidder who was the focus of a schoolboy crush on my part) from a hostage situation in Paris, Clark Kent is having an increasingly difficult time trying to keep his identity a secret. Then when Lois learns the truth the two get together, which forces Clark to turn in his powers - just at the very moment that Zod and his companions are arriving to wreak havoc.
Add to the mix Gene Hackman reprising his role as Lex Luthor (who has some of the best lines in the movie) and what follows is a highly entertaining action movie. Will Clark be able to get his powers back? Will he be able to defeat three with the same powers he has and will he be able to exact some payback on that guy at the diner who beat him up when he was powerless Clark Kent? My favorite scenes in the movie are those that center on the battle between Superman and the three supervillains as they duke it out on the streets of Metropolis (actually filmed in England on the studio backlot). The special effects look a little hokey today and the modelwork is very noticeable in some scenes, but this is good old fashioned fun and probably one of the best comic book movies ever committed to celluloid.

SPECIAL EDITION DUE IN 2006
Unfortunately the same attention was not given to this movie as its predecessor when the series was released on DVD. Whereas the first movie featured googles of documentaries and even an audio commentary (both worth checking out), this movie's DVD release was limited to the theatrical trailer. With this in mind it might be worth waiting for the special edition planned for June 2006.
The special edition will feature the theatrical version of Superman II on one disc, along with option to play deleted footage and two different commentary tracks, one with Lester and the second with actors Margot Kidder, Sarah Douglas, and Gene Hackman. The second disc will feature the restored Richard Donner version, along with a commentary track by Donner (who was so good, entertaining and informative on the SUPERMAN DVD.) I notice that another reviewer has already provided a comprehensive list of the cuts made so I will not repeat them, but I am particularly looking forward to seeing more of Ursa and Luthor.

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