DVD Reviews

The Superman Anthology - Blu-ray Review

By Patrick Luce Jun 25, 2011, 13:13 GMT

Soar to New Hi-Def Heights with the Complete Movie Collection in Breathtaking Blu-ray Clarity and Sound! 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" - All for the first time in DTS-HD 5.1 Master Audio. ...more

Superman flies onto Blu-ray and looks incredible in an Anthology set that collects all of the Christopher Reeve films, Bryan Singer’s Superman Returns and an eighth disc of bonus material that includes the Look, Up in the Sky! The Amazing Story of Superman documentary.

The set also includes the extended cut of Superman: The Movie and the Richard Donner Director’s Cut of Superman II – which I personally enjoyed more than the theatrical cut of Superman II.

1978’s Superman: The Movie is still considered one of the best superhero films ever made, and is a perfect blend of action, drama and comedy. Directed by the great Richard Donner, the film starred Gene Hackman, a then pretty much unknown Reeve, Margot Kidder, Ned Beatty, Glenn Ford, Valerie Perrine, Jackie Cooper and the iconic Marlon Brando. The movie feels epic from the very beginning thanks to its incredible score by John Williams and opening with the destruction of Krypton.

From there it settles into an origin tale with the early years of Clark Kent/Superman and his life on the Smallville farm with Ma (Phyllis Thaxter) and Pa Kent (Ford). Things seem to move at a slower almost picturesque speed during the Smallville scenes, and the audience is able to see how Superman got his values and his attachment to Earth.

Following the death of Kent’s father, the movie moves into its epic feel as Clark travels north, discovers his true calling and eventually dons the cape to become Superman.

Shifting to the bustling city of Metropolis, the film’s pace picks up a bit as we are introduced to the bumbling Clark Kent (Reeve), the headstrong reporter Lois Lane (Kidder), their editor Perry White (Cooper), and sidekick photographer Jimmy Olsen (Marc McClure). The audience is also introduced to the film’s other greatest asset – Gene Hackman in a masterful performance as Lex Luther.

Hackman is deliciously over the top as Luther, and for a criminal mastermind he surrounds himself with complete idiots such as his underling Otis (Beatty) and eye-candy Eve Teschmacher (Perrine).

With all the players introduced, the film moves at a somewhat predictable pace with Luther coming up with a brilliant scheme to sink California into the ocean so that he can develop new ocean side property and make a killing in real estate, and Superman naturally trying to stop him. There is also the blossoming romance between Superman and Lane – which leads to Superman breaking one of his Kryptonian father’s major rules.

Although some of the effects are dated, the film looks and sounds really incredible on Blu-ray and is worth the purchase prize of the set by itself.

1980’s Superman II sees all of the major players returning for another go (the two films were mostly shot back to back with only a few new scenes added to the shooting schedule after Superman became a hit). Both the theatrical and the Donner cut stay pretty close to the formula established in the first film, but it seemed to me that the Donner cut had a tad more humor thrown into the mix. The theatrical cut had humor as well, but also stepped up some of the action.

The plot sees a fully established Superman taking on three villains from his home world while juggling a growing love for Lois Lane – which even leads him to give up his powers to live as a normal human.

The film greatly benefits from Terence Stamp's performance as baddie General Zod. The character planned to rule Krypton and was sent into exile with his two psycho supporters. Since Krypton is gone, he sets his sights on Earth (or planet Houston as he calls it) and seems to be obsessed with having everyone kneel in front of him.

We also get the return of Hackman’s Luther – who sees Zod as a way to get revenge on Superman while carving out a piece of property for him to rule.

The movie takes everything that worked in Superman and cranked it up a bit to almost near perfection. In many ways, it is superior to the first film, but it also falls short a time or two. The comedy seems a tad more (especially in the Donner cut), and there was some fallout from Superman revealing his identity to Lois before sleeping with her.

Regardless of which version you watch (Donner had a falling out with producers and was replaced as director after pretty much finishing his version of the film), Superman II captures the magic of the first film and is equally entertaining.

1983’s Superman III begins the misstep of Reeve’s Superman films and sees the film move into full-blown comedy with the addition of Richard Pryor as a misguided computer programmer. The film also suffers from the lack of Hackman’s Luther, and the addition of Robert Vaughn's Ross Webster – who is simply a Luther wannabe.

The plot sees Clark Kent headed back to Smallville for a high school reunion. While there, he reconnects with high school crush Lana Lang (Annette O'Toole who would go on to play Clark’s mother on the television series Smallville).

Although he is reliving his high school days, Kent still finds time to be Superman and stops one of Webster’s plans. This leads the villain (along with his psycho sister) to get Gus (Pryor) to create artificial Kryptonite so they can kill Superman. Gus adds tobacco tar to the ingredients – which instead of killing Superman turns him bad.

Reeve hams it up a bit as bad Superman by growing a five o’clock shadow beard, drinking in the afternoon, blowing out the Olympic torch, and even yelling at a small boy.

Before long, Superman returns to his good side, showers and shaves and has enough time to face Webster and save the day.

1987’s Superman IV: The Quest for Peace is by far the worst of the Reeve Superman films and showed that the writers (which included Reeve) were growing a little out of touch with their audience. The film benefited from the return of Hackman’s Luther and Kidder’s Lane (she only popped up at the beginning and end of Superman III), but it isn’t enough to save a sinking ship.

The film’s plot sees Superman trying to rid the world of nuclear weapons which gives Luther a chance to create his own supervillian Nuclear Man – who has all of Superman’s power and only one weakness. The villain (who looks like a reject from the Village People) is stronger and more deadly than Superman, but loses all power if he is out of direct sunlight. This weakness leads me to think maybe Luther isn’t quite the world’s smartest criminal mind after all.

The film is cliché, predictable and simply following formula, but it is worth watching thanks to Hackman and the continued charm that Reeve brought to the cape.

Director Bryan Singer’s Superman Returns attempted to erase Superman III and IV, and was meant as a love letter to the Donner films. In a lot of ways, it manages to capture the magic that Donner’s films brought to the screen, but it also falls extremely short of matching their entertainment.

Unknown actor Brandon Routh stepped in as Superman/Kent, Kate Bosworth became the new Lois Lane and Kevin Spacey took over the role of Lex Luthor. All three actors had big shoes to fill and seem to struggle in the shadow of the original film actors.

The film’s plot sees Superman returning to Earth after searching for remnants of his home world and possibly other Kryptonians. The world has moved on while he was away and Lois Lane even has a kid and is getting married.

Luther is back to his old tricks and decided real estate is still the best way to make a buck, but there isn’t any new land to be found on the planet. Lex borrows one of Superman’s crystals and decides to throw it in the ocean so he can grow his own continent (plus it will be made of Kyptonite which will help keep pesky Superman away). This leads to another showdown between Superman and Lex.

The film is uneven from the start with a plot that drags and CGI effects that are less than super. Donner’s original Superman may have made us believe that a man can fly, but Superman Returns shows us he can’t be CGI’d into a believable form on screen. Instead he looks animated, clunky and just too fake on Blu-ray’s crystal clear picture.

This was my fourth time seeing Superman Returns and the film hasn’t aged well. I admire Singer’s desire to make a movie that captured the original film’s heart, but this isn’t it. Still, it is better than Superman IV.

In addition to the films, Superman fans will love the bonus features of the Anthology set, and especially the Look, Up in the Sky! The Amazing Story of Superman documentary. The documentary is a detailed look at Superman in all forms, and well worth the price of the set. I also appreciated that the good people at Warner Bros. saw fit to give fans the extended cut of the first film and the Donner Cut of Superman II. They are an added treat to the set and are probably one of its biggest reasons to purchase it.

Superman: The Motion Picture Anthology is worth the purchase price thanks to the extended and Donner cuts of the first two films, its bonus material, and its quality picture. Not all of the films have aged well (Superman IV is probably worse than you remember), but they are all entertaining and worth revisiting.