The humor occasionally stumbles into slapstick territory, and the special effects are dated, but Superman II meets, if not exceeds, the standard set by its predecessor.
The humor occasionally stumbles into slapstick territory, and the special effects are dated, but Superman II meets, if not exceeds, the standard set by its predecessor.
audience
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liked it
Average Rating: 3.2/5
User Ratings: 215,428
Between giving up his super powers, confronting criminals from outer space, and having problems with his girlfriend, it's a bad time to be the Man of Steel in this sequel to the 1978 blockbuster. When terrorists threaten to destroy Paris with a thermonuclear device as they hold reporter Lois Lane (Margot Kidder) hostage, Superman (Christopher Reeve) comes to the rescue and flings the weapon into space. However, its blast outside the earth's orbit awakens Zod (Terence Stamp), Ursa (Sarah
Douglas), and Non (Jack O'Halloran), three villains from Superman's home planet of Krypton who were exiled to outer space for their crimes. Zod and his partners arrive on Earth and use their powers in a bid to take over the U.S., and then the world. However, when Lois realizes that mild mannered Clark Kent and Superman are actually the same person, he brings her to his Fortress of Solitude, where his decision to marry Lois costs him his remarkable strength. Without his super powers, how can Superman vanquish Zod and save the world? Gene Hackman, Ned Beatty, Susannah York, and Jackie Cooper return from the first film, which was shot at the same time as parts of the sequel. ~ Mark Deming, Rovi
With his perfect pacing, elegant narrative design, and depth of characterization, Richard Lester has made as good a matinee movie as could be imagined.
A definitive look at the strange, impossible love triangle of Clark Kent, Lois Lane and Superman… not perfect, but in the annals of comic-book movies it remains an indispensable touchstone.
The combination of Richard Donner's superb original casting and visual attack with Lester's wit and his ear for sound proves a pretty formidable alliance.
I have not yet seen the original 1978 SUPERMAN film, but this sequel, SUPERMAN II, is fantastic. It's anti-violent, which is almost unheard of for a superhero movie, but it's cool and amazing anyway.
September 9, 2011
Alexander Diminiano
Super Reviewer
Lois Lane puts two and two together and (finally!) works out that Clark and Superman are one and the same, leading to his renouncing his powers to live his life as an ordinary man not counting on the appearance of three Kryptonian super-criminals. Even as a teenager, I always prefered my superheroes with a darker
streak meaning that the whiter than white Superman never really appealed to me. This story written by Mario (The Godfather) Puzo has some intriguing ideas but it all falls apart somewhat in the execution. Terence Stamp makes an amusingly camp supervillain and it's nice to see Superman meet his match which means that mercifully there is no mention of the ubiquitous Kryptonite in the story at all. Gene Hackman is also as reliable as always as Lex Luthor, but the rest of the supporting cast are character less and dull and the attempts at humour that are not delivered by Stamp or Hackman are weak and immature. Director Richard Lester is also far more comfortable with the period slapstick of the Musketeers than this type of action sci-fi, which combined with some very poor visual effects make for some uninspired and unexciting set pieces. I loved this film as a kid, but its bad moments outnumber the good and as a whole it has not dated very well at all.
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