To make a sequel without succumbing to just doing the same thing over again is never an easy thing to do. In the case of the original Superman movie released in 1978 that movie would receive many sequels with varying results. Today we will be looking at Superman II, a movie that tries to recapture what made the first movie a blockbuster classic yet for some reason does not live up to the first movies expectations. It’s far from bad, but there were just too many mediocre moments that made this movie lackluster.
Taking place after the events of the original movie, General Zod (Terence Stamp) and his minions escape their space prison that they were imprisoned in by the Kryptonians years ago and head straight for earth. Meanwhile Clark Kent (Christopher Reeves) is in a tough spot seeing that Louis Lane (Margot Kidder) is catching on to knowing Clark’s secret identity as Superman. At the same time Lex Luthor (Gene Hackman) escapes prison and tries to make a deal with Zod and his evil followers to capture Superman to stop him once and for all.
Now it’s not like this movie had a high bar to clear seeing that the first movie was a fun yet over-the-top campy production, but this movie’s story somehow tries to attempt interesting ideas that for some reason are not as well thought out as the plotpoints in the original. One main storyline this movie likes to push is Clark Kent trying to prove to Louis Lane that he’s not Superman. However, the movie gives little to no reason as to why and what the stakes will be if he does and when he finally gives in, he decides to give up his powers which is rather pointless seeing that later in the movie he could get them back rather easily. This plot goes on for a while and it makes me wish that I was watching Spider-Man 2 instead. That movie at least showed how to do that same plotpoint in Superman II so much better. Then there is the other plotpoint of Zod and his minions coming to rule planet earth which at times can be interesting and there are scenes like the fight on the moon that prove to be entertaining and fun, but the main plot of Clark and Louis sadly drowns out the excitement even before you receive it.
Christopher Reeves and Margot Kidder return in their respective roles but they unfortunately don’t have the same likabillity and charm like the last movie. The more I watch Christopher Reeves performance as Superman the more I start to realize that he makes a great Superman but not that good of a Clark Kent. A lot of the movie has Reeves playing more as Clark than as Superman and I could only take so much of the dorky and unconfident Clark Kent for so long before feeling like his character needed something extra. Louis Lane is not much different as she seems more drained of persoanallity as his relationship with Clark seems very underdeveloped and I don’t like how she constantly puts herself in danger all the time instead of accidently ending up in danger. Zod and his minions are in all honesty okay, they don’t contribute a lot of personality but they can be worthy foes to Superman in some cases. One pointless character that was unnecessary was the return of Lex Luthor. I wasn’t a huge fan of him in the original to begin with but this movie paints Luthor as a pretty pointless addition to the story and it made me wish the movie didn’t hold on to it’s previous characters to bring in the crowds.
The Cinematogrpy can have some interesting moments but it is for the most part a full on repeat from the original. Speaking of repeat, the movie decides to start out with showing cut footage of the previous film. It would all be fine if they did do anything visually interesting with those scenes, but the film just places those scenes randomly in the beginning to bloat out the runtime when that time could have been used to try something a little different. I will say though that the flying scenes are very well done and there are some scenes that do look beautiful such as the fight on the moon, the sleekness of superman’s hideout and the sher beauty of Niagra Falls. There really isn’t too much that is wonderful or noteworthy in the cinemotorphy, but i guess it did its job to the best of its ability.
From What I’ve heard, John Willams almost did not compose the music for Superman II after he had a fallout with the director over an issue. I am happy that Willams stuck around after all because the sequel would be naked without it. Hearing the main theme for Superman is still just as effective and the rest of the music is not too bad either. It’s not as good as the first but the music does it’s job well enough.
This movie is a disappointment as it unfortunately did not capture the joy and charm of the original film. It’s underdeveloped plot points and drained out character personalities did not help in the slightest and sometimes it made the movie rather boring to sit through. It’s not a bad movie by any stretch of the imagination as this movie could have been a whole lot worse. Still, I was hoping for another campy but fun and well-paced superhero movie. I know there are some people out their who like or even love this sequel, but i am sadly not one of them.
(Final Grade: C)