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SupermanSuperman The Movie was great fun, but it was saddled by the task of having to cover the origins of our hero, as well as introduce all the characters - Luthor, Lane et al. The origin story - the basis of the myth - dealt with, Superman II was free to get stuck into some serious superheroics.
The Salkind brothers, who produced the first three Superman movies, had initially intended to shoot the first two films in one go. The crew were overwhelmed by the task, so, to get the first one finished on time, production on the second film was halted. Director Richard Donner did shoot some footage for the second film, but not much was used, contrary to popular belief. Instead, Richard Lester took over. The Salkinds had first brought him in to make sure Superman The Movie got finished on time without the budget running out of control, but he took over as director for Superman II when Donner departed, perfectly understandably knackered out by the task of bringing the gravity-defying, bullet-deflecting hero to the screen.
Superman II kicks off where Superman The Movie finished. Supeman is now an established hero, protecting not just his adopted hometown of Metropolis but much of the known world. Both Supes and his bumbling journalist alter-ego Clark Kent are in relationships of a sort with Kent's co-worker Lois Lane (Kidder).
The Man of Steel faces his biggest challenge yet when the three Kryptionian villains seen imprisoned in the first film are accidentally freed - by the explosion of an atomic bomb hurled into space by Superman. While the baddies - boss General Zod (Stamp), sadistic vamp Ursa (Douglas) and giant oaf Non (O'Halloran) - head to Earth, Clark and Lois are working at Niagara Falls. The extra intimacy of the assignment is enough for Lois - who is an investigative journalist after all - to rumble Clark's secret. He agrees to forsake his powers for their love, but while he's getting used to being human (and being beaten up), Zod and Co team up with Lex Luthor (Hackman, who ups the comic aspects of the character, to excellent effect) and threaten to take over the world. Clark has to head back to the Arctic and restore his powers, so Superman can again save the world.
Saving the word involves having a huge scrap of course - a bout of super-powered fisticuffs in Manhattan. A special effects spectacular, this involves Superman and his adversaries throwing buses at each other and punching each other high above the city streets. If Superman The Movie succeeded in bringing a comic-book to life as never before, this sequence presents pure comic-book action, realised as never before. Superman and his foes, as well as every other superhuman comic character, were constantly bashing each other about at the expense of vast tracts of city. It's only fitting that this sequel managed to translate that sort of activity to the screen.
Viewed 20 years later, the fx aren't flawless but they're still effective - the sheer energy and adrenaline of the action carrying the day. While the film as a whole is more than bouyed by the cast (all of the original stars except Brando returned) who inhabit their characters wonderfully. Reeves is of course the best ever screen Superman, while Hackman is a joy to watch, and Stamp and his co-baddies are exqusitely camp. If Donner established a mythic power in the franchise, Lester introduced a lighter, more playful touch. The film's episodic - like installments of a story in a comic-book - but great stuff.
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