DC Saturdays #6 - Superman 2 (1980)

This is where the story of everyone's favourite Kryptonian gets a bit confusing. The original plan for the Superman film series was that the first two movies were actually filmed at the same time as each other with the aim being to release them within a year of each other. However, with the first film out and recording on the second one almost completed, things hit a snag - while filming was taking a break so that the actors could promote the first Superman movie, a major disagreement broke out between director Richard Donner and producers Alexander and Ilya Salkind with the result that Donner was dropped from/walked out on the project (depending on who you believe). Supposedly key to this was the wage demands of Marlon Brando who only appeared in a few scenes in the film meaning that the Salkinds were keen to cut his scenes as Jor-El which Donner was opposed to. However, the main crux of the argument was that the Salkinds wanted the films to be a lot more comedic in the vein of the '60s Batman films which Donner was opposed to (according to Christopher Reeve, one scene from the first film which Donner cut from the script was due to have Superman swooping down to apprehend a bald guy believing it to be Lex Luthor only for it to be Telly Savalas who would then say "Who loves ya baby?" and offer Superman a lollipop)

Following Donner's departure, filming didn't restart again until late '79 with several key production staff plus Gene Hackman and Margot Kidder who played Lex Luthor and Lois Lane respectively, refusing to return to the set in protest (Kidder would eventually relent but Hackman's scenes with replacement director Richard Lester would end up being shot with a body double). This means that the original cinema release of Superman 2 when it finally came out in 1980 was something of a "cut and shut" job with about a third of the film being shot by Donner in 1977 and the rest by Lester two years later. However, 20 years on, with the Superman films being restored for DVD, a whole hoard of lost footage was found which allowed a full cut of the movie as Donner had intended it to be put together and released. As such, reviewing Superman 2 is a bit difficult as there's two versions of it bouncing about - however, I've decided for the purposes of this blog to go with the Donner cut as it's generally regarded as being the better of the two with a bit less of the campy comedy that'd ultimately derail the series (as we'll see in Superman 3 and 4 in weeks ahead) and a more cohesive plot which ties in better with the first film. So, following that lengthy intro, here we go...

The film kicks off with a recap from the first film of General Zod and his sidekicks Ursa and Non being trapped in the Phantom Zone and swearing vengeance on Jor-El. We cut forward to see Krypton exploding as the trio's confinement zone (and the baby Superman's spaceship) fly away from it.

Fast forward another 30 years and we see Superman in action in the first film, taking the missile that Lex Luthor had shot at New Jersey and diverting it out into space. However, in doing so he inadvertently sets it on a collision course with the Phantom Zone causing it to explode and free Zod and his team.

Back on earth, we rejoin the Daily Planet offices and discover that Lois Lane has finally twigged that she never sees Clark Kent and Superman in the same place at the same time. After the pair's editor sends Lois and Clark undercover on a mission to uncover a honeymoon suite fraud racket at a Niagara Falls hotel, Lois decides to test the theory by jumping out of the office window, reasoning that if Clark is Superman then he'll appear and catch her. However, Clark quickly runs downstairs and stops Lois' fall by using his gale breath to slow her down before pulling the shop awning out causing her to bounce on to a fruit cart just in time to see Clark back upstairs and shouting down to check if she's alright!

We also see Lex Luthor and Otis now both serving their time in prison following the end of the first film. Lex has developed a new theory about Superman, namely that whenever he disappears off radar, he always heads north and must therefore have some sort of power base at the North Pole (he's right of course as it's where the Fortress of Soltitude is). The pair look set to be rescued when Miss Teschmacher pilots a hot air balloon over the prison wall for them to climb into but Otis is too heavy and the ladder snaps leaving him behind to be recaptured!

Lex and Tess pilot their balloon northwards and eventually come across the Fortress of Solitude. By listening through some of Clark's learning crystals, they learn about Jor-El, Krypton and Zod and his cronies. Speaking of the latter, the trio have now landed on the moon and encountered some astronauts who they rapidly dispatch by puncturing holes in two of thems' spacesuits and crushing the other one within his own lunar module. They also realise that due to the atmosphere around Earth, they now have the same superpowers as Superman does and quickly head earthwards with conquest on their minds.

Lois and Clark, meanwhile, are reconning at Niagara Falls and Lois finds her suspicions raised again when Superman suddenly appears to save a child who falls over the barrier there. She finally gets the truth out of Clark by pulling a gun on him in their hotel room - after he owns up, she reveals the gun was loaded with blanks.

Zod, Ursa and Non have landed in the midwest and after they blast the hell out of a small town there, the army are sent in. Which goes about as well as you might expect. Soon, the villains are heading straight for the White House (knocking over the Washington Monument en route) where the president surrenders and is told to "Kneel before Zod!"

The government are hoping for Superman to intervene but unbeknownst to them, he's headed to the Fortress of Soltitude with Lois and asked to be changed into a normal human being so that he can live his life with her. Jor-El asks him to reconsider but ultimately reluctantly agrees and Superman becomes plain old Clark Kent.

Driving back south, the pair stop in at a diner where Clark gets into a fight with a trucker who hassles Lois and gets seven bells kicked out of him (a genuinely shocking scene if you're used to seeing Superman dispose of villains without any trouble at all). Recovering afterwards, he sees the footage on the news of Zod calling Superman forth to kneel before him and realises what a mistake he's made. While Clark sets off back northwards to the fortress, Lois returns to Metropolis to wait for him.

Clark eventually gets back to the fortress and by using his last remaining crystal, becomes fused with Jor-El and regains his powers. Meanwhile, in Washington, Lex Luthor has tracked Zod and his team down and offers to help them track down and assassinate Superman in return for being given Australia so he can set up some new beach properties there.

Zod and Lex head for the Daily Planet offices with the aim of abducting Lois but Superman manages to catch up with them and an epic battle ensues with towers being toppled, cars being wrecked and signs being smashed. Realising that he's facing odds of three against one, Superman flies off to the North Pole hoping to lure Zod away from the city. The general and his team take off after him, kidnapping Lois and bringing Luthor along for the ride as well.

At the Palace of Soltitude, the scene is set for a showdown between Superman and Zod who has Lois hostage and offers to release her if Superman enters the red radiation chamber to lose his powers and promptly leaves never to interfere with his plans again. Superman reluctantly agrees but when he emerges to kneel before Zod, he grabs his hand and throws him into a chasm, revealing that he reversed the polarity causing Zod, Ursa and Non to lose their powers instead. Non promptly falls to his death trying to leap over a chasm at Superman and Ursa is knocked into a canyon by Lois. Lex, meanwhile, is presumably captured and returned to prison.

After a long heart-to-heart with Lois during which the pair realise they can never be together, Superman does a repeat of his heroics from the end of the first film by rewinding time by four days back to the start of the film. As such, Zod and co never escape the Phantom Zone in the first place (presumably as Superman deflects the missile) and Lois is back to having no idea that Clark and Superman are the same person.

Which just leaves one last thing for Clark to do, namely to time his return to the diner to have a rematch with Rocky the truck driver and teach him a lesson about manners this time!

It's a tough call between this and its predecessor as to which is the better film but even with the improved directors' cut which takes a lot of the slightly silly parts out of the cinematic release, I still marginally prefer the first Superman film. Even so though, Superman 2 is still a good effort which is well worth watching as a follow-up to the first film. Hackman, Reeve and Kidder again put in good turns here and Terence Stamp is his usual sinister self as Zod making for a compulsive villain. And even though the action sequences like the battle over Metropolis are very much of their time they still work well. It's also little touches like seeing a suddenly-human Superman get beaten up by a truck driver that work well here, giving this film an emotional depth that really works well. Although it's a little bit tricky to track down nowadays, I'd definitely recommend giving this version of the film a spin if you can find it...and even if not, the cinema release is perfectly serviceable as well.

Alas, by the time of the third Superman film in 1983, things were really starting to head south with Lester instilled as director right from the word go and the original campy comedy feel that the Salkinds had arguably been aiming for right from the start as opposed to the more serious tone the films had had under Donner's direction given full rein with disastrous results plus Kidder and Hackman both absent following their disagreements with the Salkinds over Donner's firing. But we'll save that angst for when we review it in a couple of weeks...

FINAL RATING: 🚀🚀🚀🚀🚀🚀🚀🚀 (8/10)

CURRENT DC FILM TABLE

1. Superman (1978) (8/10)
2. Superman 2 (1980) (8/10)
3. Batman (1966) (8/10)
4. The New Wonder Woman (1975) (5/10)
5. Superman and the Mole Men (1951) (5/10)
6. Wonder Woman (1974) (3/10)

NEXT WEEK: A quick break from the adventures of Clark Kent as we look at Wes Craven's attempt to bring Swamp Thing to the big screen