Superman II

In my opinion this movie is still not quite as good as the first movie, it still manages to keep the flavour and charm of the original.

For me what really stood out about this movie was the villains, which are Zod and his gang and Lex Luthor. Terrance Stamp stole the show as General Zod and really sold me on the character's arrogance in relation to Earth. This arrogance was best depicted during the whitehouse scene when upon learning that superman would challenge him, he merely retorts "Who is this imbecile?". What I liked about the Kryptonians in this movie was that all 3 of them were their own character with differing personalities, something which I felt was lacking in Man of Steel (No disrespect to Michael Shannon). Gene Hackman once again is brilliant as Lex Luthor, although for me he was overshadowed by Zod (Which is OK as Zod is the main villain of the movie).

Ken Thorne's score is great and manages to hold up next to the John Williams score of the original.

The special effects, while appearing dated by todays standards are very good for the time and still look very believable. These effects stood out during Superman's fight with Zodd in Metropolis and with the depiction of the Phantom Zone at the beginning of the movie.

Unfortunately this is the last of the Christopher Reeve Superman movies that was of high quality. If you're planning on watching these movies I would recommend that you watch all 4 at least once, but for every subsequent viewing just watch the first 2.

Also RIP Mr Snake, all he wanted to do was say hi

I have a confession to make. I love Superman II. Such innocent, almost niave, filmmaking, it personifies the term "family entertainment" and is, simply, great fun to watch.

Other superheroes have floundered at the box office, and maybe this is to do with lack of affinity between the makers and the source material. Certainly, the Superman films are tongue-in-cheek but never so that they're disrespectful to their content or their audience. The Crow was a good example of the "graphic novel" set, and the Batman series did well under the underrated Michael Keaton, but floundered under the flat Val Kilmer and increasingly childish set-pieces. The less said about "Batman and Robin" the better.

Of course, Superman had his own "Batman and Robin" in the guise of "Superman VI: The Quest For Peace", a movie made four years after the third and with seemingly a fraction of the budget. But Superman II was the series at its' peak. The theme music, a startling Star Wars sound-a-like by John Williams, fades to edited recaps of the previous film. These involve Superman as a baby being sent from the destruction of his home planet and are cleverly spliced together so as to avoid having to pay Marlon Brando any more royalties. (Yet we do see Brando's hand. Surely that's worth half a million?). 20% of this movie was shot alongside the 1978 vehicle and so we get reminded in this sequence of the three Kryptonian villains, about to be accidentally released by Superman in a h-bomb explosion.

This was still in the days when films were properly constructed to allow for a genuine build-up, a fully-formed middle and a proper end. Even minor players, such as Perry White (Jackie Cooper) have great lines and characterisation thrusted upon them. This may be just a "fun" movie, but it is lovingly put together, not "thrown together" as many films are. All the actors are wonderful, Christopher Reeve is just right as Superman, Margot Kidder is the definitive Lois Lane (despite almost drowning in soft focus for her close-ups) and Gene Hackman is, of course, absolutely hilarious as Lex Luthor.

But my favourite player in this sequel is Terence Camp as General Zod. Terence plays Zod exactly the same as he plays Bernadette in "The Adventures of Priscilla, Queen of the Desert" and makes great work of the lead villain that must be, in Hollywood circles, always English. "Why do you say these things when you know I will kill you for it?" he minces to Hackman with great effect.

Of course, now twenty years old, this film is less "You'll believe a man can fly" than "You'll believe a man can swing on wires in front of an unconvincing backdrop" but this is still wonderful entertainment. Maybe the middle section, with Clark getting cut to ribbons after being thrown through a plate glass window is a little violent, as is the confrontation between Superman and the trio of villains. There's also the nagging feeling that this section is the biggest single example of product placement ever seen on film. Or is it coincidence that a Superman who featured in a comicbook anti-smoking campaign (against "Nick O'Teen", no less) is continually thrown into a Malboro van? Even Zod gets to know "things look better with Coca-Cola" as he is unceremoniously hurled into a neon sign for the corporation.

But these are minor gripes, and how anyone can hold them against such a harmless film is beyond me. Superman II isn't Citizen Kane by any means, but I defy you to sit through this movie and not love it.

Superman II (1980)

*** 1/2 (out of 4)

Very good sequel has Superman (Christpher Reeve) giving up his powers so that he can be with Lois (Margot Kidder) but once he does this the planet comes under attack by three Kryptonian bad guys. I might be the only person in the world to think so but to me this sequel actually surpasses the original film and I think by a rather large margin. Everything that was good in the original is pretty much carried over to this film where it's done even better. I think the big benefit here over the original is that this sequel doesn't run too long and instead it has a much better pacing to it. However, what really makes the film tick are some incredibly action sequences, which includes a hilarious one at Niagra Falls where Lois plans to test Clark to try and see whether he's really Superman or not. The way this entire scene plays out is incredibly funny but also contains some great action. Humor is something that is also much better this time around and especially during the scene where the three aliens wreck havoc on a small redneck town. This here is a pretty long sequence but the laughs really don't stop at any point. I think another major plus with this sequel is that we're given not only a great villain in Luthor (Gene Hackman) but the aliens are also a lot of fun. The three of them make for a great group to root against but at the same time you really love to hate them. As with the previous film, the performance are all extremely good with Reeve once again leading the way in his dual role as both the superhero and the nerd with glasses. I think it's safe to say that the actor really just had something special in him that allowed him to perfectly fit into both roles. Both Kidder and Hackman are good in their parts as is Jackie Cooper, E.G. Marshall and Ned Beatty in his one but funny scene. The action scenes are all extremely good and the special effects this time out are even better. SUPERMAN II is a rare case where the sequel is actually better than the original.

This movie is just great fun!! The 3 evil villains are so good and funny. I especially like the woman villain and her comments on how superman's weakness is the human's and he "cares for these human's, like pets" This movie is cheesy I admit but it's great cheese!! And I mean the ending where superman puts the American Flag on top of the White House is so Classic!! After all superman fights for "Life, Liberty and the American Way! I recommend this movie to all!

Three prisoners of Krypton find they are freed, and soon discover they have powers beyond their dreams, as they make their way to Earth, the saviour rescinds all his worth, the potential to protect, greatly recedes. Lex Luthor makes escape and finds the fortress, where he gorges on Krypton and feeds his malice, connects with Zod, Ursa and Non, they all collude against the one, who has reversed his past mistake, repealed regress. The battle for the world is then established, the man of steel fights for his life, won't be dismissed, in solitude tables turn, fissures open and intern, past memories are removed, with a brief kiss.