When I
decided to review the Superman movies, I decided to vow not to have them as far
apart as I did with the Batman ones. So, yes, this sequel got arranged for
April, I’ll be covering III in August and I intend to have IV by year’s end,
with Superman Returns in 2018. Batman Begins I’ll be reviewing as part of
Neeson month in July and I’ll review the Dark Knight at some point too, Batman
vs Superman will be reviewed as part of sequel month in June and I’ll review
Suicide Squad in August, which will bring me more or less up to date with the
DC movies. I know I’ve barely reviewed any Marvel ones aside from Age of Ultron and Iron Man 3,
bear with me, is all I ask with that.
But today
we’re looking at Superman II, released in 1980 after the success of the
original Superman movie. It enjoyed somewhat financial success making $190m on
a $54m budget and is widely regarded as the best Superman movie, or that might
just be me, I can never tell. Production wise, Richard Donner was replaced
after filming a large proportion of the movie owing to poor relationship with
the producer and was replaced by Richard Lester, who conducted vigorous reshoots
so he could gain director’s credit. Complicating that was Gene Hackman’s
refusal to return for reshoots. Does this patchwork of directors result in a
patchwork movie?
