This isn’t the beginning of the end, but it’s a sign of things to come. The pacing holds with the beautiful dialogue and new director Richard Lester’s unique brand of humor brought a new element to the story. It’s not like the original Superman. Its tone is more light hearted to match his style of romantic comedies, but that’s what makes it great. You don’t just feel like you are watching the same Superman movie. You walk out of Superman II feeling like you learned a little more about the character: a new side and a twist that you weren’t expecting.
To top it off, the increased budget is immediately noticeable with the larger stunts and the villains actually having Super powers as well. Since the first movie didn’t have any superhero fighting, you could have easily made this movie with nothing more than punching, wires and green screen and no one would have questioned you. But Richard Lester went for a full-out fight in the middle of Metropolis. It’s not quite on the level of destruction in Man of Steel, but it does give you a good feeling of Superpowers.
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Regardless of how Richard Lester did with the movie, the production as rife with controversies that to this day are still debated. Richard Donner, the original director, was pulled off of the project for unknown reasons (each side telling their own version of the story). While this doesn’t sound like a big deal at first, Richard Donner had completed 75% of the movie before leaving its production.
The new director, which was Richard Lester, needed to film 51% of the movie to actually get the directors credit. So he reshot many of the original scenes Richard Donner already shot. In the end, the movie wasn’t along the original idea that Richard Donner had. For years fans clamored for the original again. It wasn’t until 2006 that we would get a recut version of the film restoring many of Richard Donners original scenes. But the controversy was still there, and it was a sign of problems to come.
JASON
The first sequel of Superman, Superman II, was carefully assembled, showing how to continue an origin story with thoughtful character development. Richard Donner was originally set to direct both Superman & Superman II together. However, in the middle of production Donner was replaced with Richard Lester, whose comedic background changed the tone of the film from its previous film.
Even with that mostly disastrous change this is a superb sequel that shows Kal-El struggling to reconcile his personal life with his role as the sole hero of planet Earth.
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The story of Superman sacrificing his powers for the woman he loves (Lois Lane) will be used in many superhero stories to come. It has rightfully earned its place in film history. The superhero battle of General Zod and his lieutenants verses Superman is bar none one of the best super fights, even though it is not as fast paced as the action sequences that we see in film today.
While the end of the story has some bizarre displays of powers, Superman using his chest emblem to incapacitate an opponent and erasing Lois Lane’s knowledge of Superman’s identity with a “super kiss,” there are many parts of this film that have been used in superhero sequels even today. I always enjoy the scene in the diner where Clark Kent actually takes vengeance on the bully. The comedic beat that follows is priceless.
Christopher Reeve plays the dual identities of Kal-El so well that it has not been matched in any of the other movies of this storied franchise.
DAN
Superman II seemed to have two main plots: General Zod and his goal to rule all and the relationship between Clark and Lois. This film had a lighter tone to it than its predecessor, especially in the scenes between Lois and Clark. It was clear that Superman II was its own movie and not a reskinned Superman, and I like that. However, there were many odd components to this sequel that raised questions that were never answered.
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New abilities and powers were added to the story. Some were kind of cool, but it was never revealed how and why these existed. For example, the plastic “S” that Superman pulled off his chest and hurled made no sense and seemed out of place. I will say that, for its time when superhero films were new, Superman II is a pretty good film and worth watching. I’d recommend you stop there and not continue watching the remaining films in this part of the franchise.
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