Superman II (1980)

Director:

Richard Lester

Writers:

Jerry Siegel (characters) &
Joe Shuster (characters) ...

Release Date:

19 June 1981 (USA)

Genre:

Action | Adventure | Fantasy | Romance | Sci-Fi

Tagline:

The three outlaws from Krypton descend to Earth to confront the Man of Steel in a cosmic battle for world supremacy.

Plot:

Superman agrees to sacrifice his powers to marry Lois, unaware that three Kryptonian criminals he inadvertently released are conquering Earth.

Plot Keywords:

Perry White | Revenge | Shot Back To Back | Nuclear Weapon | Mission

Awards:

1 win & 3 nominations

Cast

Gene Hackman	...	Lex Luthor
Christopher Reeve	...	Superman / Clark Kent
Ned Beatty	...	Otis
Jackie Cooper	...	Perry White
Sarah Douglas	...	Ursa
Margot Kidder	...	Lois Lane
Jack O'Halloran	...	Non
Valerie Perrine	...	Eve Teschmacher
Susannah York	...	Lara
Clifton James	...	Sheriff
E.G. Marshall	...	The President
Marc McClure	...	Jimmy Olsen
Terence Stamp	...	General Zod
Leueen Willoughby	...	Leueen
Robin Pappas	...	Alice

Runtime:

127 min | USA:116 min (Richard Donner Cut)

Country:

UK

Language:

English | French

Color:

Color (Technicolor)

Aspect Ratio:

2.20 : 1

Sound Mix:

Dolby (35 mm prints) | 70 mm 6-Track (MegaSound encoding) (70 mm prints)

Certification:

Brazil:Livre | Iceland:L | South Korea:All | Argentina:Atp | Australia:PG | Canada:G | Chile:TE | Finland:K-12 | France:U | Norway:12 (1980) | Peru:PT | Singapore:PG | Sweden:15 | UK:PG | USA:PG

Filming Locations:

Albert R. Broccoli 007 Stage, Pinewood Studios, Iver Heath, Buckinghamshire, England, UK

Company:

Alexander Salkind

Trivia:

Director 'Richard Lester' was not sympathetic to the epic look that original director Richard Donner had given the original Superman (1978), saying that he did not want to do "the David Lean thing". Imposing his own control over the Superman saga, Lester took advantage of the death of Donner's cinematographer, Oscar-winner Geoffrey Unsworth, to stamp his own look on the sequel. Lester decided to scrap most of Unsworth's footage, which created an epic stateliness through the use of a gliding camera and unique colors for different locations, and hired potboiler director 'Michael Winner' 's cinematographer, Robert Paynter, to create a comic book-style that would evoke Superman's roots in comic books. Lester deliberately wanted to break the stylistic "American epic" mold created by Donner and, with Paynter, set out to recreate the look and feel of a comic book. For this reason, Lester did not use his own long-time collaborator, lighting cameraman 'David Watkin' , as Watkin's photographic style was too classical, and thus not adaptable to a comic book aesthetic. Working with his Lester, Paynter and his camera operator Freddie Cooper developed a different type of framing from the original, but one that was ideal for their concept of a comic book film: They replaced Unsworth's gliding camera with horizontal panning and static framing to evoke comic books and comic strips, with their static frames that are crammed with people and objects. Similarly, the composition of shots the trio developed for "Superman II" had objects and people crammed into the frame. To further emphasize comic book composition, the action was photographed from one angle, to give the film a desired flatness. (Harkening back to the technique of the early sound era, Lester's films had always been shot with three cameras simultaneously filming the action all at one time, with two cameras for close-ups and one for the long-shot (the establishing shot). Actors do not like this technique as they do not know when their close-ups are being filmed, and must be "on" constantly, rather than saving their best takes for the close-ups. Lester's technique added to the friction on the set caused by Donner's firing, with Margot Kidder particularly disliking Lester as a director.) Paynter's palette consisted of pastel colors to suggest the color of comic books. The theatrical gray skies of Paris, the rainbows of Niagara Falls and the Caribbean colors of St. Lucia were thusly rendered with a comic book look. Whereas Unsworth had given every new destination Superman visits seem like an awe inspiring new discovery, Lester and Paynter showed Superman having as easy access to far off lands, just as he did in the comics. One minute he's in France, the next in Metropolis, and so on, without any second thoughts. Unfortunately, Lester's disdain for Superman as an American epic masked a certain disrespect for the enterprise, and his comic book aesthetic backfired badly with the next sequel, _Superman III _ , which was routinely panned and underperformed at the box office.

Goofs:

Revealing mistakes: During the Super Battle, when Zod is getting ready to hurl a slab of concrete at Superman, the view of the crowd is shown reversed -- note the "No Entry" sign (this was corrected in the Richard Donner Cut.)

Quotes:

[first lines]
Krypton guard: Alert, alert, alert.

Movie Connections:

Referenced in Look, Up in the Sky: The Amazing Story of Superman (2006) (TV)

Soundtrack:

Pick Up the Pieces

Best Of The Superman Series

This is the best of the Superman movies because of the three villains, played by Terrence Stamp, Sarah Douglas and Jack O'Halloran.

Those three are so good, particularly Stamp, that they make this easily the most memorable of the four films. The scenes with them on the moon, their first encounter on earth and their climactic fight against Superman in the skies above Metropolis are all outstanding.

Once again, Superman goes a little overboard in his romance to Lois Lane (do you believe some reviewers are upset there weren't explicit sex scenes in the film?) Hey, folks, it's just a comic book and it's supposed to be innocent, clean fun. Sorry that turns you off. For the rest of us, this is generally very enjoyable film from start to finish, with no real lulls.