You'll believe a man can fly!
Unable to convince the ruling council of Krypton that their world will destroy itself soon, scientist Jor-El (Marlon Brando) takes drastic measures to preserve the Kryptonian race: he sends his infant son Kal-El (Lee Quigley) to Earth. There, gaining great powers under Earth's yellow sun, he will become a champion of truth and justice. Raised by Johnathan (Glenn Ford) and Martha Kent (Phyllis Thaxter), an elderly farm couple, Clark Kent (Jeff East) learns that his abilities must be used for good. The adult Clark (Christopher Reeve) travels to Metropolis, where he becomes a mild-mannered reporter for the Daily Planet... and a caped wonder whose amazing feats stun the city: Superman! Meanwhile, Lex Luthor (Gene Hackman), the world's greatest criminal mind, is plotting the greatest real estate swindle of all time. Can't even the man of steel stop this nefarious scheme?
Special Agent Matti
At 2½ hours, Superman: The movie runs over time. Some of that is the 70s, because attention spans hadn't been whittled down to 15 second sound bites, but some of that is just an excess of grandeur - or the attempt at grandeur. A story like Kal-El's doesn't need any help in that area: just telling it would be grand enough. Unfortunately, this story fell foul of Hollywood's delusions of bigness (size does matter).
Christopher Reeve, meanwhile, steals the film in which he is the eponymous star but contract third lead. It's irksome that the actor playing the lead character in a film gets third billing behind other actors with bigger agents. It's irksome that actors are mentioned above the title, too. Their egos should subsume into the story, which is supposed to be the reason why they are there at all. When I direct I always have the title at the top and the actors and then the crew listed alphabetically. If I was to consider highlighting anyone's name (which I wouldn't) it would be because of merit and nothing else. I am a meritocrat.
Getting back to Chris, he doesn't just look like an heroic being from outer space, he has a grandeur all of his own. He is Superman. He is also Clark Kent, geek extraordinaire, and Kal-El, 18-years-old the last time he had any human interaction. The interview scene on Lois' balcony shows the virginal teenager, part man, part boy to perfection. Marlon Brando does nothing to deserve the large fee and top billing but he isn't bad, either. Same goes for Gene Hackman in spot number two. The banished Kryptonian rebel - whose name is escaping me - was a much better villain, although he was watered down for the sequel. Ah, well.
PG (Medium level violence, low level coarse language, adult themes)
151 minutes (2:21 hours)
DVD retail: 15 August 2001
