_**Continues the super-story of the groundbreaking first film**_ Three Kryptonian criminals escape imprisonment in the Phantom Zone (Terence Stamp, Sarah Douglas and Jack O'Halloran) to harass citizens of the United States, including the president (E.G. Marshall), while Lex Luthor (Gene Hackman) schmoozes them. Meanwhile Lois Lane (Margot Kidder) suspects that Clark Kent is Superman (Christopher Reeve) during an assignment to Niagara Falls before flying off to fight the Kryptonians. Susannah York plays Kal-El’s mother while Jackie Cooper is on hand as Perry White. "Superman II" (1980) was mostly shot simultaneously with the first film in 1977 wherein director Richard Donner had shot 75% of the film before focusing on finishing the first movie. When the flick went back into production in 1978 Donner was controversially fired and replaced with Richard Lester, who was already working on the project with Donner as second unit director. Marlon Brando’s scenes as Jor-El were cut (obviously because he wanted too much money, i.e. 11.75% of gross US box office earnings) and redone with Lara (York). Despite the behind-the-scenes drama, this is a thoroughly entertaining sequel with some people even claiming it’s better. What makes the film work so well is that (1) the three Kryptonian villains are interesting and their superhuman exploits are engaging, (2) Luthor is likewise amusing, (3) the sci-fi ambiance and special effects are state-of-the-art for the late 70s and (4) the drama involving Clark/Supes and Lois (and Perry White) is consistently entertaining. On the downside, I could do without Otis’ goofy antics (Ned Beatty) and the movie is slightly overlong. The film runs 2 hours, 7 minutes and was shot in Paris; Norway; Niagara Falls & Calgary, Canada; Pinewood Studios (the Metropolis scenes, etc.), Chobham Common, Surrey (the East Houston, Idaho, scenes), & London Underground, England; and St Lucia. GRADE: A/A-

<em>'Superman II'</em> is a more rounded affair, though is no more entertaining than the first film - I enjoyed both the same, more or less. Christopher Reeve and Margot Kidder remain as watchable as before, but Gene Hackman isn't as memorable in this follow-up - still good, mind. I like how we got to see extra of Zod, Ursa and Non in this one, if only to see more of Terence Stamp - who I've only really seen later in his career, he's terrific in 2011's <em>'The Adjustment Bureau'</em>. Sarah Douglas and Jack O'Halloran as the other two characters are decent. A perfectly solid sequel, you can't ask for much more than that.

It's not often that I reckon a sequel is actually better than the first film, but I think this one is. Having saved the world from the evil machinations of "Lex Luthor" (Gene Hackman) back in 1978, "Superman/Clark" (Christopher Reeve) has determined that he must come clean with "Lois" (Margot Kidder) about his true identity so they can fall in love. His timing isn't great though as just as he pops into his power evaporator, the evil "Gen. Zod" (Terence Stamp) arrives on Earth with his two trusty lieutenants "Ursa" (Sarah Douglas) and the feeble-minded "Non" (Jack O'Halloran). Naturally, they want to rule the world and even manage to engage the services of the recently sprung "Luthor" who alerts them to the presence of the son of the very man who condemned them to float through space encased in a glass pyramid. Now "Soop" has to find some way to reverse his power loss and then to combat three beings bent on destruction who have the same powers as him and lots of lovely "Lois" leverage. There's loads of death and destruction throughout this entertainingly paced outing for our red-caped superhero. As usual, though, it's not the wooden as a washboard Reeve who steals the plaudits - those laurels certainly go more to the on-form Hackman and to a Stamp who looks slightly bemused as the destruction rages and the product placement runs riot. The one thing that definitely does let this down is the quality of the production. It's not quite that you can see their wires when they fly, but the walking on water scene leaves little to the imagination; there are loads of scenes that don't quite look like they belong in this film and the continuity folks have had a bit of a nightmare - but all of that said, it's an enjoyable good v evil storyline that for a while even looked like the baddies might prevail - and that's always a good thing.