Superman II poster & wallpaper

Christopher Reeve, Gene Hackman, Ned Beatty

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

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66% liked it

215,428 ratings

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87% liked it

39 critics

PG, 2 hrs. 7 min.

Directed by: Richard Lester

Release Date: June 19, 1981

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DVD Release Date: May 1, 2001

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Flixster Reviews (5,998)

  • magnum32004
    October 10, 2006
    magnum32004
    It's standard these days, but, back when this came out, it was that a sequel to a epic comic book movie was better than its predecessor.
  • SirPant
    September 3, 2009
    SirPant
    A brilliant follow up film, I personally have to watch them both back to back and consider them the same film, although I do prefer the original. Terrance Stamp as Zod is brilliant. I always wondered what the Richard Donner cut would have been like though.....
  • sononothing
    November 30, 2008
    sononothing
    1981's follow-up to the successful Superman sees Supes identity being revealed to Lois and his decision to become mortal and be with her for all time thwarted by the Phantom Zone criminals from the first film.

    The first thing you'll notice is that Richard Lester directed this fi...( read more)lm. Well, over 50% of it because of the Salkind's anger with Richard Donner actually making a good film instead of a cash cow (could you imagine if these morons had gotten their hands on Batman like they wanted). Most of this film was complete when Lester took over, but in order to get Donner's name off the credits he had to shoot at least 51% of the film. Ironically Richard Donner's cameo (in front of the diner) remained in Lester's cut of the film.

    Overall this is still a very solid action film given its rocky history. All the principals are here and the story is still solid. The film falls flat on it's face during the ending when Superman uses saran wrap, Krypton's master use of force lightning, and teleportation becomes a standard addition to being under a yellow sun. Other than that Superman II is a great action film that (official) continued the Superman franchise (what till we get to III and IV).
  • bradwest
    October 2, 2008
    bradwest
    Not quite as good as the first.
  • Deano78
    September 19, 2008
    Deano78
    Probably my favourite of the original four Superman films.
  • jam233
    November 24, 2009
    jam233
    Very entertaining, it has a lightness about it and plenty of action. Winning performances, excellent score and in 1980 the special effects were great.
  • kcddck
    November 12, 2009
    kcddck
    What I liked about the first film seemed like it was much better in this film. This was a bit more of a fast paced very action oriented movie. I thought that the battle between the three villains and Superman was a classic. It was large in scope and it looked good using dated spe...( read more)cial effects. I even liked the ending with Lex Luthor getting involved that poisonous snake. Christopher Reeve really owns the Superman role and really seems to get it. Others have done well with but it is Reeve's.
  • karenpackace
    October 22, 2009
    karenpackace
    I loved this series of movies.
  • whosinthenews
    October 5, 2009
    whosinthenews
    It's amazing how the Kryptonian convicts just-so-happen to be floating near earth when Superman jettisons the nuclear bomb. It's also cool how Lex Luthor and his girlfriend float in a hot air balloon from Metropolis all the way to the north pole. Or how Lois and Clark drive all t...( read more)he way back FROM the north pole. I mean, what the hell, was there a sedan parked in front of the fortress of solitude? And why does Clark get a Beatles hairdo when he sacrifices his powers?...ah whatever...even with the multitude of problems Superman 2 is still just plain fun. Threats from every corner, some comedy and good wholesome American heroism intertwined...that's what makes Superman entertaining,
  • itbegins2005
    October 5, 2009
    itbegins2005
    GENERAL. ZOD. The very mention of the name is enough to bring a smile to the face of any Superman fan. Never before in cinema history has there been a villain as megalomaniacal- as egotistical- as prone to referring to himself in the third person- as Zod. Plenty of super-criminal...( read more)s have expressed the desire to take over the world; Zod ACTUALLY DID IT. After the phenomenal tease of the character played out at the beginning of Superman: the Movie, it was obvious where the filmmakers were set to go with the sequel: a titanic, superpowered battle royale between the Man of Steel and the three Kryptonian criminals, Zod, Ursa, and Non. Even better, though, the second film works to add a new dimension to the character of Superman himself, approaching him with more evident humanity by taking his relationship with Lois Lane to the next level. This particular outing in the franchise benefits (for the most part) from a combination of filmmaking styles: the epic scope and colorful sense of Americana of former director Richard Donner (who'd shot most of the sequel during the production of part one), and the more down-to-Earth British sensibilities of newcomer Richard Lester, whose dry wit is frequently an asset (Clark Kent has some great moments this time around) and occasionally a hinderance (I find his portrayal of rural Americans insultingly juvenile; "Holy skunk-sweat", indeed). Whatever your position is on the whole Donner/Lester debacle (which I won't get into in THIS review), it's impossible to deny that the final product of their haphazard collaboration is a solid sequel that manages to one-up its predecessor in a number of ways, and while it's not a perfect film (far from it, actually), it is a hugely entertaining action-adventure movie, the apotheosis of the pretensionless superhero film. With an opening credits sequence that serves as a recap of the previous installment, Superman II hits the ground running, with the Man of Steel averting a terrorist attack in Paris. Disposing of a nuclear weapon in the terrorists' possession by chucking it into space, Superman inadvertantly releases General Zod, Ursa, and Non from the Phantom Zone- each of whom gain all of Superman's powers as soon as they're freed. Meanwhile, Clark Kent is having troubles of his own, as Lois Lane is slowly closing in on his secret. Before long, Lois discovers that Clark is actually Superman, and the two fly off to the Fortress of Solitude for a romantic rendevous. Torn between his duties as Earth's protector and his love for a human woman, Superman, blinded by his feelings, sacrifices his powers to be with Lois... just as the trio of Kryptonian criminals descend upon Earth, leaving a trail of chaos and destruction behind them. Now, with the world on the brink of annihilation, how will a powerless Superman ever hope to defeat the greatest threat the Earth has ever seen? Despite creative shake-ups behind the camera, virtually the entire principal cast is back for Part II, with Christopher Reeve front and center as the Man of Steel once again. Reeve continues to excell as both the confident, charismatic Superman and the bumbling Clark Kent, and the line between the two is pretty well defined- even when we see Superman in Clark Kent's clothes. The character is fleshed out much more this time, though, transforming the slightly authoritarian Superman of the first film into a more human character by focussing on his love for Lois Lane and their burgeoning relationship. Now that we know what he can do and what he stands for, it's his personal vulnerabilities that make the story interesting, and discovering those, we become more invested in seeing him overcome them- this time, we root more for the character than for the concept. Playing opposite Reeve once more is Margot Kidder, returning for her second go-round as Lois Lane. Suffering, I suppose, (if that's the right term) from a real-life smoking habit (even her character smokes like a damn chimney), Kidder is noticably emaciated and her voice is much more shrill than in the first film, but Lois is still feisty and sardonic, even if she's not as up-beat under Lester's direction as she was under Donner's. The scenes between her and Clark are screwball comedy gold, and her love scenes with Superman are just as solid- if not as blazingly flirtatious- as before; ultimately, though, Lois is just a footnote to the bigger things going on around her, and the tragedy is that she knows it... a sentiment perfectly captured by Kidder in her final scene with Reeve, by far the best contribution to the film Richard Lester provided. Her only chance at happiness with Superman is crushed, ultimately, by the timely arrival of the three criminals from Krypton: the mute, brutish Non, played to comically menacing perfection by Jack O'Halloran; the sultry and malicious Ursa, wonderfully played by Sarah Douglas as something of a playful femme fatale; and, of course, General Zod, flawlessly played by Terrance Stamp (who, for some reason, gets last billing in BOTH Superman movies). Stamp plays Zod as pretty much the exact opposite of Superman: an absolute, irredeemable bad guy, the personification of egotism and the lust for power, and (getting back to the biblical symbolism of the first film) the Lucifer to Jor-El's God and Superman's Jesus (which I guess makes Luthor the Anti-Christ by default). What's really fantastic about this character is that he bounces between scenes of overplayed malevolence ("Come to me, son of Jor-El! Kneel before Zod!") and smooth, underplayed menace ("I see you are practiced in worshipping things that fly. Good."), and Stamp is at home with both of these extremes, creating an unbelievably arrogant and strangely charismatic presence the makes him (to fall back on a cliche) a villain you love to hate. Stamp's Zod simply OOZES evil- so much so that it turns the returning Gene Hackman's Lex Luthor into a mere comic foil for the Kryptonian trio (poetic justice given Lex's treatment of Otis, his own comic foil). Actually, Hackman didn't sign on to come back for the sequel- all of his scenes were shot by Richard Donner, with a body double and voice impersonators used to smooth the transitions between Donner's original scenes and Lester's revised ones. But regardless of a few strange digressions with his character (the most obvious being during the climax), Hackman gets to play his twisted mastermind to the fullest, even though this time, in trying to manipulate General Zod, he bites off more than he can chew. The composite Donner-Lester script is, on the whole, surprisingly coherent. Here again, however, is where some of the film's biggest faults lie: thanks to the omission of Marlon Brando's Jor-El from the film on financial grounds ($3 million for three weeks was bad enough, but asking to be paid twice was pushing it), there's never any proper explanation given for how Superman gets his powers back at the end of act two, as Jor-El was to be instrumental in his son's re-empowerment. And speaking of powers, apparently they don't have Superman comics in Great Brittain, because Richard Lester seems to have no concept of what exactly the Man of Steel's powers ARE, throwing everything from telekinesis to teleportation to intangibility into the pot; and while the amnesia-inducing super-kiss may've had some basis in Silver-Age comics lore, I suppose, there is no excuse for turning Superman's S-shield into a giant cellophane net that dissolves shortly after contact with its target. That's just stupid. The special effects are at least as good as the first film's, with improvements in some areas and weaknesses in others (the use of animation sticks out glaringly); the movie's twelve minute battle-royale in the streets and skies of Metropolis is the highlight of the film, bringing together all the effects techniques from both films into one massive, pulse-pounding action sequence, which suffers only occasionallt from flying-toy shots and a dummy Zod being whirled in circles. The cinematography is decidedly bi-polar, flipping from the muted color schemes of the Lester material to Geoffrey Unsworth's more vibrant palette, but the mix is effective since the Lester scenes are more subdued anyway, and the Donner scenes more operatic. The score is just a re-orchestration of the first movie's, rearranged by Ken Thorne to fit the new scenes, which is a tragedy, because I would give my left nut to hear John Williams' composition of a General Zod march theme (I'm a Williams enthusiast, so sue me). While it may not be as good as the first film (a position that is highly debatable, and I've found myself on either side of the argument from time to time), Superman II is easily one of the best sequels ever made, and probably the most underrated action film of the '80s. They say heroes are defined by their villains, but Superman has always been an exception to that: a mythically powerful hero with a rogues gallery that, compared to Batman or Spider-Man's, was pretty pathetic. Superman II is the movie that finally created a threat to match the Man of Steel, and, in a way, a villain that was defined by his hero- General Zod, along with Ursa and Non, the only forces ever able to overpower, if not necessarily out-think, Superman. They are the perfect opposites to Reeve's perfect hero, and that alone is quite an achievement.

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Critic Reviews

October 23, 2004
Roger Ebert, Chicago Sun-Times

Superman II begins in midstream, and never looks back... full review

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Comments

  • itbegins2005
    April 9, 2008
    itbegins2005
    "Come to me, 'Superman'! If you dare! I defy you! COME! COME AND KNEEL BEFORE ZOD!

    "ZOD!!!"
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Superman II Trivia

  • Who played Zod in "Superman II" (1980)?  Answer »
  • "Superman Returns" is suppose to take place after which Superman film?   Answer »
  • name the three criminals that Superman had to face in Superman II.  Answer »
  • True or False? There are two completely differant movies titled Superman II that both star Christopher Reeves.  Answer »
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