Cast: B+
Plot: D
Special Effects/Stunts: D+
Similarity to Comic: A+
Director: Richard Donner
Comic Company: DC
Stars: Christopher Reeve, Gene Hackman, Margot Kidder
Rating: PG
See the IMDB page
See the Rotten Tomatoes page
So aside from the fact that Superman is the cheapest superhero ever this movie was... well, interesting. I liked the plot up until the very end, and the cast did well and the movie as a whole was a good representation of the hero, but the special effects (an essential part of ANY Superman movie) were lacking.
The Good: This movie was a spitting image of what the writers of the Superman comic intended him to be. His origin story was told with surprising accuracy and in great detail, and backed up by a great musical score. I liked the cast; they had a good mix of funny characters, tough characters, and deep characters. I can see why they picked Christopher Reeve to be the man of steel, he played the part great. Margot Kidder played a strong Lois Lane and the supporting cast of characters did well. The real show stealer in this movie though was Gene Hackman. He was fantastic, bringing out the funny, intelligent, and insane sides of Lex Luthor all at once; I'm looking forward to seeing him play the part again in the next movie. And oh yeah even The Godfather Marlon Brando makes an appearance.
One thing that was different in this movie that separates it from most other superhero movies is all of the innuendos and sexual references throughout the movie. I'd never seen such blatant sexual references in a superhero movie before, but they pulled it off well. This film was also pretty funny; it had a lot of jokes that subtly make fun of the comic book, which always makes these unrealistic movies better.
The Bad: Oh my God, the plot. I actually thought it was pretty good up until the end, but wow, it sure died. I'm no scientist, but I'm pretty sure flying backwards around the Earth isn't going to start spinning it in the opposite direction/ not kill EVERYONE/ turn back time/ bring back the dead. It was too far-fetched, even for Superman; I would expect something like this in the 5th or 6th movie after they'd exhausted every other good plot line, not in the first bloody movie. The only reason I didn't give it an F- is because the first 9/10th's of the plot was pretty well done.
The special effects were pretty bad. I know it was 1978 and yes the special effects were miles ahead of the 1977 film 'Star Wars' but... they still sucked. I feel that if you're going to make a movie that REQUIRES good special effects, you either need to give it good special effects or wait until technology catches up and then do the movie. Superman is one of those movies that probably shouldn't have been made until nowadays. But then I guess we all would have missed out on Gene Hackman's Lex and Christopher Reeve's Superman.
The Interesting: I don't understand how you can make a movie with such a good plot and then ruin it with such a dumb ending. I just don't get it. The movie would have been great if they just had Superman save Lois right before she dies but instead they let her die and then make him fly around the Earth to go back in time/bring her back to life. Here's a question for you, Superman: If you could turn back time like that, why didn't you just go back another 10 minutes and stop the bomb from blowing up the freaking San Andreas Fault?! Better question: If you can fly fast enough to go around the world fast enough to change its rotation, why couldn't you fly fast enough to catch BOTH bombs, they were only on opposite sides of the country?! Too far-fetched, I rest my case.
Conclusion: This movie is worth seeing; there was some great acting, a perfect representation of his origin, and some funny special effects. If I may make a suggestion though, turn it off about an hour and forty five minutes in and make up your own ending.
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