Review of Superman II (1980) by Graham P — 17 Jul 2010

This is the problem of watching a film when you are eight years old; and then watching the same film 24 years later. Like 1980s TV shows Knight Rider, Airwolf and Battlestar Galactica (the original series), this fim - the second in the Christopher Reeve Superman franchise - was aimed at an undemanding family audience. It's camp, badly constructed and has dated very poorly indeed (some of the special effects are in fact quite terrible).

There are actually two versions of Superman 2 in circulation. This is due to the fact that the original director Richard Donner (who also directed the original motion picture) was fired after completing something like three quarters of the production, and was replaced by Richard Lester - who then went on to re-film some sequences and add new ones as well. The most interesting aspect of the film is how the two director's scenes don't fit properly together at all. Apparently, Donner wanted the feature to have a more dark and serious tone like the first film (admittedly difficult when the main character wears red pants over blue tights), whereas Lester went for camp, camp and more camp.

The second version of the movie, which came out in 2004, was a restored and remastered attempt at actually creating the film Donner wanted to make. I've not seen it, so can't comment on it's quality, but from what I have seen in original theratrical release that Donner and Lester put together, they would have to have changed a lot to raise the grade to anything approaching even average.

This film cost $50 million dollars to make - a lot now and a whole lot more back in 1980 - and watching it you would be forgiven for wondering where that money went. Fight scenes with obviously superimposed backgrounds and props that look like they are very much constructed of polystyrene are the order of the day. Most of the films actors give performances composed of pure ham (although nobody can touch Terrence Stamp's turn as the villianous Genral Zod in the scenary chewing stakes). Visual effects are terrible really - even considering the time the film was made - and absolutely unconvincing.

Amazingly, for all it's failings Superman 2 is nowhere near the worst of the Reeve era Superman flicks; being surpassed by both it's execrable sequels on that score. The last thirty years have not been kind to this ill-conceived comic adaptation though, and it's faults have only become more glaring as the potential for visual effects had become greater.