Best Of The Superman Series

This is the best of the Superman movies because of the three villains, played by Terrence Stamp, Sarah Douglas and Jack O'Halloran.

Those three are so good, particularly Stamp, that they make this easily the most memorable of the four films. The scenes with them on the moon, their first encounter on earth and their climactic fight against Superman in the skies above Metropolis are all outstanding.

Once again, Superman goes a little overboard in his romance to Lois Lane (do you believe some reviewers are upset there weren't explicit sex scenes in the film?) Hey, folks, it's just a comic book and it's supposed to be innocent, clean fun. Sorry that turns you off. For the rest of us, this is generally very enjoyable film from start to finish, with no real lulls.

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.

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.