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The best comic book movie ever. Let me start by saying that I thought that the scenes with Marlon Brando and Maria Schell, Trevor Howard, Susannah York and Terence Stamp on Krypton were one of the best acted scenes I've ever seen and the dialogue was outstanding.
The story is, of course, about a young baby boy from Krypton who is sent from the planet to earth because Krypton is doomed to explode. The boy's father, (Brando), tries to convince the citizens of the planet of the reality, but no one believes him. Therefore, he, along with his wife, decides to send his boy to earth where he will be safe and will be able to help humanity.
Christopher Reeve is perfect as Superman/Clark Kent. Some people don't like the fact that he's nerdy as Clark, but I think that only adds to the credibility of what I call the "Clark Kent theory." People always wondered why they never recognized Clark as Superman, but the nerdy quality gives him a totally different personality and therefore, the disguise is more credible. He's a total but likeable nerd as Clark and a super cool, confident guy as Superman. I thought Dean Cain and George Reeves were good as Superman (I haven't seen Kirk Alyn's Superman), but the personality of Clark & Superman in the respective shows are exactly alike whereas Reeve's characters had different personalities.
Another nice thing about Superman is that you don't see too many authentic good guys anymore. These days, heroes have to carry AK-47s for the most part and a character like Superman might be viewed as too nice, but since Superman is Superman, and you know he can kick anyone's ass when he has to, it still works for today's audience. In fact, you could go to any mall and find it a relatively easy task to find people wearing Superman shirts and stores that sell them.
As for the rest of the cast:
Gene Hackman makes a great Lex Luthor. I don't think I need to explain that. He's fantastically mean, but he still wins you over as a villain you love to hate.
Margot Kidder was terrific as Lois Lane. She looked great and acting wise she pulled off extremely well.
The supporting cast of characters, (Jackie Cooper as Perry White, Marc McCLure as Jimmy Olsen, Ned Beatty as Otis and Valerie Perrine as Mr. Teschmacher) was perfectly cast.
The music, by the great John Williams, is now legendary. It's become quite hard to picture Superman without that wonderful score.
The movie is loaded with now classic, unforgettable scenes. Among them are: Clark Kent's first transition into Superman as Lois Lane hangs helpless from the top of The Daily Planet and his eventual rescue of her. Superman's rescue of the busload of kids at the Golden Gate Bridge. Of course, who can forget the wonderful, romantic scene where Superman takes Lois on a flight around Metropolis.
Some of the effects look outdated, but for the most part, they still look great for the time period. This movie could use a cleaning up thing like they did to the Star Wars trilogy.
There are funny monents, sad moments, action-packed moments and great acting. A thoroughly enjoyable film.
Scale: 10.
A sequel that lives up to the original, if not surpasses it. Most people seem to like this one better.
There's more action and there's even bigger and badder villains than in the original. Gene Hackman returns as Lex Luthor, but in comes three villains who come from Superman's home planet. Therefore, Superman has to face Luthor's criminal genius and three super villains who the same powers he does.
It all comes down to an epic climax in Times Square and in Superman's Fortress of Solitude. Oh yeah, there's also a great "payback" scene at the end.
What can you say about Christopher Reeve's performance? He's the embodiment of Superman. Even over 10 years since he's played the role, he continues to be the epitomy of The Man of Steel.
Margot Kidder as Lois Lane and Gene Hackman as Lex Luthor are outstanding and only add to the Superman experience.
The only aspect of this sequel that falls short of the first film is the lack of Brando's presence that was prominent in the first film. Other than, one of the rare instances where a sequel measures up to the original.
Scale: 10
This film is particularly disappointing after two epic adventures in parts 1 and 2. Richard Pryor stars as Gus Gorman, an unemployed man who discovers he has an uncanny understanding of computers. He becomes an asset to Ross Webster (Robert Vaughn) who owns the business Gorman works for.
Webster has Gorman to take control of every oil tanker in the ocean and go to a specific point in the ocean where they will stay. In effect, oil and gas prices go up and thereby making Webster an eevn wealthier man.
There is one thorn in Webster's side and that is, of course, Superman. Using Gorman's knowledge of computers, Webster tracks down a chunk of debris in space that are remanents of the planet Krypton. These particles are eradiated with radiation from the Red Sun of Krypton which is supposed to kill Superman. Human beings aren't succeptible to this radiation but Superman is.
The kryptonite instead doesn't kill Superman, but turns him evil. So Superman becomes a real nasty guy and goes around getting drunk, acting like a womanizer, yells at kids.
All in all the movie lacks the Superman magic. Somehow it doesn't feel like a Superman film although it's really interesting to see Christoper Reeve play an evil Superman. Those who have seen the first two films are probably used to seeing Reeve play Superman as an incredibly well-mannered nice guy. There just wasn't a nicer guy around with Superman. And of course, Superman's friendly smile. All of this made watching an evil Superman all the more effective. And it works.
Unfortunately, Reeve's performance isn't enough to make this a worthy sequel to the first two. Pryor is Pryor, he's great. Robert Vaughn seems out of place in this movie. His Ross Webster is too ordinary for a Superman film. It would've helped to make Webster a much more eccentric villain ala Lex Luthor.
The films definitely has its moments. The scenes where Superman returns to Smallville, where he grew up are fantastic. It's cool to watch Clark Kent and his high school sweetheart Lana Lang, (seen briefly in Superman I), rekindle their romance. We also get to see Clark deal with his high school tormentor/football star Brad, which is also fun.
The main plot point however of Webster taking over oil tankers and satellites in space is for the most part uninteresting. So you basically have a mediocre film with good moments sprinkled sporadically throughout.
It's actually not that bad, but when you compare it to the first two epic films, it really disappoints.
Scale: 5 1/2
I'll give this to Superman 4, it had a vision. The story was much more Superman oriented than Superman III, but it still lacked the quality of the first two.
First of all, special effects usually aren't a problem with me. Sometimes a good story or cast or both will completely neutralize the lack of good special effects, but such isn't the case with this sequel. Instead of the f/x getting better with each sequel, the f/x here were by far the worst of any Superman movie. The reason for that of course is the Cannon Group acquired the rights to this film from Warner Brothers who produced the first three films.
On top of that, the script was horrible. There were so many cheesy lines that I felt I was watching a live action version of the "Super Powers" cartoon, (that's the cartoon with Superman, Batman, Aquaman, Green Lantern, etc.).
To add insult to injury, the movie rehashes alot of the classic moments from the first two films. Superman takes Lois on another flight, except this time they fly over I don't know how many cities and climates in like 2 minutes. Yes, Superman can fly fast but you can see he was "strolling" and not flying at super speed. There's the whole thing of Superman losing his powers and regaining them again. The whole thing with the green crystal from part 1. And in the worst lack of fluidity in the film, Superman's mother says the green crystal can be used but once and that this would be her last gift to him and then he would be alone.
This contradicts what Brando's character said in part 1. There was special emphasis put on Brando when he said: "He will not be alone, he will never be alone." It was a crucial scene in part 1 and I can't believe they got it wrong in part 4.
The story involves Lex Luthor breaking out of prison with the help of his nephew Lenny. Luthor, of course, wants to make sure the Man of Steel won't interfere with his plans again. So he devises a plan: to create a nuclear man out of Superman's DNA that would match Superman's strength and pierce his skin. He does this by taking a strand of Superman's hair from a museum.
The movie also centers around Superman taking a stand against nuclear weapons. He vows to the allied nations that he will eliminate nuclear weapons from the face of the earth. He sends all the nuclear weapons into the sun, but unbeknownst to Superman, Luthor has planted the seed of Nuclear Man into one of the torpedoes and by throwing it into the sun, Nuclear man is created.
As for the characters, I'm telling you, looking at Lenny, you'll feel an onrush of every 80s cliche.
The whole concept of Nuclear Man was ok, but the guy they got to play him was awful. He's basically a big dumb muscle bound guy who growls "Destroy Superman!"
Sam Wanamaker and Mariel Hemingway are cast as father and daughter, daddy is a newspaper tychoon who wants to take over the Daily Planet and make it more sensational. Hemingway's character becomes very fond of Clark and begins to come on to him.
But like I said, the film is plagued with an overabundance of cheesy lines and bad dialogue. Fortunately, the movie has a first rate cast that through acting ability make some of it watchable. The cast definitely helps.
One thing I could say I really liked about Superman 4 was that the relationship between Lois and Clark seemed to grow. Lois is no longer teasing Clark and treating him like an idiot. She seems to really care for him as a friend and it shows in some of the film's rare good moments.
The fight scenes between Superman and Nuclear Man were entertaining, but could've been done better.
The movie was definitely well intentioned in its story. The cast gave it their all. The makers tried to bring back the Superman feel. The story had potential, but the wrong people were behind the film and it shows.
Scale: 5
