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Rating:  -
The first three Superman films are tolerable, but the fourth one is the real treat of this collection, and the primary reason to buy it. Superman reached its artistic apex with "The Quest for Peace," an achievement that has gone unsurpassed in the years since its release in 1987.
Yes, we do have to sit through the first three films. The first two are especially cheesy and sleep-inducing, so be prepared to pull out that spare pillow while watching those. The third starts to get a little better, with the hilarious comic stylings of Richard Pryor, and--finally!--a villian worthy of Superman in the form of a computer.
But the gloves at last come off in Superman IV, a tour-de-force of unparalleled cinematic achievement, bursting with eyepopping visual effects that will FINALLY allow you to believe that man can fly. I hardly know where to begin, from Margot Kidder's timeless beauty, to Mariel Hemingway's incredible soul-baring performance, to the flawless action scenes where Superman and archnemesis Nuclear Man battle--from New York, to China, to outer space, and even to the moon!
With Nuclear Man, Superman has finally met his match. Gone, thankfully, are the silly trio poseurs from the first two films, who were never a credible threat. Nuclear Man is unforgettable, with the actor, whose name escapes me, turning in a career-making performance every bit as powerful as any from his generation.
Best of all, Gene Hackman returns in his best rendition of Lex Luthor yet. This time paired up with the hilarious Jon Cryor, Hackman is brilliant, but is upstaged by the even more brilliant Cryor! Between Hackman, Cryor, and Nuclear Man, I have a very hard time deciding who is the best of the best, as they are all so good.
The only disappointment is the lack of special features for Superman IV. Inexplicably, the first movie is the only one with any "extras," and I am mystified why Superman IV isn't given the special treatment, since it is the best one. I think an extensive commentary is in order, as well as a thorough making-of documentary, at the very LEAST. Hello, Warner Brothers??! I would also like to see Margot Kidder nude.
Rating: -
I bought this set a while back. The DVD for the first movie is great. Crisp audio, great picture and solid extras. It features the extended cut not shown in theaters and is a double-sided disc. The sequels have no extra features to speak of (aside from the respective trailers). Audio is 2.0, but the picture quality is still great and on par with how the studio did with the original's transfer.
The first two movies are just great, and I'd recommend getting the entire box to get the full experience. But, with "Superman Returns" coming in 2006, Warner is going to re-visit this franchise with new 2-disc Special Editions for each film (and, most likely, a box set in the same vein as the Batman movies). There's some news about this circulating around the net. I'd say save your money until those come out.
Here's hoping for some restored Donner footage for the second film, or at least all of the deleted scenes.
Rating:  -
My sons weren't alive when the Superman movies were first released. They are really enjoying getting to know the Man of Steel.
Rating: -
Christopher Reaves was and still is the best Superman out there. No offense to the ones that have portrayed the caped Kryptonian or that are portraying him today. But this item is a must have for any Superman fan.
Rating: -
Superman: The Movie
After discovering the tragic fate soon to befall his own planet, Kryptonian scientist Jor-El and his wife Lara send their only son, the infant Kal-El, to the distant planet Earth in a small spaceship, knowing that its atmosphere and the rays of its yellow son will bestow upon him powers and abilities far greater than those of its inhabitants. With his vastly superior knowledge and gifts, Kal-El will have a great advantage over the people of Earth, veritably insuring his future, but with great power comes great responsibility, to borrow from a later comic book icon. It will be Kal-El's lifelong duty to help and guide the people of Earth, to be a savior to them in times of crisis and a role model for them as they go about their daily lives.
Whether prearranged by his father, Jor-El, or completely by a stroke of terrific luck, most likely the former, baby Kal-El's ship crash lands in a field in the Rockwellian town of Smallville, Kansas, just as a kind, salt-of-the-earth, regretfully childless farming couple is driving down the nearby road. Jonathan Kent and his wife, Martha, at first don't know what to make of the strange discovery, but the toddler seems to be the answer to their countless prayers for a youngster of their very own. The couple raise the boy, instilling in him their strong values of goodness, courage, faith, humility, love, loyalty, truth, justice, and the American way. Everything seems picture perfect for the Kents and their adopted son, who they have renamed Clark, until Jonathan Kent passes away of a heart-attack and a strange glowing object calls to Clark from the barn. It is this event from which the now 18 year-old Clark Kent, also known as Kal-El of Krypton, learns that he must finally leave his gray-haired old mother and travel north to find his destiny, and so he does.
In the isolation of the cold, bitter north, the green, glowing crystal Kal-El found that night on his Smallville farm helps him to create a new home. Not a home for his mild-mannered Earthling identity, Clark Kent, but a home for his new persona, the mighty hero known as Superman! After twelve years of learning from the crystals that contain all his parents' knowledge of mankind and the universe, Superman emerges as a god among men, with skills even greater than he ever knew he had before: Faster than a speeding bullet, more powerful than a locomotive, and able to leap tall buildings in a single bound! Right away, Superman makes his presence known to the world, even as he is just settling into his new home in the fantastic city of Metropolis, and his new job as a reporter with The Daily Planet, a beacon of truth and hope across the globe. All seems to be going well with Kal-El's new existence in the hustling, bustling Metropolis, with new friends and coworkers Jimmy Olsen and Lois Lane in Clark Kent's life, not to mention the stern but fatherly Perry White, the Daily Planet's editor, and Superman making a name for himself as the city's own high-flying guardian angel. Things are about to get more complicated, though, as a maniacal criminal mastermind named Lex Luthor plots to wreak havoc from his secret underground lair. While Superman shuffles his heroics and reporting schedules to fit in time for courting Miss Lane too, Luthor is busy laying out a plan to sink Los Angeles into the ocean, making his recent desert land purchases immensely more valuable as the NEW west coast! Realizing Superman is the only thing that can stand in the way of his devious scheme, Lex and his bumbling cohorts research and discover the only way to kill the Kryptonian man-of-steel, green Kryptonite! With this deadly weapon now in their evil arsenal, even Superman may not be able to save the day!
In 1978, producers Ilya and Alexander Salkind set forth to make a movie like no one had ever seen before: A big-budget comic-book film called "Superman." Their idea was a tour-de-force of camp, but the director they hired to do the job, "The Omen's" Richard Donner, had a different sort of film in mind. Richard, who was hired to shoot both Superman and Superman 2 simultaneously, knew that if the film was to work, it had to be a completely believable and engrossing story of one man's struggle to make a difference with the talents giving solely to him, not a feature-length joke about the comic book hero genre. Locking in big names in the roles of Superman's father, Kal-El (Marlon Brando), and arch-nemesis Lex Luthor (Gene Hackman), Richard set the groundwork for a film that could be taken seriously, rather than just shrugged off as a kiddie flick. While an incredible team tackled the problem of inventing groundbreaking effects for a film that was abundant in the fantastic, and completely without the aid of CGI, Donner went on to the difficult task of casting his leading man and lady. He found perfection in the forms of a young Christopher Reeve and a feisty Margot Kidder. With Ned Beatty, Jackie Cooper, Glenn Ford, and even more high-profile names rounding out the stellar cast, made to glow by the stunning lighting and camera work of Geoffrey Unsworth and the incomparable music of John Williams, the final package was nothing short of a masterpiece! "Superman: the Movie" was a fantastic success, spawning three sequels, the sister-film "Supergirl," and securing the last son of Krypton's place as a pop-culture icon from now to the end of time!
On DVD, "Superman: the Movie" looks fantastic, and the double sided disc is loaded with extras! With deleted scenes, trailers and TV spots, three 30-minute documentaries on the making of the film, a music only track and additional, alternate music tracks, a readable legacy of Superman, cast and director filmographies, and some highly entertaining screen tests featuring a variety of Lois Lanes (Anne Archer made quite an appetizing Lois), this truly is a special edition! The disc is capped off with a great feature commentary by director Richard Donner and creative consultant Tom Mankiewicz, who give a passing mention to everything from the film's clear parallels to the life of Jesus Christ (a theme continued through Superman 2, which puts its own spin on the New Testament's Book of Revelations), to personal differences between the cast and crew! It's quite an interesting listen! Whether or not an even MORE special "Special Edition" of "Superman: The Movie" will be released soon to hail the coming of the new Warner Brothers film "Superman Returns" is unknown at the time of this review, though it is quite likely. After all, this is the only one of the Superman feature DVDs with any extras worth talking about, and the definitive Batman film "Batman Begins'" DVD release next month will be accompanied by an all new set of Special Editions of the four previous Batman films. It would only seem natural that the Superman films would follow suit, and, make no mistake, "Superman: The Movie" will always be the definitive Superman film!
Superman II
It's a typical day for Clark Kent, 2nd banana reporter for the Daily Planet newspaper, when Editor-In-Chief Perry White sends him to Paris, France to cover a story of terrorism at the Eiffel Tower. It's a typical day for Superman too, when the hostage situation involves a hydrogen bomb and the woman of his dreams, ace reporter Lois Lane. Superman makes short work of the explosive device, hurling it into space where it can do no harm. Little does he know that the subsequent explosion has released three of the most dangerous criminals in the history of the planet Krypton from their imprisonment within the Phantom Zone. The cruel and merciless General Zod and his disciples, the hateful Ursa and the mindless Non, after destroying a team of astronauts on the moon, immediately set their power-hungry sights on the meek and conquerable planet of Earth. Meanwhile, Earth's most dangerous criminal mind, Lex Luthor, plots a successful escape from the maximum security prison in which he is being held, and, following Superman's usual flight pattern, makes his way due north to discover the hero's secret layer and the details of his alien past.
As the three Kryptonian criminals wreak havoc and revel in their new superhuman powers, Superman is preoccupied with Lois Lane, who has discovered that he and Clark are one in the same while investigating a story at Niagra Falls and posing as a honeymooning couple. It would appear that Superman is quite relieved to have someone to share his secrets with, especially since that someone is Lois. He quickly whisks her away to his Fortress of Solitude in the great, white north. While the Man of Steel completely opens up to his lady-love, Lex travels to the White House to converse with Earth's NEW leaders, and to give the three alien terrorists an offer they can't refuse! It seems like this would be the worst time ever for Superman to give up all his superpowers and become a regular, mortal man, but that's just what he does! Completely clueless as to what has transpired in the world outside his icy fortress, Superman declares to the soul of his deceased mother Lara that he loves the Earth woman, Lois. She reveals to him that he must forego all his superhuman abilities to be with her, and so he does. It would seem that no one can stop the three criminals from Krypton now! And, with all the information Lex Luthor is providing them, they decide their next conquest will be the son of the man who imprisoned them in the Phantom Zone in the first place, Kal-El of Krypton, also known as Superman!
After the world was wowed by the first Superman movie starring Christopher Reeve, the second one had a tall order to fill. With a change of directors after 2/3rds of the film had been shot, and various other powerful elements being lost that made the first film great, their was a fair possibility that the second outing would not go well. Luckily, the first film had set so much excellent groundwork, including lots of previously shot sequel footage by "Superman: the Movie" director Richard Donner, that a first Superman sequel would be hard to mess up. Yes, had Richard Donner stayed in the director's seat, the sequel would likely have been even better, but as it is, "Superman 2" is a highly enjoyable film with much of the magic and power of the original! The cast is fantastic, especially Christopher Reeve, with his outstanding skill at portraying both the powerful and confident Man of Steel and the meek and clumsy reporter, Clark Kent. Lois is played flawlessly by Margot Kidder, as are the 3 super-villains, Terence Stamp as Zod, Sarah Douglas as Ursa, and Jack O'Halloran as Non. Gene Hackman turns in another flawless and funny performance as Lex Luthor, criminal blowhard, and many other familiar faces return from "Superman: The Movie," mostly due to the fantastic (and clearly superior) Richard Donner footage shot during the making of the original. The story this time around is much more about being Superman rather than becoming Superman, which places more focus on action and romance than touching Americana and family bonds, and for some that may make this one less appealing. However, for those fans waiting to see a good superhuman battle-royale, this picture delivers! This DVD edition, on the other hand, doesn't. The only extras it offers are the theatrical trailer and a few filmographies. Nevertheless, until some Special Edition DVDs of the Superman sequels are released, this DVD is a must have! "Superman 2" is one of those sequels that is worthy of its place in a franchise beloved the world over!
Superman III
Gus Gorman is an out of work, down on his luck nobody with no clue of what to do with his life. That is, until a shot at some on-the-job training helps him discover his natural talent for computer programming. Suddenly, Gus is making money again, but not nearly as much as he'd like. When he learns that a fraction of a cent out of every employee's paycheck is discarded by the computers that dish out the wages, he comes up with a plan to have all that spare change paid out to his name. Soon, Gus is living high on the hog, but his carelessness makes it easy for the big boss, Ross Webster, to pinpoint the employee who's been embezzling from the company. To Gus's relief, Webster is not looking to prosecute his newfound computer genius. Instead, he puts Gus's talents to work on his plan to control the world's weather, thereby giving the already filthy rich Webster control of the world's cash crops as well!
Meanwhile, mild-mannered reporter for "The Daily Planet" Clark Kent convinces his boss, Editor-In-Chief Perry White, that his upcoming Smallville High class reunion would make a great story for the world-renowned newspaper. He soon finds himself on a bus with friend and photographer Jimmy Olsen, heading back to his hometown in Kansas, and making a brief stop along the way so that Superman can take care of an out of control fire at a nearby chemical plant. Once Clark is back home and reunited with his old flame, Lana Lang, at his class reunion, romantic sparks begin to fly. Clark is having a great time playing hero to Lana and her son Ricky, both in and out of his tights, and he even gets to befuddle local bully Brad from time to time too. Yep, everything is going hunky dory for Clark Kent, until Superman interferes with Ross Webster's plans to corner the market on coffee. Webster quickly realizes that if his next plan is going to work, Superman must be taken out of the picture first. Together with his sister Vera, girlfriend Lorelei, and lackey Gus, Webster plots to kill Superman by synthetically making his own clump of Kryptonite. Unfortunately for them, upon analysis, there is an unknown element in Kryptonite's chemical make-up. Gus foolishly uses tar to fill in the gaps, with no idea of what the result will be. Then, in full military garb, Gus presents the hunk of unknown mineral to Superman at a Smallville festival in his honor. Things don't go exactly as planned, but the little deception still seems to pay off for the dastardly group. After his encounter with the strange, synthetic kryptonite, Superman begins to grow more and more apathetic. Eventually forming into outright bitterness and anger. The man of steel soon cares about no one but himself, and is miserable with contempt for his own good-natured secret identity. While the new, downright rotten Superman, clad in darker shades of red, yellow, and blue, goes about causing trouble in the world instead of saving the weak and helpless, Ross Webster and his cronies are free to put their next plan into action: taking over the world's oil supply! However, this time Gus has a condition that must be met before he will agree to any computer hacking for Ross Webster's self-serving purposes. Gus wants a computer, a super-computer; one that even Superman would be powerless against! And, even if Superman knew of Ross Webster's greedy plans, he first has to deal with the villain within himself!
Starring the ultimate Superman, Christopher Reeve, pitted against the nasty Robert Vaughn and legendary funnyman Richard Pryor, "Superman III" is an all too underrated piece of the 4 film Superman franchise of the 70s and 80s. The film is much lighter than the first two Superman films, but why does that have to be a bad thing? "Superman III" is far from an out and out comedy, but, in essence, harkens back to the classic corniness of the Superman TV series with its take on humor, while still being completely substantial as a contemporary feature film. One is reminded of Christopher Reeve's own statement about how he tried to play a bit of early Cary Grant in his innocent, goofball take on Clark Kent, and the humor of "Superman III" plays on that fact quite well. The opening credits scene with the snowballing mishaps is fantastic! With key characters reprising their roles, a focus this time on Superman's conflict with his own dual identity, and a charming homecoming to Smallville and the girl Clark Kent left behind, "Superman III" is a wonderful part of the film series that any true fan should enjoy! Richard Pryor is at his funniest, Robert Vaughn is pure sleaze, and even in her most wishy-washy moments, one still can't imagine how Clark let Lana (Annette O'Toole) get away. The film takes a hilarious stance on the computer revolution of the 1980s, along with the greed of the corporate world, but I'm sure it's the Clark vs. bad Superman fight that most of us remember from this classic film! As for the whole Superman vs. Super Computer thing and the lack of Lex Luthor or other recurring Superman villains, what's the big deal? Superman shouldn't face the same ol' trouble makers every outing! The theme of Superman vs. machine in this film takes me back to the old Fleischer cartoons from the 1940s! Great stuff! "Superman III" didn't have it easy following the fantastic first two Superman films, but it fits nicely into the franchise as another fun-filled Superman adventure! The DVD doesn't offer much in the way of extras. All you get is the theatrical trailer and some cast filmographies. Still, the film itself is a must own for fans of the last son of Krypton! Don't sell it short! "Superman III" packs plenty more punch than it was ever given credit for!
Superman IV
Superman has stopped robbers, robots, and terrorists, done battle with a trio of his own kind, defeated Lex Luthor twice, and even taken on himself in adventures past, but none of those heroic deeds has prepared him for his most intimidating foe, the Nuclear Arms Race! The year is 1987, and a failed world summit has the entire planet in a grip of fear, when a concerned teacher encourages her students to offer solutions to the terrifying predicament. Write your congressman? That'll never work. Write Superman? Now there's an idea! When a young boy's tear-jerking letter to Superman arrives at the Daily Planet in care of Lois Lane, new publisher (and daughter of the Planet's new owner) Lacy Warfield immediately sees it as a chance to increase the paper's waning sales! Soon, the whole world knows of the boy's request that Superman disarm the planet and make it safe from annihilation once again, and the whole world waits in eager anticipation for Superman's reply. The poor man of steel has enough trouble though, just balancing Lacy's advances on his alter-ego, Clark Kent, against his unclear relationship with co-worker Lois Lane. Superman contemplates the problem intensely, nonetheless, and eventually comes to that unavoidable decision: Superman will rid the world of nuclear arms! With the U.N. behind him all the way, Superman rounds up all the nuclear weapons on the planet, swings them around and around in a giant net, and hurls them into our life-giving sun! The world can breathe easy once again. Little does Superman know that his arch enemy, Lex Luthor, has escaped from prison with the help of his dimwitted nephew Lenny. With the cooperation of nuclear weapons dealers from around the world, Lex has planted a special little surprise for Superman amidst the weapons he has hurled into the son: a special recipe for creating an anti-Superman! A Nuclear Man!
Christopher Reeve's heart may have been fully into the idea of "Superman IV: The Quest For Peace," unfortunately, the movie itself comes off as an incredibly half-hearted attempt at a real Superman film. I won't go into the effects issues. Apparently, the budget wasn't quite as high for film number four. Also, I tend to be very forgiving of Superman films for having "fantastic science." Clearly, spinning the Earth in reverse would do more harm than good, and certainly would not turn back time, yet we all love the original Superman movie! I just look at events like these in Superman films as an homage to the early days of Superman, when people actually might have believed something like that would have worked. I wouldn't be a bit surprised to see such crazy feats performed in Superman cartoons and comics when I was a kid, so it doesn't bother me so much to see them done in Superman films. Additional, god-like Superman powers in Superman movies I am less comfortable with, however, I seem to recall these turning up throughout the previous films as well. No, these are only small aspects of what makes "Superman IV" a failed, though still watchable, attempt at giving the franchise one more go. This film is just poor quality; simple as that. The story is rushed, flat, and uninteresting. The film takes for granted the fact that we know most of the characters, the new ones are exceedingly two-dimensional, and the story (what little there is of one) just doesn't go anywhere. Superman does battle with this dangerous but dense Frankenstein and the audience learns you can't hug your children with nuclear arms. Nothing special, and nothing much to rave about once the movie is over, unlike the other Superman films. Sure, the lesson is important, but did anyone go into this film thinking nuclear weapons were a great thing? And, after all, the ending doesn't really resolve anything in that direction. All you really get with "Superman IV" is another Superman battles super-villain story, this time badly executed (yes, possibly due in part to the excessive editing I have heard so much about). There are some good moments here and there, such as the Smallville scene, Clark pulling a Jack Tripper as he tries to have a date with Lois and Lacy at the same time, and other fun bits. We do get Gene Hackman back as Lex, though he's sadly wasted in this Superman film that doesn't even have the cinematic "look" of the previous three. I'm sure he still helps the film considerably. I also didn't mind the addition of Jon Cryer as his idiot nephew. I found the Lenny character to be quite funny against the elder Luthor, even if there were moments when his Valley dialect did cause eyes to roll. Still, over all, "Superman IV: The Quest For Peace" is watchable at best, and only for the Superman fan that doesn't require every Superman film to be...well...super. Once again, as with the other Superman sequels, the DVD is practically bare bones. We are given little more than a theatrical trailer and some cast filmographies. Cross your fingers, all you folks who are crying out for an uncut version. If Warner's Batman releases can be used as any sort of guideline, perhaps next year's "Superman Returns" will be heralded by Special Edition releases of all the Christopher Reeve Superman films!
So, that's the Complete Superman Collection DVD boxed set; Three great films, one weak but watchable one; Great extras on the first film, almost nothing on the others. Still, this set is a MUST OWN for any true Superman fan! The only thing missing is the film "Supergirl." It's a shame that one wasn't more successful. I can't say much for the loyalty to the comic books, my superhero fandom comes more from television and movies than anything else (my comic collection is mainly Disney and Star Wars), but I find this much razzed film to be enjoyable as a popcorn flick, and Supergirl is just hot. In addition to this Superman boxed set, I own the "Supergirl" 2-disc edition. While I may lean a bit toward the Dark Knight in terms of favorite superhero, I have always been a Superman fan (followed by Spidey and Hulk), and am addicted to the current WB television incarnation, "Smallville." For those of you who enjoy this film series, I highly recommend that show, and don't get me started on the hotties it features. I also recommend the wonderful WB animated series, now available on DVD, and the classic Fleischer short cartoons from the 1940s! All fantastic stuff, and just a taste of what's out there! Why, even Krypto the Superdog has his own show now!
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