Superman Film Series Retrospective

This week marks the release of what may be the most anticipated film of 2013, ‘Man of Steel’. It may also be one of the riskiest films this year for a few reasons. This is Warner Bros’ second attempt at reviving the Superman franchise following 2006’s ‘Superman Returns’, which did not perform as well as the studio hoped. Also, in the wake of ‘The Avengers’, it is unclear whether or not ‘Man of Steel’ will be the kick-starter film that will create a ‘Cinematic Universe’ that would ultimately lead to a live-action Justice League film. That film has already had a rather troubled production, with the initial script reportedly being tossed out, which is not a good sign for a film that is supposed to come out only two years from now in 2015. But for Man of Steel, another thing that could hold it back, despite the fact that it is produced by Christopher Nolan, is that it’s directed by Zack Snyder, a director who has made really good films (‘300’ and ‘Watchmen’) except for his most recent film, 2011’s ‘Sucker Punch’. However, the footage shown so far has been really amazing so I’m really excited for this new Superman film and I’m hopeful that it will be great.

Now let’s take a look back at the Superman live-action film franchise so far (I won’t be looking at any animated Superman films, like ‘All-Star Superman’ or ‘Superman: Unbound’). This post will only focus on the original four Superman films starring Christopher Reeve and Warner Bros.’ first attempted revival and yes, a full review of ‘Man of Steel’ will follow in the next few days.

SUPERMAN: THE MOVIE (1978)

Superman The Movie is regarded as the first major superhero movie and even if it isn’t, it certainly set the standard for future superhero films. Even after 35 years, it still holds up as not only the best Superman movie to date, but one of the best superhero films of all time. Christopher Reeve is perfect in the lead role of Superman, but also succeeds by being very unsuspecting as Superman’s alter ego Clark Kent. Marlon Brando, Margot Kidder, and Gene Hackman are also great too as Jor-El, Lois Lane, and Lex Luthor respectively. Granted, the ending is a little questionable. I would say spoilers, but this movie’s been out for 3.5 decades so it’s no big deal. If Superman can fly so fast that he can turn back time (which he does in order to save Lois from dying), then why couldn’t he grab both of Lex Luthor’s missiles at that speed? Oh well, the movie is still great anyway and it’s a must-see for any comic-book fan.

 

Rating: 5/5!

SUPERMAN II (1980)

Superman II has had quite a controversial production history. Richard Donner (director of the first Superman film) was originally set to direct this film as well, but due to conflicts with the producers, Donner was booted off the project and replaced with Richard Lester, who ended up shooting new footage. However, some of Donner’s footage was used in the original theatrical cut, though most of the footage was shot by Lester. In 2006, a new version that mainly consisted of Donner’s footage was released; Superman II: The Richard Donner Cut. At the time I am writing this, I have not yet seen the Donner cut, though I’m aware that many consider it to be the superior version. But for now, I’ll only be looking at the original theatrical cut of the film.

When watching this version, it’s clear that even though the majority of the footage was shot by Lester, Donner’s influence is still present, evident from the scenes in this cut that he had shot. Lester went a more comedic route but the Donner scenes are more serious in tone. While the humor does get a little more slapstick at times, the film still works as a whole. It also has probably the best Superman villain (in the film franchise) in General Zod, played with a commanding presence by Terrence Stamp (KNEEL!!!). Christopher Reeve and Margot Kidder once again do excellent jobs as Superman and Lois Lane, and the plot of Superman deciding to give up his powers in order to be with Lois is well-done. All in all, the original theatrical cut of Superman II may not be on the same level as the previous film, but it comes pretty damn close.

Rating: 4/5

 

SUPERMAN III (1983)

Even after the whole Donner/Lester controversy, ‘Superman II’ did perform well both critically and commercially, so Lester ended up directing ‘Superman III’ as well… and this is the point where the series started to go downhill. ‘Superman III’ is not as bad as the film that would follow, but it’s still not that good compared to the last two films. Now that Lester has complete control, the camp level is through the roof. The filmmakers even cast Richard Pryor in the movie for additional humor and the worst thing about this (aside from the fact that the comedy legend’s humor did not really shine through in this film) is that Pryor might actually be in it more than Superman himself. There are only two good things in this movie. One is Christopher Reeve who, despite the film’s many problems, is still very good as Superman who, in this film, becomes corrupted by synthetic kryptonite made by an evil multimillionaire. Superman ultimately ends up splitting into the evil Superman and good Clark Kent. The fight scene between them in the junkyard is the other highlight in a film that may not be the worst Superman film of all time, but it’s clear that this is where the series started to go in the wrong direction.

Rating: 2/5

 

SUPERMAN IV: THE QUEST FOR PEACE (1987)

Oh boy… time to talk about this one. The original Superman franchise had a run that was fairly parallel to the original Batman franchise. The first films are regarded as the best, the second films still received solid reviews (though not as good as their predecessors), the third films were where both series began to go into decline, and the fourth films… were the ones that killed their respective franchises until their eventual reboots. Superman IV is up there with ‘Batman and Robin’ amongst the worst superhero films of all time. Even if you excuse the fact that this film had a troubled production where the budget was cut in half due to the production company’s busy schedule of films, this is still a god-awful superhero film. Everything about this movie feels cheap, right down to the horrendous special effects (easily the worst in any superhero film). This is easily the worst Superman film to date.

Rating: .5/5

 

SUPERMAN RETURNS (2006)

Following the ‘death’ of the original Superman franchise with Superman IV, Warner Bros brought the series back in 2006 with ‘Superman Returns’, directed by Bryan Singer after he helmed the first two X-Men films. It seems like Warner Bros really wanted to revive the Superman franchise the same way they rebooted the Batman franchise a year before with ‘Batman Begins’. But, as evident from ‘Man of Steel’, ‘Superman Returns’ did not really turn out the way Warner Bros had hoped. For the record, it did fine at the box office and received solid reception from critics. However, audience reception has been pretty split. A lot of people like it and a lot of people hate it. As for me, I’m right in the middle when it comes to this film. I don’t love it, but I don’t think it’s as bad as those who dislike it say it is. However, it is a missed opportunity when it came to the revival of the Superman franchise.

One of the big problems with the film is that it’s actually kind of boring. The film is about 2.5 hours long and despite some really good action sequences, it moves at a very slow pace. Another problem may also be that the filmmakers tried way too hard to connect this to the first two Superman films because this is actually supposed to be a ‘sequel’ to those films. I can’t really say it works without the original cast and I feel that the filmmakers should have just rebooted the franchise. It also doesn’t help that the main leads aren’t really that compelling. I’ll give Brandon Routh some credit in that there are times where he effectively mirrors Reeve as Superman (apparently one of the reasons why he was cast because he looks a lot like Reeve) to good effect, but Kate Bosworth is terrible as Lois Lane, lacking the spunky attitude that Margot Kidder had in the original films. The rest of the cast is fine though, including James Marsden as Lois’ fiancé Richard (tell me I’m not the only one who thinks he would have been a really good choice for Superman) and Kevin Spacey as Lex Luthor.

All in all, Superman Returns is not the worst Superman film of all time, but Warner Bros should have done something different in regard to how this film turned out. If Christopher Nolan could reboot the Batman franchise and not have it stay true to the previous Batman films, then this film should have gone the same route instead of serving as a ‘sequel’ to the Reeve films. Obviously, we won’t be getting a sequel (instead, we have Zack Snyder’s ‘Man of Steel’ to look forward to), but I would have been fine with another film. Maybe it would have allowed the two leads to flesh out their characters a little more. As is, neither is very good in their roles and Christopher Reeve and Margot Kidder are still the definitive Superman and Lois Lane when it comes to the Superman movies.

Rating: 3/5