Super sequel

Superman 2 (1980)

Picking up where the first film left off this sequel brings back Christopher Reeve, Gene Hackman and has a larger part for Terence Stamp but Richard Lester is now the credited director. Three exiles from Krypton turn up on earth with plans to rule it and mess up Superman's love life.

The opening credits do a good job of summarising the events of the first film so that we can get on with the second part of the story Richard Donner planned. Some of the affects do look a little ropey to modern eyes but for the most part they hold up and the final battle is what the film is really built around. There is less Christian allegory in the second film and it is more about Superman's place in the world, balancing his life as Clark Kent and his power for good.

What is surprising about the film is how well it holds together after the complete carnage behind the scenes. Richard Donner had a terrible time with the producers while shooting the first film and this back to back and was fired after a large portion of this film was complete. Despite having had his own, similar problems with the same producers on the Three Musketeers films director Richard Lester was brought into complete the film and he reshot a number of scenes to get full credit. Further to this Hackman refused to reshoot scenes under Lester and Marlon Brando had to be completely cut out of the film to save the budget.

4/5 some how a good film emerges.