Cast: B
Plot: B
Special Effects/Stunts: C-
Similarity to Comic: C-
Director: Sidney J. Furie
Comic Company: DC
Stars: Christopher Reeve, Gene Hackman, Margot Kidder
Rating:PG
See the IMDB page
See the Rotten Tomatoes page
Hmm. This movie was about what I expected, nothing more and nothing less. The plot was a nice surprise, but I was quickly let down by the special effects. I'm glad this is the last old school Superman movie I'll have to watch, I don't think I could have handled another one.
The Good: Thank God they got Gene Hackman back, he really saved this movie. The rest of the cast did a good job as usual, although there were fewer supporting characters in this movie and that added up to less humor. Jackie Cooper had a much smaller role which was disappointing but he still did well and Margot Kidder did a good job as Lois Lane again (and had a much bigger part than she did in the last movie. Christopher Reeve probably had his best performance as Clark Kent (which was fitting since he helped write the movie) and he did okay as Superman again. I was really surprised to see Jon Cryer make an appearance and impressed that his character was so unlike 'Alan' from Two and a Half Men which is what I'm so used to seeing him play.
This was probably my favorite plot line f the Superman movies so far. That has a lot to do with the subject matter though and the fact that this movie is actually making a big statement. Reeve said that this was his most personal of the Superman films because he felt so strongly about globally disarming nuclear weapons. Despite a few scientific impossibilities I think this film does a good job discussing the subject and what it would take if it were ever to really be attempted. It was brilliant coming up with a villain that completely personifies and humanizes the evils of nuclear energy.
The Bad: So... humans can breathe in space now? I almost turned off the movie when Lacy was being flown into space by Nuclear Man and she was gasping and breathing deeply the whole time. That was just one of the many scientific facts they butchered while making this movie, others included slow motion space fights, flapping capes in space, talking in space, people flying upwards, and daylight being all over the world at the same time. There were so many scientific and factual errors it was almost hard to watch. Not to mention the crappy special effects yet again. At least there were more explosions in this one. And for the love of God use more than one shot of Superman flying at the camera! They used the same shot of him flying for the ENTIRE movie. I didn't like how in the last movie they totally threw the Superman-Lois lane romance under the bus, and in this movie they went back to it. If you're going to destroy a plot line, keep it that way, don't try to resurrect it.
One more thing, shoving a giant rock into the top of a volcano won't stop it from erupting, take a science class.
The Interesting: Superman seemed to have learned four or five new powers since the last movie including but not limited to electric feet, super duper strength (enough to move the moon out of orbit), two new languages, and force powers in his eyes. It was funny how he rebuilt the Great Wall of China just by looking at it, and I guess the humor I found in his dumb new powers and bad special effects made up for a lackluster supporting cast, but just once I want some consistency with this superhero.
I don't understand why Nuclear Man had to roar every time the camera panned to him. It's like he thought he was the king of the jungle, and let's be honest, it didn't really scare anybody. It was also kind of hard to tell that Gene Hackman did the voice for Nuclear Man, because Lex Luthor always talks intelligently, and Nuclear Man was always acting like a lion. My final critique of Nuclear Man is his name, Nuclear Man. You'd think they could be a little more creative, but I guess we're talking about the same people who created a hero with every imaginable superpower and named him Superman, so it makes sense.
Conclusion: I liked this movie because it is one of the few superhero movies I've seen that makes a relevant point about society and the direction we're going in. Reeve and Hackman do a good job but its bad special effects yet again keep me from giving it a really good rating.
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