Rating:  -
The package came in a very timely manner, and was in almost perfect condition. Amazing quality of service!
Rating:  -
I got this DVD out of nostalgia. I enjoyed this movie when I was younger, but I like it far less now. This sequel's inferior to Superman I, both in terms of the movie itself, and the DVD extras.
I'm eagerly waiting for Richard Donner's version due out in Nov 2006. :) I've just spent this weekend googling for deleted scenes he had filmed. They generally make more sense and provide better continuity than the ones filmed by Richard Lester.
Terence Stamp was very effective as the authoritative and menacing General Zod. "Come to me, son of Jor-El! Kneeeeeel before Zod!!!" Sarah Douglas was even more of a baddie in Donner's version. Once again, Christopher Reeve and Margot Kidder gave life to their characters. No mean feat, considering the plot holes and campiness in Superman II's theatrical cut.
Rating:  -
Well, I've finally seen the controversial second chapter in the Superman movie series, and I have to say I was pleasantly surprised. For a movie whose production is the subject of possibly the most notoriety in recent film history it really pulled through for me. That's not to say that I did not see the flaws, but most of them were less obvious than I had expected.
We'll start with the negatives so I can close on a high note, as this is an over-all positive review. First of all, if you've recently watched the first movie you can just start the movie from chapter 3. The pre-credits scene does not really tell you anything new, it only shows you why the three Kryptonian traitors were banished with an additional 30 seconds or so of flashback footage. Then the credits go on for about five minutes or more here, recapping most of the major events of the first film (and some of the trivial ones) in between names.
I'll get the most annoying part out of the way. To paraphrase Roger Ebert in his review of Pirates of the Caribbean, forgive me for interjecting logic where it clearly is not wanted, but I do have a problem with some of the science in this movie. Obviously for a superhero movie, you're going to have to suspend a little disbelief, and I'm quite willing to accept that Kryptonians gain near limitless powers from the yellow sun (and even that they all speak fluent English), but how does that allow them to breath and speak while in the vacuum of space? Even if their molecular structure is made denser by our solar system, that still wouldn't allow them to create matter where matter does not exist. Okay, I'm done.
With science out of the way, I'll move on to the movie's problems. First of all, the editing could use some guidance. Perhaps it is because so much of Richard Donner's original footage was left out of the picture, but there seems to be a lot of holes in the middle section of the film. There are quite a few moments in this movie where a scene will cut away to another, and when it returns something is completely different, without ever really explaining how or why. Also characters without the benefit of superspeed travel across the globe in unnaturally little time.
My final major issue is that Richard Lester really doesn't know when to use comedy and when to lay off of it. There are a few funny moments when General Zod, Ursa and Non, the Kryptonian traitors banished in the first film, first arrive on Earth and they're still learning about the planet, but once they start attacking people the comedy should have ended there. It didn't. Non continues to be a mostly threatless comic relief, and there are spatterings of humor, even in the most desparate moments. During the final battle scene between Superman and the traitors, while innocent civilian are being tossed around, used as weapons or bait, and generally in harm's way, they seem to have complete disregard for their own safety. One guy refuses to end his phone conversation while the traitors blow hurricane force winds down the street. Another couple is more concerned with their hair (or rather, her hair and his tupee) than the terrible things happening around them. These moments could have been funny in a comedy movie, but here they feel very inappropriate. At least when Donner gave us comedy it was only at the expense of Clark's awkwardness, Luthor's arrogance, or Otis' incompetence, never of innocent people caught in a crossfire.
That said, this movie does have quite a few inherent high points. Once the movie gets started, it picks up fluidly where the last one left off. It still feels like a sequel, but it doesn't feel forced (because it wasn't - I and II were actually written as one movie at one point). While at its worst points it feels like Batman Forever (it never quite reaches the depths of atrocity that Batman & Robin dives head-first into), at its best it feels like Spiderman 2. The characters introduced in the first film are fleshed-out well in this one. The relationship between Superman and Lois Lane is carried quite a bit futher, leaving Superman even more vulnerable, in more ways than one (though the way he overcomes this vulnerability is left unexplained, and comes a little too quickly in storytelling terms).
Despite some of the issues during the production, everyone delivers great performances along the way. Gene Hackman is back and in rare form as Lex Luthor, though this time he spends much of the movie without his half-hearted (but always entertaining) cohorts, Otis and Ms. Teschmacher. He even gets some screen time without his tongue-in-cheek hairpiece. Christopher Reeve is charming as always as both Superman and Clark Kent. Margot Kidder gets to do more in this movie than just be Superman's damsel in distress. All three of the Kryptonian traitors put in memorable performances, but Terrence Stamp truly steals any scene he appears in.
This movie also set the standard for all superhero sequels to follow, upping the stakes for all of the characters. Superman now faces enemies who are his physical equal, which makes the finale more of a confrontation than the beat the clock (or would it be reset the clock?) situation at the end of the first movie. Also, as mentioned before, the relationship between Lois and Superman raises the emotional impact even higher. The character development throughout the movie was surprisingly deep, despite the occasional feeling that the puzzle was missing a few vital pieces. I really got the feeling that Superman could be a real person with real feelings, and not just an icon who's impervious to harm, physical or emotional.
Had Donner been allowed to finish this movie the way he wanted, it could have surpassed the original. Unfortunately, the Salkinds (producers of the Superman films) were not fond of Donner's direction and dropped him in favor of Lester, who clearly had no respect for the character or what he represents. Lester was not familiar with American comic books and took the term "comic" a little too literally, resulting in jokes in all the wrong places. Fortunately, Lester's misdirection was still guided by a strong script with its emphasis on its characters, resulting in a sequel that is not without its flaws, but still a classic to be viewed alongside its predecessor. If I could give it three-and-a-half stars (* * * 1/2) I would, but since I can only give whole stars it gets a mild four stars
Anyone who is interested in owning this film should note that a Richard Donner cut of the movie using most of Donner's original footage (the movie was about 80% completed when Donner was fired and Lester took over, reshooting much of what Donner had already finished) is available, as well as a two-disc special edition of this version, neither of which were available at the time I originally wrote this review. I highly recommend the Richard Donner cut and will hopefully review it when I have the time.
Rating: -
The first Superman film was ground-breaking both in its effects and its faithful re-telling of the Superman mythos, yet it suffered from an abrupt ending that left you wanting more just as they got to the really good stuff. Superman II was the answer to that problem.
Most of this film was shot together with Superman I, but Donner was fired during production, and Marlon Brando, Gene Hackman, and John Williams also left (though Hackman's footage was included, and Williams' theme was still used). Richard Lester was hired to re-shoot key scenes to strip Donner of his director's credit, and the result is a film that borders on great because it's hard to mess up a story essentially in the can, but uneven because of the tedious new comedic scenes and plot holes left by the fiasco. It was truly a shame, because here you had everything a comic fan wanted: Superman finally romancing Lois Lane, and an all-out battle with Kryptonian supervillains. Terance Stamp entered pop culture with his "Kneel before Zod!" line in this film. How can you not love that?
Fortunately, legal issues have now been settled, and a confirmed "Donner cut" of Superman II is slated for release in a few months. This includes restored Christopher Reeve footage, and the lost footage of Marlon Brando. This theatrical cut is also getting a special edition as well.
Superman II has always been painful for fans in terms of "what could've been," and now 30 years later WB is making it happen. A great film just got better. And Chris Reeve flies again as Superman.
Rating: -
"Superman II" picks up right where the first flick featuring Christopher Reeve as the Man of Steel ends. During the opening credits, the viewer is briefed quickly on the first film. After that, we learn that Lex Luthor has escaped prison (leaving Otis behind bars), Superman has fallen hard for Lois Lane, and the evil trio from Krypton, headed up by Terence Stamp, are freed from their window-pane prison via an H-bomb that Superman tossed into space in order to save Paris, France and Lois Lane.
In order to do a newstory, Clark Kent and Lois pretend to be a married couple on honeymoon at Niagara Falls. Once there, a sequence of events leads up to Lois figuring out who Clark really is. He gives up his powers so that he can live the life of a mortal with her. Little does he know that once he loses his powers, his father's old Kryptonian enemies show up, take over the White House, team up with Luthor, and basically call out Superman for a big fight. The rest of the tale unfolds with typical superhero flash. I won't say too much more because I don't want to give everything away.
Reeve reprises his role as the overgrown Boy Scout with flair. His performance as Clark is even goofier than in the first flick. Margot Kidder has lost a little edge with Lois Lane in this film, probably because she's got her love blinders on. Gene Hackman is solid, if not funnier, as Luthor in this film. The real scene-stealer, however, is Terence Stamp as Zod, the leader of the villainous trio of Kryptonians. He chews up the screen with silly one-liners like, "Not God, ZOD!!" His two lackeys are along for the ride (Jack O'Halloran and the lovely lady who's name escapes me). The dazzling Valerie Perrine and Ned Beatty have brief but funny appearances in the flick, reprising their roles as Luthor's lover and oafish henchman, respectively.
The special effects haven't aged well at all. Limitations are revealed in this flick that weren't as noticeable as in the first film. The "power loss" scene where Superman gives up his powers is downright horrid to watch on the screen. Also, there's a lot more humor tossed into this second-helping of Superman, but it never takes away from the story as much as the effects.
The effects are understandable, and the humor is a nice touch, but the really glaring bad spot for this flick is the DVD itself. Poor audio quality (I had to crank up my volume to hear the dialogue and then crank it down due to the loud music), only a couple of "special features" (if you call actor's film credits and a trailer, special), and the flimsy packaging all add up to a bad disc. But, as another reviewer stated, this is currently the only version of this flick that you can pick up on DVD, so I guess we'll all have to deal with it.
Hopefully, Warner Brothers will do something nice to this and the rest of the "Superman" flicks when the "Superman Returns" DVD hits store shelves. It'd be nice to have these films in a decent hardback case with a couple of decent special features. Till then, I recommend this sequel to folks like myself who've grown nostalgic about ol' Christopher Reeve since the new flick hit the screen. He is sorely missed.
And in case you're wondering, when I originally wrote this review, the new version everyone is writing about wasn't out yet. It seems that a lot of people feel that my review was done on the incorrect version of this film when, in fact, I wrote this review about the DVD that I own. Thanks.
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