Review: Superman II (1980)

'Kneel before Zod.'

★★★½

It's no secret what happened between the first two Christopher Reeve Superman films. After the success of Superman: The Movie, a sequel began production, despite Richard Donner already having completed 75% of "Superman II." However, there had to be some changes before production picked up in early 1979. The Salkinds, being their greedy selves, continued their ongoing hassle towards Richard Donner. It reached a point where they fired Donner. Despite all the money they made, they didn't want Donner anymore. They only needed Donner to direct the first film and be their slave. Replacing Donner was director Richard Lester, who had previously worked with the Salkinds, and Lester's approach was different from Donner's. Richard Donner wanted to tell a story that was faithful to the character created by comic book writers Jerry Siegel and Joe Shuster. Richard Lester, on the other hand, preferred quirkiness and silliness. Lester loved hijinks, and it shows here and even more so in "Superman III."

Other than the firing of Richard Donner, creative consultant Tom Mankiewicz refused to return out of respect for Donner. Gene Hackman also refused to return for reshoots as a protest against the firing of Richard Donner. John Williams came back to discuss the score for the film, but he ended up getting into a nasty argument with Richard Lester, which caused him to step down as composer. Williams was replaced by Ken Thorne. Finally, Marlon Brando also had trouble with the Salkinds. In his contract, the Salkinds and Brando agreed on the payment of $3.7 million for two weeks of work plus a share of the gross. However, Brando wasn't fully paid the amount his contract stated, so he sued and won a share of the gross. In that lawsuit, Brando filed a restraining order to prevent the use of his likeness. While his restraining order request was thrown out, Brando received $15 million from the settlement. To make things worse, the Salkinds refused to include Brando's scenes as they were afraid to pay Brando money. But the real reason was because of how greedy they were.

After all of that, production picked up in early 1979. The plot stayed the same as written in the script. The plot follows the three Kryptonian criminals—led by the vicious General Zod (Terence Stamp)—who escape from the Phantom Zone and emerge on Earth possessing Superman's superpowers. Superman (Christopher Reeve) is faced with his biggest struggle to date. The three of them cause mayhem while trying to take over the world, while Clark Kent struggles with his love for Lois Lane (Margot Kidder) and whether or not to tell her who he really is. In an audacious move, Clark temporarily gives up his abilities to live a regular life with Lois, but he quickly learns that in order to free the planet from Zod's oppression, he needs to restore his strength. At the film's climax, Superman's bravery and resolve are put to the test during an epic confrontation in Metropolis.

While I did enjoy the film, I did have many issues with it. For starters, the firing of Richard Donner was a terrible mistake. It's the biggest reason why every "Superman" movie after this one did terribly. Since the theatrical cut consists of both Donner and Lester's footage, the film, visually, looks like a mess. That's because the Donner footage was filmed by cinematographer Geoffrey Unsworth, who sadly passed away during post-production of "Superman," and Lester's footage was filmed by cinematographer Robert Paynter. It's easy to tell their styles of filmmaking. Unsworth's style is beautiful to look at, whereas Paynter's is just bland and tasteless. Another problem is how Non (Jack O'Halloran) is one big joke in this film. I don't know why Lester thought it would be a great idea to make him have these stupid grunts and squeals. He's a villain, not a comic sidekick. And finally, the biggest problem I have, other than firing Donner, was the lack of Brando. Marlon Brando helped make "Superman: The Movie" a classic. He nailed his scenes, even if he hardly put any effort into them. Some minor issues I had were the dialogue, the lack of Lois Lane and Gene Hackman, and a bunch of other minor things.

Those are just criticisms. In no way do I dislike this film. Despite not being nearly as amazing as the first, it is nonetheless entertaining to watch this second installment. The same objectives of the first film are achieved, albeit in a different way. It does, however, feel inferior to the first. Christopher Reeve, Gene Hackman, Terence Stamp, and Margot Kidder all deliver outstanding performances.