Review of Superman / Superman II box set

Introduction

Superman comes from a far more innocent time. When viewed through the distance of twenty years, with franchises such as Tim Burton`s Batman, the Crow, Blade and the X-Men, whilst on television we have had Buffy the Vampire Slayer, Roswell and of course the New Adventures of Superman, watching Superman the Movie you find a charm, innocence and lack of irony that would be embarrassing were it not for the film`s honesty and belief in the characters.

This isn`t to say that the films haven`t dated. You`ll note that the previous paragraph is applied only to the first movie and not it`s sequel. I`ll come to that later.

Superman: The Movie first. This is one feature packed disc. Presented on a DVD 18, double layered and double sided; it is the first of such that I have come across. It is just feature packed. The story must be well known by now. Alien survivor of a doomed world, comes to earth, grows up in Smallville as Clark Kent. Goes to work at the Daily Planet in Metropolis, moonlights as cape wearing superhero. He falls in love with Lois Lane, who conveniently also works at the newspaper. Enter bad guy, Lex Luthor with a nuclear bomb/real estate scam. Superman saves the day but not his girlfriend, goes back in time to save her, roll on the sequel.

Since childhood Superman 2 was my favourite of the trilogy. (Superman 4 was a nightmare I once had and no one can convince me otherwise) But on revisiting the sequel I had to revise my opinion drastically. Superman 2 was released 2 years after the first movie and had the three bad guys from the beginning of the first movie, General Zod, Ursa and Non escaping their prison in the phantom zone and coming to Earth to wreak havoc on the unsuspecting populace. Meanwhile Supes falls in love with Lois, reveals all about his identity, whisks her off to the North Pole for some super lovin`, gives up his powers to be a mortal and with Lois. He then gets his powers back kicks bad guy butt, erases Lois` memory and flies off into the sunset.

Video

The visuals in Superman: the Movie are excellent. As is to be expected, anamorphic widescreen as standard. The picture has been restored for this release and there isn`t any hint of age or artifact. I may be wrong, but I think that some of the effects shots have been cleaned up. Some of the optical matt shots seemed cleaner. That isn`t to say that the effects don`t show they just seem less evident. The film itself is beautifully shot with a wonderful epic scale to the scenes. There is an otherworld feel about the movie, almost a soft focus ethereal quality that conveys much of the movies magic. That`s not to say the film is perfect. You may have to suspend your disbelief occasionally when the occasional wire becomes apparent or a model building is obviously flooded. But these are flaws of technology, the story is immaculate.

In Superman II, visuals are again widescreen anamorphic, but this time there hasn`t been any restoration or cleaning, it shows. The picture looks it`s age with the expected scratches and blemishes, you would hope that they could have spent the same attention as on the first movie. But as a no frills transfer, it holds up well enough.

Audio

Superman`s sound has been extensively remastered, a DD 5.1 track is used to it`s fullest. Again purists complained about certain sound effects being replaced, but I can`t agree when the end result sounds so good. I have to admit that when I first saw the film, I sat through the credit sequence twice in a row with a grin on my face. The outstanding John Williams score coupled with the credits swooping in from all corners of the room just begged to be replayed. All owners of Home Theatres have another show-off disc in their arsenal.

The sound in the sequel however is inadequate, simply a DD 2.0 surround track, and its not very surrounding either. The credit sequence was less than inspiring.

Features

Here`s a quick rundown of Superman`s extras…
Feature length documentary with Richard Donner & Tom Manckiewicz.
View the 10 added scenes outside the movie.
5.1 Music only track.
3 Documentaries totalling approximately 80 minutes describing preproduction, filming and special effects.
3 screen tests, for Superman, Lois Lane and Ursa (bad guy from sequel)
Notable for the long list of notables trying out for Lois Lane.
Additional excerpts of Soundtrack including alternate titles
Deleted scenes (it becomes rapidly evident why)
TV spot and trailer.
Storyboard to screen for DVD ROM you can view scenes against the storyboard on your PC.

The documentaries are quite interesting with interviews with the stars and creators. There are some intriguing insights into the behind the scenes problems, especially between the director and the producers. Richard Donner shot most of Superman 2 back to back with the prequel. In fact Marlon Brando shot footage for Superman 2, but this was left on the cutting room floor when the producers fired Donner and brought in Richard Lester to finish Superman 2.

Extras on the Superman 2 disc are lacking, you get the trailer and, oooh, how exciting, interactive menus, and yes, scene access also. I am overwhelmed with possibilities. Isn`t it time that companies stop advertising these things as extras?

Conclusion

Superman: The Movie has been restored for this release and that includes 10 scenes inserted into the original film, which had fans up in arms. It really doesn`t make much difference to the movie in terms of narrative and plot, but they don`t detract from the story so this can only be a good thing. In particular there are extra scenes with Marlon Brando, so this could be a belated attempt to get value for money. Christopher Reeve as Superman underlines why it`s still so hard to imagine anyone else in the role. Gene Hackman plays a wonderful bad guy, it`s played for laughs in terms of the target audience, but there is an understated menace. Ned Beatty as the hapless Otis ably assists him, and their interplay is reminiscent of Laurel and Hardy. Of course Margot Kidder plays a gutsy and brash Lois Lane. The whole beauty of this film is the seriousness the actors brought to their roles. There`s not a hint of irony or evidence of in-jokes. It`s this honesty that makes this film a classic.

Superman 2 is pure seventies comic book fantasy and lacks any of the magic or charm of the prequel. The performances are just as genuine as the original, especially the Lois Superman dynamic. Unfortunately the tone of the piece has been altered. No more the examination of an outsider`s angst among strangers, no reflection on the responsibilities of omnipotence, Superman 2 descends into pure camp comic kitsch. Gene Hackman returns as Lex Luthor, but it`s an emasculated portrayal. In this movie Lex doesn`t do anything. He escapes from prison, but his role is more one of an observer, maybe even a narrator, but he doesn`t do anything in this movie, which is a crying shame as he was a big draw in the original. The three protagonists are camp, rather supercamp. No menace, more a case of handbags at thirty paces. The confrontation in Metropolis (nee New York) is a curious almost detached affair. A procession of set-pieces rather a smooth flow of action which doesn`t arouse passion in the viewer. In fact this film is played more for laughs, evidences by Non`s attempts to use his heat vision. It fails to pull this off as well. It`s as if there`s a schizophrenia to the movie. It seems that the producers wanted to obliterate Richard Donner`s vision of the picture, (and Marlon Brando`s contribution. The scenes he shot were easily removed. In the prologue, taken from the first movie, shots have been reframed so you only see Brando`s hands) the result is a movie that doesn`t know whether it is an action movie, romance or comedy and fails at all three. Thinking back this film is best viewed as a 10 year old.

Overall, I`ve fallen in love anew with the first film, but the second film has shattered some pleasant childhood memories. The first film is available alone, so go for that, unless of course, you are a Superman fan. I would mark the first one as a row of 10`s, it is a pure movie classic. Superman 2 on the other hand deserves a 6 for content, 8 for visuals, 5 for sound and a 1 for extras yielding an overall score of 6. The mark given is an opinion of the box set, heavily biased towards the first movie.