In Superman II, General Zod, Ursa and Non, the Kyptonian
villains from the opening scene of the first film, escape from the Phantom Zone
and find their way to earth. Each armed with the same powers as Superman, this
trio is a triple threat for the Man Of Steel, as well as the entire world. And
yet with the planet having been subjugated to the will of these super-powered
tyrants, with the President Of The United States literally on his knees before
them in surrender, Superman--Earth’s last hope--is nowhere to be seen. After
Lois discovers his identity, Superman takes her up to the Fortress Of Solitude,
where his love for her causes him to forsake his superpowers and become a
regular guy. Talk about a bad sense of timing….
It’s no secret that tensions were very high between director Richard Donner and
the Salkinds, the producers of the Superman films. Relations had disintegrated
to the point where both sides even refused to speak to another except through
Richard Lester, the director of the Three Musketeers films (which the Salkinds
had also produced), who served as an intermediary. Superman I and II were
actually shot at the same time by Donner, and when the time crunch became
unavoidable, he ceased working on II to finish I. After the first Superman film
premiered to a huge box office and great reviews, Donner began to gear up to
work on the sequel, until he received a letter from the Salkinds which stated
that his services were no longer needed.
Although 70 percent of the sequel was already shot by Donner, the new
director--who turned out to be Richard Lester--did a major overhaul on the story.
Lester unfortunately also did away with Donner’s golden rule of remaining true
to the story, instead going for a more, silly, campy take. The super villains
and Superman could suddenly shoot laser beams out of their fingers, and Superman
even had a "super-cellophane" S-symbol which he took off his chest and threw at
Non. Even worse is when the super-villains attack a small, mid-western town
that’s filled with stereotypical "dumb hicks"--this entire sequence is just so
badly handled that it’s simply embarrassing to watch. Another annoying scene is
while Superman battles the super villains in the skies above Metropolis, Lois
Lane keeps getting needled by a bitchy female co-worker at the Daily Planet,
who’s apparently taking great pleasure in the fact that Superman is having a
hard time of it (what’s her deal, anyway? is she a super villain groupie?).
By setting the first Superman movie within a gritty urban reality, and by
remaining true to the reality of the story, Donner made the fantastic elements
of that film more acceptable and believable. However, once Lester embraced the
wacky, "it’s just a comic book" approach, the film has the air-headed feeling of
just making stuff up as it goes along, and we cease to believe--or care--in what
the characters are doing. And if you don’t care about the characters in the
first place, then what’s the whole point of watching the movie? Thankfully,
we have a new version of the film which shows what it could have been.
--SF
Main Review Page | Fantasy Reviews |Email Me |Buy This DVD Right Here!
