Superman II (1980)

Superman II (1980)

7/10

Starring

Gene Hackman

Christopher Reeves

Margot Kidder

Directed by Richard Lester

Superman II starts where Superman I (1978) ends, which is easy to understand as both movies were shot back to back, although this second part of the origin and introduction of Superman to the world to me is far better than the first.

The movie didn’t play much on comic scenes like the first one did and it was a thorough when it came to its action scenes and the special effects were just as classy as the first.

Christopher Reeves stepped up to the task and delivered another ground breaking performance as the man behind the big “S.” Worth noting is the screenplay capturing enough instances worth concentrating on, making you the viewer sit back and be entertained.

I have not seen the 2006 Richard Donner cut version which exist as a result that Richard Donner was fired from the director chair after completing over 75% of this film and Richard Lester took over the project and reshot some scenes and completed the movie which we now see today.

There is a considerable amount of difference between this film and the Richard Donner cut, like how Lois found out that Clark was Superman. The Donner cut is interesting enough and it is worth seeing, another recognizable difference between both films is all Marlon Brando scenes recorded by Donner were removed and instead of having Jor-El talking to his son we had his mother Lara.

In this theatrical release: After the events of Superman I, the world has come to accept their new hero, but an incident in Paris led Superman to take a bomb out of space to detonate there and save the people of Paris.

His noble action ended up being a bad idea, as the wave from the bomb broke the phantom zone prison where General Zod and his henchmen were imprisoned. General Zod and his men were trapped in the phantom zone by the council and Jor-El in the beginning of Superman I.

Now freed thanks to the blast, General Zod and his men attacked earth with the aim of being its master. Lex Luther approached them and informs them of the presence of Kar-El (Superman) the son of Jor-El, which angered Zod and made him declare an invitation to battle with Superman.

Clark/Superman and Lois on the other hand fell in love with each other and Superman gave up his powers to be a mortal so he can be with Lois, before he knew of the presence of Zod. Now he is mortal and three people from Krypton with the same strength and powers are waging war against Earth.

Superman II is another classic superman film.