Superman II (1980)

Director:

Richard Lester

Writers:

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

Release Date:

19 June 1981 (USA)

Genre:

Action | Adventure | Romance | Sci-Fi

Tagline:

Miraculously freed from eternal orbit, the three outlaws from Krypton descend to earth, for the ultimate confrontation.

Plot:

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

Plot Keywords:

Superman | Criminal | Prison | Phantom Zone | Hydrogen Bomb

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

Also Known As:

Superman 2 (Australia) (TV title)

Runtime:

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

Country:

UK

Language:

English | French

Color:

Color (Technicolor)

Aspect Ratio:

2.20 : 1

Sound Mix:

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

Certification:

Iceland:L | South Korea:All | Brazil:Livre | New Zealand:PG | 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:

The scene where General Zod, Ursa and Non use their super-breath to create a storm in Metropolis was shot over three freezing November nights at Pinewood Studios in England. During that time, director Richard Lester improvised most of the jokes that you see in that sequence.

Goofs:

Continuity: When Lex Luthor sits behind the President's desk and lights a cigar while he talks to Zod and company, the cigar switches from his left to his right hand.

Quotes:

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

Movie Connections:

References A Little Romance (1979)

Soundtrack:

Pick Up the Pieces

The Greatest Adventure in the Superman Series

This Superman movie has got to be the bench mark for future producers of Superman movies. They must be sat down with this film, because it is an absolute classic, and as far as Superman films go it will be hard to top. Richard Lester, is not very popular with some Superman fans, because he took over on a movie that they feel would have been better had Richard Donner been allowed to complete. But Lester has his admirers, and iam one of them. The first Superman movie tended to go along with boring philosophising, or over sentimental dramatics, these are mainly absent in Superman II,. They are replaced with cut to the action dramatics by Richard Lester who in my opinion saved the movie, or at least made it all the more exciting. I enjoy his sense of comic book adventure, and the final Times Square battle between Superman vs Zod,Non and Ursa is straight out of a comic book and is all Lesters. The main thing that complements the movie is the towering performance by Christopher Reeve as Clark Kent/Superman. Reeve is hillarious in his Cary Grant-a-like interpretation of Kent and wonderfull as a humanistic Superman. Margot Kidder is fabulous to and it is the acting of theese two that makes the Superman//Lois love triangle work. Terance Stamp as Zod is very creepy, and Sarah Douglas as Ursa very sexy, but the man who very nearly steels the show is Gene Hackman hilarious as Lex Luther. The special effects are brilliant, because they look glossy, and the Ken Thorne variation of John Williams Superman theme is at its best here. The best aspects though is the action, the aforementioned Times Square battle, and the interaction between the actors. Well done Richard Lester. A True classic of Superhero cinema.