I finally saw 3 and 4 all the way through along with finally re-watching Returns when watching the BD box a month or two ago.
Superman-The theatrical version is a classic of its kind and still copied today along with Burton’s BATMAN. Pioneered the genre whilst actually taking it seriously. The tone achieved is near-unbelievable, and though it isn’t exactly the proper Superman universe I can go along with its interpretation with little to no qualms. (Really just that I don’t like the way they characterized Lois, nor do I agree with the mythological emphasis and rules) 4 out of 4, a classic. Which coming from me speaks volumes.
II will forever be compromised by the production and the completely idiotic removal of Donner at such a late stage. The inserts and new material for the theatrical cut stick out like a sore thumb and the only upsides are that some of Reeve’s performance is better captured the second go round and that the placement of the love scene better fits the “must not get with mortals” rule. The Donner cut is great in that it reinstates all the wonderful little bits but then goes overboard in trying to make a fan edit of sorts. It is horribly dated and should have been more of a hybrid cut anyway. That’s what is needed, as the theatrical has better audio and simply needs the missing bits reinstated. But then you have the conundrum of whether to use mostly Donner sequences or Lester ones or a mixture. It will forever be a compromised mess that should have been the equal of its forerunner…or should have been a very good sequel that paled in comparison because they took all the good parts out to hurry up and finish the first film for the 1978 release and were shooting the second simultaneously.
II and Donner cut each 3.5/4.
III. What a complete mess. What in the world were they thinking? Even the titles are an insult to the previous two films. It looks awful and drab, the story is scattershot, the pandering to Pryor is shoehorned in so badly that the film doesn’t even seem to care…I mean good grief the list goes on so much so that I could go on and on…this is such a frustrating and hard picture to get through. But the Smallville and later evil Superman scenes are largely gold. I was surprised at how good they were and anything not having to do with the beyond inane plot was enjoyable. Reeve again goes for broke, and I quite enjoyed how they did the Lana character aside from the silly sitcom level gags with the rival suitor. That they had planned on Brainiac being the villain is obvious with the supercomputer…but the end result is at times TV-like and agonizingly dull in addition to being mindbogglingly terrible.
An absolute mess that then does an about face and goes rather dark during the Clark-evil Supes fight…and that other shot…the one you see as a kid and think: did I just see that happen? Did she really get sucked into…what the???
A mess. Again A MESS. 1.5/4 for the good scenes, Reeve and nothing else.
IV. I finally saw this one all the way through as well. And for years I heard how they had no money, it’s terrible, it’s horrifyingly bad etc.
Yes there are enormous plot holes from chopping out chunks of plot, yes there is no budget, yes it really doesn’t work, yes the locations are terrible…
But yet, I couldn’t help but mostly enjoy it for what it was and what it tried to do. I appreciated the commitment of Reeve and the primary cast/crew and how they continued on in spite of being faced with absolute failure on every level. The story could have been hammered out better I think, and on the whole it’s not really a job for Supes. But in the end it was a final and wistful goodbye to this incarnation that should have been given a better chance.
2/4. I actually enjoyed this mostly. I can’t believe that I did, but there you go.
Returns. Worse than I remembered. THIS PICTURE JUST DOES NOT WORK. I saw this at Grauman’s Chinese theater during it’s opening week and the place was already largely empty. And on the grandest screen in one of the best theaters in the world…it just. dragged. on. endlessly. The constant hearkening back to the Donner film doesn’t work-especially in the midst of modern tones and being dark for dark’s sake. Spacey’s Luthor is so malevolent that is becomes comical because it is so overdone and not in touch with the rest of the film. The pacing is off, the story is virtually on life support, and every scene seems to drag on endlessly with no real resolution nor with and narrative development. And top it all off the result is an essential quasi-remake of the original right down to Luthor’s land scheme…but on sleeping pills.
1/4. Ugh. It looks terrible from the now archaic digital photography IIRC on the older camera units in lower res. The BD is really bad.
Man of Steel. To me they decided to take RETURNS and do everything as the exact opposite. This is in the Nolan mold but done by Snyder with the same level of disconnection and distraction as his WATCHMEN. I think it’s just as bad as Returns if not worse, because of the way they seem to sidestep Supes character let alone skip Clark at the Planet whilst doing the usual modern origin story without giving you anything but cliffs notes. It also does a poor job at using Zod and felt like a pitiful rehash of II. Destroying all of Metropolis was bad enough but then to have Supes just end it that way…in the theater you could feel the audience going: “what just happened?” Even I felt disquiet and I’m not a huge Supes fan or anything.
MoS is at its best when doing new things. The best aspect for me was Krypton and particularly Crowe’s Jor-el which I found wonderful. A prequel about Krypton would have been better. But at least we finally got a strong Lois!!\ Wasted was Costner’s Pa Kent, and his exit was truly bad.
And of course the shakycam and digital snapzooms are abominations.
1/4 at best for me. I have no faith in the Superman vs Batman release as it is merely a MoS sequel that will rip off the conclusion of THE DARK KNIGHT RETURNS.
Maybe I’m a bit biased because my favorite adaptation are the Fleischer/Famous cartoons, which are IMHO definitive masterpieces. But for more well rounded, there’s the animated series which is probably the best Supes adaptation ever done. That’s usually what I go back to because again as usual Bruce Timm and co. know these characters inside and out. (Can it be a rule that Lois always jokingly call Clark Smallville? I absolutely love that.)