Soar to New Hi-Def Heights with the Complete Movie Collection in
Breathtaking Blu-ray Clarity and Sound! Deluxe 8-disc set with
over 20 hours of bonus features!
Includes:
Superman The Movie
Superman The Movie: Expanded Edition
Superman II
Superman II: The Richard Donner Cut
Superman III
Superman IV: The Quest for Peace
Superman Returns
Review
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Superman: The Movie-Richard Donner's 1978 epic about the Man of
Steel showed how a film about a superhero could be a moving and
romantic experience even for people who long ago gave up comic
books. Beginning on the icy planet Krypton, the story follows the
baby Kal-El, whose rocket ship lands in Smallville, Kansas. He is
found there by a childless couple and raised as the shy Clark
Kent (the young Kent is played by Jeff East). The film is perhaps
most touching in these sequences, with expanses of wheat fields
blowing in the wind and with a young man who can't figure out
what part in destiny his great powers are meant to play. The
second half, with Reeve taking over as Clark/Superman, is
bustling, enchanting (the scene in which Superman flies
girlfriend Lois Lane--played by Margot Kidder--through the night
sky is great date material), and funny, thanks largely to Gene
Hackman's sardonic portrayal of nemesis Lex Luthor. --Tom Keogh
Superman II: The Richard Donner Cut-The Richard Donner cut of
Superman II is an infamous legend come to life. Director Donner
most of the sequel at the same time as his first blockbuster
film, but somewhere along the line, the producers and studio lost
confidence and brought in Richard Lester (The Three Musketeers)
to rework the film, and receive sole credit. For years fans
speculated on how different the final film was from Donner's
original until an underground copy appeared showing a fully
formed feature. In an unprecedented move, Warner Brothers
officially embraces this alternate version. For those who have
not been part of the rumor mill, know that Donner all the
footage with Lex Luthor (Gene Hackman). You can find blow-by-blow
descriptions of what is new/changed elsewhere, but most of the
changes deal with Christopher Reeve and Margot Kidder as the
comic-book couple. Donner's cut provides alternate scenes for how
Lois tests her hunch that Clark is Superman, the moment he
reveals his identity, and how Lois unlearns that truth. Thing is,
Lester's res are stronger, adding weight to the romance
between the two, lifting the picture's stature. Lester also added
the dandy Eiffel Tower opening. Donner's chief additions are in
the Fortress of Solitude, where Marlon Brando returns to teach
(Susannah York, as Superman's mom, appears in the Lester cut).
The producers cut Brando's footage so they wouldn't have to pay
him millions. The Brando/Reeve scenes continue the her/son
dynamic of the first film. There is a great lesson in
editing--Lester's less is better than Donner's more--when you
compare how Kent turns back into Superman after losing his
powers. The Donner cut is completely formed but does use some
rehearsal footage, new effects, and some pieces by Lester.
The history of cinema has many of these stories of movies re,
hijacked, and changed from the original version, but here the
underdog wins and Donner gets his chance to change history, even
adding a note in the end credits about the use of fur and smoking
as regrettable choices of the time.
Director Donner and creative consultant Tom Mankiewicz have a
jolly good time revisiting their past on the commentary track.
You get a clearer picture of who what, but the two have
nothing good to say about Lester's edition. Donner doesn't go
much into why he was dropped, just a difference of opinion and
the need not to pay Brando. He also explains why the déjà vu
ending of this edition was used in the first movie and a new
ending would have been thought up for part 2. A quick featurette
looks at how Michael Thau and a small crew reconstructed the film
and compares several scenes from both versions. Also added are
additional scenes by Donner but not used, most with Hackman.
--Doug Thomas
Superman III- Here was a case in which the progenitors of this
successful comic-book adaptation figured they had to go in a new
direction--and chose the wrong one. For starters, they recruited
comedian Richard Pryor, who was the kiss of death for almost
every movie he was in except his own concert films. He plays a
computer spet who is hired by a criminal mastermind (Robert
Vaughan) to help him take on Superman by exposing him to a new
form of Kryptonite: red Kryptonite, which always had
unpredictable effects in the comic books. In this film, it splits
Superman in two, dividing his good self from his dark side. The
special effects had gone about as far as they could, and this
movie strains to hold an audience's interest for its full running
length. --Marshall Fine
Superman IV: The Quest for Peace-The law of diminishing returns:
It's the law--obey it! Someone should have posted that sign on
the set of this, the third sequel to the film based on the DC
Comics superhero. The "IV" in the title refers to medical
supplies needed to resuscitate this anemic retread. This one
reportedly was a pet project of actor Christopher Reeve, whose
career seemed to flounder whenever he tried a role minus the blue
underwear and red cape. Before agreeing to don the suit one more
time, he insisted on a script that preached nuclear disarmament.
So, in this film, Superman rounds up all the missiles and
warheads and flings them into outer space. Which still leaves him
to contend with Lex Luthor, who has a secret weapon: Nuclear Man.
Yawn. Having pushed the envelope of special effects in the first
film, it seemed as if the filmmakers simply stopped trying with
this one. --Marshall Fine
Superman Returns-If Richard Donner's 1978 feature film Superman:
The Movie made us believe a man could fly, Bryan Singer's 2006
follow-up, Superman Returns, lets us remember that a superhero
movie can make our spirits soar. Superman (played by newcomer
Brandon Routh) comes back to Earth after a futile five-year
search for his destroyed home planet of Krypton. As alter ego
Clark Kent, he's eager to return to his job at the Daily Planet
and to see Lois Lane (Kate Bosworth). Lois, however, has moved
on: she now has a fiancé (James Marsden), a son (Tristan Leabu),
and a Pulitzer Prize for her article entitled "Why the World
Doesn't Need Superman." On top of this emotional curveball, his
old archrival Lex Luthor (Kevin Spacey) is plotting the biggest
land grab in history.
Singer, who made a strong impression among comic-book fans for
his work on the X-Men franchise and directed Spacey in The Usual
Suspects, brings both a fresh eye and a sense of respect to the
world's oldest superhero. He borrows John Williams's great theme
music and Marlon Brando's voice as Jor-El, and the story (penned
by Singer's X-Men collaborators Michael Dougherty and Dan Harris)
is a sort-of-sequel to the first two films in the franchise
(choosing to ignore that the third and fourth movies ever
happened). The humorous and romantic elements give the movie a
heart, Singer's art-deco Metropolis is often breathtaking, and
the special effects are elegant and spectacular, particularly an
early airplane-disaster set-piece. Of the cast, Routh is
excellent as the dual Superman/Clark, Spacey is both droll and
vicious as Luthor, and Parker Posey gets the best lines as
Luthor's moll Kitty. But at 23, Bosworth seems too young for the
five-years-past-grizzled Lois. It's nice to see Noel Neill, Jack
Larson (both from the classic Adventures of Superman TV series),
and Eva Marie-Saint on the screen as well. Superman Returns is
one of those projects that was in development for seemingly
forever, but it was worth the wait -- it's the most enjoyable
superhero movie since Spider-Man 2 and The Incredibles. --David
Horiuchi