The Five Faces of **_Superman II_**

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:heart_eyes:

**Christopher Reeve** and **Margot Kidder** are still wonderful and impressive in their respective parts and it's great to see the natural chemistry between them develop and sparkle. The Clark/Lois relationship is greatly developed in this film and their scenes together form some of the best moments in the entire movie.

Some of the dialogue is genuinely warm, funny and witty; Reeve's spot on delivery helps land the jokes.

It is still impressive and awesome how well Reeve transitions from Clark Kent to Superman and nails both characters, and their contrasting personalities, perfectly.

Bigger and bolder action scenes form the bulk of the film. They're mostly well-written and performed and always entertaining.


:smiley:

This time we are introduced to the villains early on, in an ominous, albeit campy, sequence om Earth's moon.

_Superman II_ further extends the world and characters established in the first film, so the film feels bigger and more international in its depiction of Superman.

The climax with Superman battling Zod's squad is surprisingly creative and entertaining, but also unintentionally hilarious and very, very campy. Seriously, the lengthy showdown is one of the most memorable battles in all of superhero cinema.


:neutral_face:

There is a hastily and clumsily constructed recap at the beginning of the film - it's probably one of the worst and most unusable recaps I have ever seen - like a combo of a film trailer and a "previously on"-feature from a TV show. You could essentially skip the first movie and jump right to this one.

_Superman II_ feels like watching the first episode of a second season of a TV show in the way we are thrown into events. Since the first two movies were filmed back to back, the introductions and backstory are left to the first movie and this one focuses more on action and heroics, since we know the characters already.

Some sequences are so implausible or illogical that they stop making any sense. The film doesn't really try to hide that fact or explain those sequences.

New composer **Ken Thorne** samples **John Williams'** amazing score from the first film, but doesn't quite hit the right notes when it comes to producing his own emotional or memorable tunes.

General Zod and his squad are a mixed bag. While they make for some interesting villains and actual challenge for Superman, they remain very simple and superfluous as characters. **Terence Stamp** is iconic as Zod but less resound when compared to **Michael Shannon** in _Man of Steel_. There is an odd stiffness in his performance, far from the intensity presented by Shannon. **Sarah Douglas** is the most interesting of the trio, while **Jack O'Halloran** is just a stupid version of Jaws or Hodor, thrown in for comic relief.

At least Superman losing his powers creates some kind of tension - for 5 minutes. That could have been an interesting direction for a larger story arc, but becomes just a minor sidestep throughout the adventure.


:frowning2:

There are some visually demanding scenes, and unfortunately most of the wonky special effects look incredibly dated and a whole lot worse compared to _Superman_.

_Superman II_ is lighter in tone compared to the first film and a whole lot more campier. It feels like the filmmakers stopped taking themselves and their project seriously. Some of the campier parts are cringe-worthy and really hurt the overall enjoyment. This is particularly palpable in scenes involving Luthor and his bumbling sidekicks.

There are some problems with the story and pacing. It's mostly Clark and Lois globetrotting and being cute as well as three Kryptonian baddies walking around and causing mischief to unsuspecting people. The trouble is, the story really doesn't go anywhere, doesn't cook up trouble or create real tension. The script is highly predictable and not very original.

The villains in this film have even less of a motive to kill and destroy than Luthor did in the last film (apart from the stereotypical motive of world domination) and they suffer from the same God complex as Superman does.

I respect the talented **Gene Hackman** as Lex Luthor, but he really has no role to play in this film and could have been easily left out. There is really no point in him appearing in this movie at all. His dialogue is self-centered and he has no character development whatsoever.


:face_vomiting:

How on Earth do the characters manage to throw each other across great distances in perfect slow motion? Now that's a power to be jealous of!

And then we ONCE AGAIN get an ending that ruin everything that the movie built up throughout its run-time. It's an unnecessary twist that just ruins everything that came before.

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The Final Face: :neutral_face: