Superman The Movie & Superman II

All 3 of us (yeah, the little munchkin included) watched 2 Superman movies back to back yesterday, it was wonderful!!! The story gets abit cheesy sometimes but what the heck, we just enjoyed it for what it is and I personally think it so much better than the current Superman Returns.

Below is the review of the 1st movie,

Soundtrack:
Rating: 5 out of 5

Close your eyes and turn on the theme song. Try to imagine what's going on and see if you agree with me. John William's wonderful theme song of Superman starts out with a feeling that you're far away in space. As it grows in volume, it builds up to a powerful crescendo that reminds me of the exploding Krypton. This is followed by what sounds like, and gives me an image of, the birth of Kal-El. The music seems to guide me through his many accomplishments. As he grows up, the pace is quickened and the sound grows louder until he becomes Superman, at which point the main part of the theme is played. The music actually makes it sound like Superman is flying, going higher and higher. It goes back at this point and repeats itself, sounding better than the first time. Then, it starts to go down to a softer side, that sounds like it might be Superman's meeting with Lois on her apartment terrace. After this, the song builds itself up again, recycling itself over and over again until it starts getting faster and more triumphant. Suddenly, I feel like Superman's going to come out of the speakers and collide with me as the powerful crescendo booms even louder this time.
If you did as I suggested and listened to the song with your eyes closed, letting your mind open up to the theme, you might have heard what I've heard: a story inside a song. As usual with John Williams, who also composed the Star Wars and Indiana Jones theme songs, his themes are always powerful and hard to get out of your mind because they're so catchy and wonderfully done.

Special Effects:
Rating: 4 out of 5

The special effects in "Superman" seemed to get better and better as the movie progressed. At the beginning of the movie, scenes like Clark racing the train looked pretty simple and not all that great. However, once Superman appeared, the effects were astonishing. The part where Superman saves Lois and catches the helicopter and then gracefully lands on top of the Daily Planet building is amazing. A few examples of the really good special effects were: the flying scenes, Superman invading Luthor's lair, and the chase after the warhead, which was superb!

Cast/Acting Performances:
Christopher Reeve as Clark Kent/Superman

Rating: 5 out of 5

There could not have been a better choice for the Man of Steel. None of the other "Supermen" have ever been as good as Christopher Reeve. When Mr. Reeve put on the famous blue, red and yellow suit he looked exactly like the Last Son of Krypton, almost like he had walked right out of the comic book.His Clark Kent performance was superb! The way he could slouch down and make a quivering, higher voice when he was Kent and then straighten his back and speak much deeper as Superman, was a trick that no other Superman actor has done as effectively. One could actually believe that Clark Kent and Superman were two different people with these changes and the addition of the large glasses and the hair parted differently.Throughout all four movies there was always a beautiful performance by Reeve. His weakness to Kryptonite, his exciting fight with the Phantom Zone criminals, his battle against himself and his always popular smile to the viewer as he flew around the Earth, at the end of each movie. I'm convinced that what made the Superman movies "really good," was him. I believe that the reason I own three of the four Superman movies is because, even if the story wasn't very good, it had the "real" Superman in it and I could never refuse a chance to watch Superman in action.

Margot Kidder as Lois Lane

Rating: 3 out of 5

One of the less wiser casting decisions for the movie was for the role of Lois. Compared to Noel Neill, Phyllis Coates and Teri Hatcher, Margot Kidder is a distant fourth. Her constantly scratchy voice that gets worse in each of the movies, almost hurts your ears when you hear it. No wonder Superman can always hear her when she's in trouble! Another thing was the constant "run into trouble and then scream for help". She hardly ever defended herself like the other Lois' and wasn't very intelligent or sneaky like the Lois Lane every Superman fan is familiar with. The constant formula was to tell Clark to "grab the bull by the horns and do something", yet she goes out, just gets herself in trouble and then expects Superman to come along and save her. When the earthquake was coming in the first movie, why didn't she get out of her car? And then she blames Superman when he gets there. I mean, what does Supes see in her? She's just annoying and always in the way.

Gene Hackman as Lex Luthor

Rating: 5 out of 5

A wonderful performance for the great Lex Luthor! Gene Hackman's cruel and intelligent Lex Luthor matches what we saw in the original Superman comics. His jokes and sneakiness are always fun and his constant partnership with his idiotic henchman Otis is very entertaining. His deals with the Phantom Zone criminals, his Kryptonite trick he plays on Superman and his defeat at the hands of the Man of Steel is worth watching.

Story
Rating: 3 out of 5

The problem with this story was a plot hole. A major plot hole. The scene where Superman turns back time ruins the whole movie. It was going so well and then this had to happen. Superman turns back time to save Lois and then goes back to Earth and saves her. One problem. Time should continue in its regular flow. The dam should burst again, the school bus should almost fall off the Golden Gate bridge, and the train should be missing railroad in front of it. So Supes goes and saves Lois and while he does this, the school bus goes over the side, the train crashes and the water from the dam covers most of California while killing Jimmy Olsen, who falls off. All this to save a badly played Lois? Of course this doesn't happen, which makes it extremely bizarre.One other thing bothered me. We have this amazing origin of Superman and all of a sudden it stops. After he flies with Lois, she immediately goes away to California, Superman is no big deal any more and we move on to the Lex Luthor part of the story. They should have made this flow better. Instead, it stops and then resumes, but on a different course. Just like time, at the end of the movie.Okay, maybe an "Average" rating isn't fair, but these two things really took away from the movie. Other than that, though, the origin was done very well and the dialogue in the movie was priceless.

Closeness to the Comics
Rating: 4 out of 5

The movie followed the (first series) comic books pretty well. It had Lex Luthor who is not rich, but instead always hiding out and coming up with some sinister plot, it had Superman being kind and friendly and kept the costume like it was in the comics. The story was a typical Superman story from the first series comic books, except the time anomaly and it gave Superman the same powers that he has in the comics.Many of the things in this movie were later used in the second series of comic books. Examples are: the creation of the Fortress of Solitude (pretty close), the messages from Jor-El and the attitude of Lois Lane.

The Whole Experience/Superman
Rating: 4.5 out of 5

It was undoubtedly the best of all of the Superman movies, but it lacked a good ending. The story really hurt itself when it came up with the "time-turning-backwards" idea. The acting, for the most part, was good and the soundtrack was wonderful. The special effects were enjoyable. It is certainly a movie to pick up and watch if you haven't seen it. It's also the type of movie that you can watch more than one time and still enjoy it.

And then here's the review of the 2nd movie

Special Effects:
Rating: 4 out of 5

The special effects in "Superman II" were every bit as good as those present near the end of "Superman". I enjoyed witnessing the final climactic battle against the Phantom Zone criminals and the special effects made the fight scenes exciting and entertaining. One especially cool scene includes General Zod smashing into a Coca-Cola sign and being caught in the explosion. Also, the heat vision scene where Supes reflects Zod's heat vision back at him with a mirror, from a gasoline-filled truck, and the billboard behind him, which originally says "Some Like it Hot: Cool It Air Conditioning Systems" is burned away, and all that is left behind is "Cool It." The flying is another aspect of the movie that is spectacular and incredibly believable, as is Zod walking on water and the carnage and destruction of the tanks and various weapons that attack the criminals of the Phantom Zone throughout the movie.

Cast/Acting Performances:
Terrance Stamp as General Zod

Rating: 4 out of 5

Stamp's performance as the cunning and evil leader of the "Phantom Zoners" made Lex Luthor almost seem like the good guy. His acting showed off Zod's insane demands and deadly power that would give him such an advantage against the people of Earth and even Superman. Terrance Stamp played his role well, showing off the ever-confident and always plotting Zod, who would stop at nothing to crush everything in his grip. One of the many interesting aspects of the story of the Kryptonians is their need to learn about Earth and its inhabitants. Zod seems to begin to notice the different powers that the Earth's sun has granted them. It is also interesting to witness his discussions with Ursa, as they try and decipher Superman's weaknesses and the human beings' way of life.

Sarah Douglas as Ursa

Rating: 4 out of 5

Almost an equivalent of Zod, Sarah Douglas' Ursa helped to complete a very interesting and intriguing aspect of the movie. The tension between Lois and her is very interesting to watch, as are her discussions, which are based on figuring out what human beings are. One of the most entertaining things, however, is Ursa's continued fascination of symbols. Ursa, although extremely clueless as to what is going on, is obviously the most interested in the explanation of the events that occur. Ursa was very well acted and performed, never faltering the evil and wicked persona of a member of the Phantom Zone.

Jack O'Halloran as Non

Rating: 3 out of 5

Okay, this one's a little hard to determine. Especially since he had no speaking lines throughout the entire movie. Nevertheless, he served as an important part in fighting the Man of Steel, and, although he was extremely stupid and clumsy, the actor portrayed this well.

Story
Rating: 3 out of 5

The problem with this story was a plot hole. A major plot hole. Do those two sentences sound familiar? They should. They are the same two sentences that I used for Superman I, and there's good reason, also. How did Superman get his powers back? How did Superman get a car to go to the diner near his Fortress of Solitude? How does Lois get back to Metropolis? How could the director leave these parts out? The only clue that the audience is given on how Supes gets his powers back, is by a green crystal that created the Fortress of Solitude to begin with. So what? What does that have to do with anything? Plus, Lara already told him that there was no way to get his powers back after he lost them. We simply see Clark looking at the green crystal and the next scene features him flying outside of the Planet office, challenging Zod to "step outside". Why did they do this to a movie that was going so well? Although, very slow in getting to the part where Superman faces the Kryptonians, the end scenes are worth it. One more question, yeah, I know, I've asked a lot: Why did Superman not check back on his country after a while? Zod practically takes over Earth while Superman is with Lois!

Closeness to the Comics
Rating: 2 out of 5

Not too good. How many new super powers were introduced in this installment? Let's see... levitating powers (Zod picks up the sheriffs gun by using the "force"), magic kisses (that erase one's memory), the ability to teleport and show mirror images of oneself, and many more. These were never in the comics and they just kind of sneak their way into this installment. If they had at least shown them in the first movie, it wouldn't have been as bad, but they just kind of appear, without rhyme or reason, breaking the audiences' imaginary boundaries of how Superman will deal with them. You begin to try and figure out how Supes will deal with these problems, based on the powers you know that he has and then, suddenly, they introduce some new power that has nothing to do with what you've seen before! The final thing that puts this down a few notches, however, is the fact that: Superman does NOT kill. (I'm sure it's written in stone somewhere) Even if he DID kill, it would only be because he had no other choice. With no powers, the Phantom Zone criminals could have been placed in jail! Yet, Supes seems to casually eradicate the Phantom Zone criminals at the end. He crushes Zod's hand, picks him up and throws him against a distant wall, causing him to fall in the abyss. Lois pushes Ursa off and Nod commits suicide, by accident. Superman could have saved all three of these villains, but he chose not to.

The Whole Experience/Superman II
Rating: 4.5 out of 5

Superman II was an excellent sequel to the first Superman movie. It completed the circle of the beginning of the first movie, in which Zod swears that Jor-El and his family will "bow down before him". Luthor is wonderful and devious, adding more fun to the movie, along with some humor.Also, Superman finally confronts a problem in which he must use his brains to stop a group that, with their powers combined, are more powerful than he. Finally, everything works out in the end, bringing the audience another wonderfully entertaining Superman movie.

And we have 2 more to watch ie. Superman III and IV, can't wait! Can't believe we're such nerds ^_^