Sunday Movie Matinee

Movie Matinee

Superfilms!

I was asked for my thoughts on the new Superman movie Man of Steel.  I could have just done that, but after watching the first three Christopher Reeve movies with a few friends recently, I feel the need to talk about the new movie in reference to the old.  The reason for that: I feel much of the criticism of the new film is due to referring to what has gone before.

Superman II (1980)

A comment was made in watching the first two films stating that they feel like one big movie.  This is absolutely true.  If there were no Superman II simultaneously being planned and filmed the first five minutes of the first movie would make absolutely no sense.  Why would we begin with the condemnation of criminals if it didn't come back to them later.  So I would refer to it as Superman: The Movie Part II.
Again we have Christopher Reeve doing a great Job as Supes and Clark Kent, and again we have a great film score, but we also have a host of issues.  This movie has many great sequences that make it interesting, such as Superman giving up his powers to be with Lois, as well as a fairly well executed bout between Superman and his three Kryptonian foes.  I'd say besides Reeves and the score, the villains make for a good addition.
And then there is this...

What?
This movie gives Superman and the other aliens powers that he doesn't have or need.  He can apparently teleport, use telekinesis, multiply himself, and... throw his S at someone.  He also can remove someone's short-term memory by kissing them, a power that I have dubbed "The Roofie Kiss."  As there is good in this movie, so is there bad. Supes, as in the first one, spends 2/3s to 3/4s of the movie apart from, and unaware of, his antagonists.  Also there's the crazy scene where he almost lets Lois die to protect his secret.  Which leads me to "The Richard Donner Cut."

The first Superman movie was directed by Richard Donner, and half of Superman II was directed by him as well.  But due to a tonal disagreement with the producers, he was let go, and Richard Lester took over.  The Producers wanted it to be sillier, and in essence, dumber.  The "Richard Donner Cut" is an assembly of all the extra scenes Donner shut cut into the movie along with some test footage to fill the gaps.  It makes the movie more serious and in general much better.  That still doesn't mean its great.  Superman still spends too much time separate from Zod and the others as well as using the same time travel trick from the first movie to render all the events of this film pointless.  Yikes.

A lot of people overlook the weird and silly things in this movie and just say its great and walk away.  Most people even overlook the fact that Superman totally kills his enemies in this movie, With Lois even punching the girl to her icy Death.  They all die, and its' not considered terrible or even morally ambiguous, but triumphant.  I mention this because it death like this will come into play later.
I don't want to come off as a hater, but I have to be honest.   I can still enjoy the movie, but it's by no means a perfect, or unimpeachable film representation of the adventures of Superman.
If you're going to watch Superman II, go for the Richard Donner Cut.  But either way, you get this immensely gratifying, if morbid,  scene at the end.

Have a Super week!