Genre
Action | Sci-Fi
Director
Richard Donner | Richard Lester
Country
USA | UK
Cast
Christopher Reeve, Gene Hackman, Ned Beatty, Jackie Cooper, Sarah Douglas, Margot Kidder, Jack O'Halloran, Valerie Perrine, Susannah York, E.G. Marshall, Marc McClure, Terence Stamp
Storyline
After escaping from the Phantom Zone, General Zod (Terence Stamp), Ursa (Sarah Douglas), and Non (Jack O'Halloran) descent upon Earth to conquer it. It's up to Superman (Christopher Reeve) to save the world.
Perhaps the greatest thing about this film is that it continues where the first film ended, but it also provides a brief summary of what happened before so you don't actually have to watch the first movie.
Other than that, the film features a strong, interesting plot that revolves around Zod trying to rule Earth, Lex Luthor escaping from prison and joining the supervillains to take revenge on Superman.
But the most interesting part is the moral dilemma that Superman has to face as Lois Lane finds out Clark Kent and him are the same person. For love, he gives up his powers without hesitation, but unfortunately his powers are needed by the whole world, so isn't it selfish of him to deprive humanity of his protection only to live a normal live with the woman he loves? And is it worth it? For this very reason, the romantic subplot is quite interesting as well.
By any means I'm saying the film is perfect though. Of course it has plot holes - how does Superman even falls for that Lois Lane is a mystery, and returning to the suit was a little bit too easy - but none as big as turning back time.
The special effects are still not that good, but they are a great improvement on the first film, and the action sequences are great to be honest.
Like I said a week ago, Christopher Reeve does a great job both as Clark Kent and Superman, and will remain forever the embodiment of the Man of Steel, but the stand out is Terence Stamp. He is simply terrific as General Zod.
Opinion
If you recall last week I said a lot of bad things about "Superman" - boring, dumb plot, terribly aged, a waste of a great cast. Luckily "Superman II" is a huge improvement on its predecessor. Yeah, I know, it basically happens with every sequel.Perhaps the greatest thing about this film is that it continues where the first film ended, but it also provides a brief summary of what happened before so you don't actually have to watch the first movie.
Other than that, the film features a strong, interesting plot that revolves around Zod trying to rule Earth, Lex Luthor escaping from prison and joining the supervillains to take revenge on Superman.But the most interesting part is the moral dilemma that Superman has to face as Lois Lane finds out Clark Kent and him are the same person. For love, he gives up his powers without hesitation, but unfortunately his powers are needed by the whole world, so isn't it selfish of him to deprive humanity of his protection only to live a normal live with the woman he loves? And is it worth it? For this very reason, the romantic subplot is quite interesting as well.
By any means I'm saying the film is perfect though. Of course it has plot holes - how does Superman even falls for that Lois Lane is a mystery, and returning to the suit was a little bit too easy - but none as big as turning back time.
The special effects are still not that good, but they are a great improvement on the first film, and the action sequences are great to be honest.
Like I said a week ago, Christopher Reeve does a great job both as Clark Kent and Superman, and will remain forever the embodiment of the Man of Steel, but the stand out is Terence Stamp. He is simply terrific as General Zod.
I agree that SII is more action packed, but I don't think it's better. A large part of it, for me, is how the tone is just all over the place. The slapstick shoehorned in is just too much and almost none of it is funny. This is famously due to studio tinkering. It's still a good flick, I just like the first one better. My take...
ReplyDeletehttp://dellonmovies.blogspot.com/2013/07/superman-ii.html
And on The Richard Donner Cut of the film...
http://dellonmovies.blogspot.com/2015/05/2015-blind-spot-series-superman-ii.html
Going to read your review right away.
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