One of the greatest superheroes of all time is Superman. His first film was an instant classic, and the sequel was almost as good. Still though, there is a little controversy surrounding the film because the director changed from Superman to Superman II. Richard Donner shot both films at the same time, and therefore a little of Superman II is not directed by credited director Richard Lester. Well, let's get started.
Plot:
Superman is called into action right away when he hears as Clark Kent that a group of French terrorists have seized the Eiffel Tower and have a bomb. Not only that, but Lois Lane, the love of his life, is caught in the middle of it. He gets there, rescues her, gets rid of the bomb, and shoves it into outer space, where it hits a diamond shaped prison, which holds General Zod and his followers Ursa and Non.
Meanwhile, Lex Luthor escapes prison and leaves behind poor Otis, who helped him escape. He and Miss Tesmacher travel to the Fortress of Solitude where Lex learns of the Zod gang. He later learns they are on earth and begins to persue them to help him destroy Superman.
All the meanwhile, the Zod gang go to the moon where they believe it is the source of man, but there are only three astronauts there. So they travel to Houston, which is actually Earth, to dominate. They land in Idaho, of all places, and begin taking over/destroying the town, making everyone kneel before Zod.
Also meanwhile, Lois and Clark head off to Niagra Falls, where Lois sees a great opportunity to show the world that Clark is actually Superman, but only by accident does she finally learn the truth: she was right. So Superman takes her to the Fortress of Solitude after Luthor has left it and tells her his story and then wishes to become an ordinary man. When he does, Lois is shocked, but love begins to flow.
The Zod gang eventually leave Idaho and travel to Washington D.C. and takes over the White House, after the president surrenders. Back to Lois and Clark, Clark gets in a restaraunt fight and loses, big time, forgetting he is no longer Superman. He hears of Zod's takeover and travels back to the Fortress of Solitude, asking for forgiveness and to revive his powers.
Luthor then goes to the White House and talks Zod into keeping him alive and even strikes a deal where he will give them Superman, if he gets Australia. So all plot points converge to Metrapolis where the final battle takes place between the Zod gang and Superman, who has his powers back.
After spectacular fights, Superman, feeling weak, retreats back to his Fortress of Solitude, with the Zod gang deciding to follow him and taking Lois and Luthor with them. They fight one last time before Superman agrees to surrender his powers and become Zod's slave, but he fools them and instead takes away their powers, and destroys them, and also leaves Lex in the Fortress of Solitude.
The only problem now is Lois cannot keep Superman's identity secret, nor can she live with a lie. So Clark resolves it by kissing her, and making her sort of suffer amnesia where she forgets the whole ordeal. In the concluding scene, Clark returns to the restaraunt where he was beat up and in revenge beats up the slob, Rocky. No, not Rocky Balboa, a different grease guy. And no, not John Travolta.
So here's the score:
Acting: 9 out of 10. Excellent job from the whole cast.
Entertainment: 9 out of 10. The comedic moments in Idaho don't really intrest me as much as the big fights and the love story.
Screenplay: 8 out of 10. Wonderful work.
Directing: 6 out of 10. Lester does ok, but there's no beating Donner. But since he did direct different parts of the movie, I'll give him credit.
Technical Credits: 9 out of 10. Nice special effects, but they are sometimes a little silly.
Genre Fit: 8 out of 10. Plenty of action, but the comedic scenes don't work.
MPAA Rating: 10 out of 10. Perfectly PG. Nothing trying for G or R.
Stupid Scenes: 5 out of 10. Not so good here. There are some silly moments that I really don't like.
Deeper Message: 8 out of 10. It discusses identity and being yourself, and not changing anything just for one person.
Beginning: 25 out of 30. Silly at spots, but ok.
Middle: 24 out of 30. More of the same and with a little less action.
Ending: 29 out of 30. Wonderfully well done.
Final Score: 150/180 or 83%. An A-, which means it's really good.
Replies