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| Superman II |
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List Price: $19.98
Buy New: $6.49
You Save: $13.49 (68%)
Buy New/Used/Collectible from $6.49
Avg. Customer Rating:  (based on 168 reviews)
Sales Rank: 113
Category: DVD
Actors: Gene Hackman, Margot Kidder, Christopher Reeve
Director: Richard Donner
Publisher: Warner Home Video
Studio: Warner Home Video
Manufacturer: Warner Home Video
Label: Warner Home Video
Format: Anamorphic, Closed-captioned, Color, Subtitled, Widescreen, Ntsc
Languages: English (Original Language), French (Original Language), English (Subtitled), French (Subtitled), Portuguese (Subtitled), Spanish (Subtitled)
Rating: PG (Parental Guidance Suggested)
Media: DVD
Running Time: 128 minutes
Number Of Items: 1
Aspect Ratio: 2.35:1
Picture Format: Anamorphic Widescreen
Shipping Weight (lbs): 0.2
Dimensions (in): 7.4 x 5.3 x 0.6
ISBN: 0790752441
UPC: 085391112020
EAN: 0085391112020
ASIN: B000059XUI
Release Date: May 1, 2001
Theatrical Release Date: June 19, 1981
Availability: Usually ships in 1-2 business days
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Editorial Reviews:
Amazon.com essential video
Director Richard Lester (A Hard Day's Night) took over the franchise with this first sequel in the series, though the film doesn't look much like his usual stylish work. (Superman III is far more Lesteresque.) Still, there is a lot to like about this movie, which finds Superman grappling with the conflict between his responsibilities as Earth's savior and his own needs of the heart. Choosing the latter, he gives up his powers to be with Lois Lane (Margot Kidder), but the timing is awful: three renegades from his home planet, Krypton, are smashing up the White House, aided by the mocking Lex Luthor (Gene Hackman). The film isn't nearly as ambitious as its predecessor, but the accent on relationships over special effects (not that there aren't plenty of them) is very satisfying. --Tom Keogh
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Customer Reviews: Read 163 more reviews...
Could've been the best.... July 25, 2006
The first Superman film was ground-breaking both in its effects and its faithful re-telling of the Superman mythos, yet it suffered from an abrupt ending that left you wanting more just as they got to the really good stuff. Superman II was the answer to that problem.
Most of this film was shot together with Superman I, but Donner was fired during production, and Marlon Brando, Gene Hackman, and John Williams also left (though Hackman's footage was included, and Williams' theme was still used). Richard Lester was hired to re-shoot key scenes to strip Donner of his director's credit, and the result is a film that borders on great because it's hard to mess up a story essentially in the can, but uneven because of the tedious new comedic scenes and plot holes left by the fiasco. It was truly a shame, because here you had everything a comic fan wanted: Superman finally romancing Lois Lane, and an all-out battle with Kryptonian supervillains. Terance Stamp entered pop culture with his "Kneel before Zod!" line in this film. How can you not love that?
Fortunately, legal issues have now been settled, and a confirmed "Donner cut" of Superman II is slated for release in a few months. This includes restored Christopher Reeve footage, and the lost footage of Marlon Brando. This theatrical cut is also getting a special edition as well.
Superman II has always been painful for fans in terms of "what could've been," and now 30 years later WB is making it happen. A great film just got better. And Chris Reeve flies again as Superman.
Solid Sequel, Poor DVD July 19, 2006
3 out of 3 found this review helpful
"Superman II" picks up right where the first flick featuring Christopher Reeve as the Man of Steel ends. During the opening credits, the viewer is briefed quickly on the first film. After that, we learn that Lex Luthor has escaped prison (leaving Otis behind bars), Superman has fallen hard for Lois Lane, and the evil trio from Krypton, headed up by Terence Stamp, are freed from their window-pane prison via an H-bomb that Superman tossed into space in order to save Paris, France and Lois Lane.
In order to do a newstory, Clark Kent and Lois pretend to be a married couple on honeymoon at Niagara Falls. Once there, a sequence of events leads up to Lois figuring out who Clark really is. He gives up his powers so that he can live the life of a mortal with her. Little does he know that once he loses his powers, his father's old Kryptonian enemies show up, take over the White House, team up with Luthor, and basically call out Superman for a big fight. The rest of the tale unfolds with typical superhero flash. I won't say too much more because I don't want to give everything away.
Reeve reprises his role as the overgrown Boy Scout with flair. His performance as Clark is even goofier than in the first flick. Margot Kidder has lost a little edge with Lois Lane in this film, probably because she's got her love blinders on. Gene Hackman is solid, if not funnier, as Luthor in this film. The real scene-stealer, however, is Terence Stamp as Zod, the leader of the villainous trio of Kryptonians. He chews up the screen with silly one-liners like, "Not God, ZOD!!" His two lackeys are along for the ride (Jack O'Halloran and the lovely lady who's name escapes me). The dazzling Valerie Perrine and Ned Beatty have brief but funny appearances in the flick, reprising their roles as Luthor's lover and oafish henchman, respectively.
The special effects haven't aged well at all. Limitations are revealed in this flick that weren't as noticeable as in the first film. The "power loss" scene where Superman gives up his powers is downright horrid to watch on the screen. Also, there's a lot more humor tossed into this second-helping of Superman, but it never takes away from the story as much as the effects.
The effects are understandable, and the humor is a nice touch, but the really glaring bad spot for this flick is the DVD itself. Poor audio quality (I had to crank up my volume to hear the dialogue and then crank it down due to the loud music), only a couple of "special features" (if you call actor's film credits and a trailer, special), and the flimsy packaging all add up to a bad disc. But, as another reviewer stated, this is currently the only version of this flick that you can pick up on DVD, so I guess we'll all have to deal with it.
Hopefully, Warner Brothers will do something nice to this and the rest of the "Superman" flicks when the "Superman Returns" DVD hits store shelves. It'd be nice to have these films in a decent hardback case with a couple of decent special features. Till then, I recommend this sequel to folks like myself who've grown nostalgic about ol' Christopher Reeve since the new flick hit the screen. He is sorely missed.
 Awesome, funny, exciting and touching! July 17, 2006
2 out of 2 found this review helpful
Now THIS is a superhero movie! MUCH, MUCH better than the other
junk Hollywood dishes out! Christopher Reeve once again did
an EXCELLENT job as the man of steel. I love it!
Superman rids himself of his powers and claims his love for Lois, But must somehow reverse things as a trio of kryptonian
villians arrive on Earth and decide to dominate the planet.
That's all I'll tell you for right now. You will LOVE this movie!
Oh, by the way. One of those kryptonian villians,"Nod" as they
call him, did a commercial about MY grandmother!
Superman's Love and War July 4, 2006
3 out of 3 found this review helpful
This movie presents the deadly three rebels placed in the Phatom Zone, and Superman's battle against them, and his own personal angst to be loved by Lois Lane. The movie falls compared to Donner's movie, but Lester is great at the physical comedy. Margot Kidder and Reeve both give outstanding performances, while Gene Hackman in the few scenes he is in the movie, stills the show.
The battle in Metropolis with the three villians is fun and entertaining, only dated by its outdated special effects. The romance is handled well, but Singer's more recent version is better. Superman is more like Sampson than Mosses, freely giving up his powers for a love (except Lois of course would never betray Superman), only to have cry out to his father to get them back to fight General Zod and his deadly sidekicks.
A Worthy Sequel June 30, 2006
5 out of 6 found this review helpful
In the beginning of the original Superman we see Jor-el trap Zod and his followers in the Phantom Zone. In this one Superman stops a nuclear war-head from going off by throwing it into the sun. The explosion is enough to free Zod and his followers from the Phantom Zone. Which is bad timing since Lois finds out that Clark is Superman and he decides to become human and setlle down with her. While Zod is causing chaos all over the world, Clark can't even handle a bully truck driver in a diner. So he has to decide what's more important, his relationship with Lois Lane or becoming Superman again to save the world. What a clever plot!!
Superman 2 is a true classic with Terrance Stamp as a truly awesome Zod. He gives one of the best villian performances ever. In Smallville recently, they had Zod go in Lex's body. It bugged me that they had him kiss Lana. I knocked that part in a forum. I had people writing back saying that he was in the Phantom Zone for a long time and they didn't blame him for kissing Lana. But come on, the Zod here was also stuck in the Phantom Zone and all he cared about was ruling Earth and kicking Superman's butt. You don't see him kissing every woman he sees because he didn't get any action in the Phantom Zone lol. This Zod would've just thrown Lana off the roof or just make her bow down to him. He's a truly ruthless and scary villian.
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