Plot
The plot moves from the destruction of Krypton and Jor-El sending his only son to Earth. The boy is found by John and Martha Kent, and is raised as their son. When he reaches 18, he leaves home and heads to the Arctic with a crystal he found in the ship that brought him to Earth. Once in the Arctic, the crystal creates a fortress, dubbed the Fortress of Solitude by his father, Jor-El. It is there that Clark, or Kal-El, his Kryptonian name, learns of his past and his purpose. He's there for 12 years, and Jor-El is the one teaching him.
When he competes his training, Clark makes his way to Metropolis, and gets a job at the Daily Planet. There, he meets Lois Lane, the beautiful, independant reporter, Jimmy Olsen and Perry White. He starts to find his way, and we also meet the villian, Lex Luthor. Along with the dimwitted Otis and the vapidly shallow miss Teschmacher, Luthor is scheming to buy seemingly worthless land close to the San Andreas fault, then ignite an earthquake strong enough to loosen the entire west coast. This would, in effect, make him the richest man around.
A series of thefts and missing items lead the Daily Planet staff, Lois in particular, to Lex and the west coast. Lex sets off some nuclear missles, and Superman fights his way to stop them. One does make it through, and in the earthquake, Lois is trapped and nearly killed. Superman uses his power to alter time and save the woman he loves.
My Thoughts
The first major comic book movie was a milestone, and it was the standard to which all comic movies through the 80s and 90s were held to. It covered all the major points of the Superman lore, from origin to the villian. It made a star of unknown Christopher Reeve, who embodied the role so perfectly, that he is still the benchmark for the Clark Kent/Superman role. It had an epic feel, and was treated like a real epic. The performances of Margot Kidder and Gene Hackman were spot-on, and even Marlon Brando did a good job at his small, pivotal role. It was fun from start to finish, and should have started a long-running great franchise.
Superman II
Cast:
Superman/Clark Kent: Christopher Reeve
Lois Lane: Margot Kidder
Lex Luthor: Gene Hackman
Otis: Ned Beatty
Perry White: Jackie Cooper
Eve Teschmacher: Valerie Perrine
General Zod: Terence Stamp
Ursa: Sarah Douglas
Non: Jack O'Halloran
Story by: Mario Puzo. Screenplay by: Mario Puzo, Leslie Newman and David Newman. Directed by: Richard Donner, Richard Lester. Released: 1980. My Rating: ***.
Plot:
Superman, now very much in love with Lois Lane, revelas his secret to her, and gives up his powers to be with her. As he is on his way to settling down, however, three criminals imprisoned by Jor-El escape their prison and head to Earth. Lex Luthor, seeing an opportunity, acts as liason between the criminals and the people, hoping to gain drom the alliance.
Being from Krypton, the trio are super strong, and Superman must get his powers back to save the world, but he must also abandon any hope of a life with Lois. In the final confrontation, Superman prevails and the three criminals are exiled once again.
My Thoughts
Most of this film was filmed at the same time the original was, so it works as a direct sequel. The seeds of this one came from the first, as Jor-El is seen imprisoning Zod, Ursa and Non in the opening sequence. The romance storyline is played out very convincingly, and the decision for Superman to get rid of his powers come easy. Its the decision to regain them that is tough. Watching Terence Stamp reeking havoc on Earth is great, along with Gene Hackman running interference.
The one thing everyone should remember is this: Clark and Lois consummate their relationship. Nothing is said about it in the next two sequels, but it does play a part in the latest: Superman Returns. This is the last really good Superman sequel.
Superman III
Cast:
Clark Kent/Superman: Christopher Reeve
Lois Lane: Margot Kidder
Gus Gorman: Richard Pryor
Ross Webster: Robert Vaughn
Lana Lang: Annette O'Toole
Jimmy Olsen: Marc McClure
Lorelei Ambrosia: Pamela Stephenson
Screenplay by: Leslie Newman and David Newman. Directed by: Richard Lester. Released: 1983. My Rating: **.
Plot:
Clark goes back to Smallville, and rekindles his affair with his high-school crush Lana Lang. Lois is gone abroad for a while, and Clark is free to relive his past. Meanwhile, in Metropolis, a new threat is growing. Gus, a half-wit computer genius, gets tapped by evil businessman Ross Webster to create a super computer. Webster has nefarious plans, but Gus is a little too simple to see them. When Superman thwarts some of Websters schemes, he wants Gus to find a way to stop the Man of Steel. Gus comes up with Kryptonite, but he has to create it. Instead of the real stuff, this stuff has tar, and when exposed to it, Superman's attitude changes.
For a while, Superman acts pretty evil, and this culminates into a battle between the warring sides of his personality. When that gets resloved, he goes after Webster and Gus and stops their evil plan.
My Thoughts:
Blech. This is where the series goes wrong. It was trying too hard to be funny, but it just didn't work. Richard Pryor was wasted here, and not having Lois kind of sucked. The whole Clark versus Clark was a little too silly and surreal, and didn't add anything to the movie. They also ahould have stuck with Lex, although, the next film really proves that the cast isn't always the thing.
Superman IV: The Quest For Peace
Cast:
Superman/Clark Kent: Christopher Reeve
Lois Lane: Margot Kidder
Lex Luthor: Gene Hackman
Perry White: Jackie Cooper
Lenny: Jon Cryer
Lacy Warfield: Mariel Hemingway
Story by: Christopher Reeve, Lawrence Konnor, and Mark Rosenthal. Screenplay by: Lawrence Konnor and Mark Rosenthal. Directed by: Sydney J. Furie. Released: 1987. My Rating: *.
Plot:
After Superman finishes all nuclear disarming, he hurls all the weapons into space. Lex Luthor, out of prison again, decides he's going to be the only nuclear arms dealer around. He creates Nuclear Man, a solar powered entity whose powers rival those of Superman. After fixing damage done by Nuclear Man, the two lock horns, and Superman is victorious in the end.
My Thoughts
This movie, despite having the full cast back and a story by Reeve, was pretty awful. The story kind of mirrors Star Trek IV, using a current global issue as a backdrop for action, but it just didn't fly. Nearly ten years after the series started, it finally died, not to be resurrected until 2006. This film just didn't have the same magic that the first two did, and it just fell flat. However, 20 years later, things would look much brighter.
Superman Returns
Cast
Superman/CLark Kent: Brandon Routh
Lois Lane: Kate Bosworth
Lex Luthor: Kevin Spacey
Richard White: James Marsden
Perry White: Frank Langella
Kitty Kowalski: Parker Posey
Jimmy Olsen: Sam Huntington
Stanford: Kal Penn
Jor-El: Marlon Brando
Story by: Bryan Singer, Micheal Dougherty & Dan Harris. Screenplay by: Micheal Dougherty & Dan Harris. Directed by: Bryan Singer
Reelased: May 2006. My Rating: ****.
Plot
Superman has been gone for 5 years, and the world has moved on. Except for Lex Luthor, that is. He's out of prison and obsessed with learning the secrets of Krypton. He breaks into the Fortress of Solitude and learns that crystals are the key to Kryptonian technology. He puts his plan in motion right around the time that Superman comes back, making a visit with his adoptive mother Martha Kent.
Things have changed in Metropolis, like Lois Lane has a five-year old son and has become involved with Perry White's nephew. As Clark deals with his feelings for Lois, he begins crime-fighting again, which leads him to Lex Luthor before long.
Lois has been following a story about an EMP, an EMP which was caused by Lex. She follows the leads to Lex, and the his plan is revelaed. Using the old Luthor plot of real estate, he plans to create a crystaline continent and sell land. Doing this, would also create a tsumani which would wipe out the eastern seaboard of the US. With Lois and her son hostage, both Superman and Richard White go off to save her.
The new land mass Lex has created is made of Kryptonite, which of course, is rough on Clark. It takes the combined strength of Lois, Richard and Superman to make it back to safety. In the end, Superman destroys the island, and disposes of Luthor, but not permanently. And the escape scenes including JAson, Lois's son, leave questions open as to his parentage....
My Thoughts
Although not exactly the triumphant return that, say, Batman Begins was for that franchise, this film was miles beyond the last two Superman movies. Brandon Routh captured the right amount of Christopher Reeve and added enough of his own mannerisms to make this Superman good. His Clark mannerisms were spot on, and so were his Superman ones. Kevin Spacey did a deliciously evil Lex Luthor, making it less camp then Gene Hackman's, but still kept that spark of humor. Perry White and Jimmy Olsen were spot-on, but it was Kate Bosworth's Lois that was wanting. She didn't quite have the same spark that Margot Kidder had, and she made even dumber decisions than the old Lois did.
It worked on a lot of levels, including the fact that Jason may be Superman's son. That stems back to Superman II, and Bryan Singer did a hell of a job with that. It is a worthy addition to the series, and we'll see what happens when they do the next one.
