The Fake Life - Love movies? We do too!

Tuesday, February 06, 2007

DVD Review: Superman - The Movie (Four-Disc Special Edition)

By Nathan Wishart

This is it, ground zero. This is the film that set the template for all other superhero movies to follow and still none have gotten it right like this one did.

Disc 1: Theatrical Cut

Seeing as I never got to see this in its original run in the theatres, I can only imagine what it must’ve been like to sit in the darkness and just experience this for the first time - to see that credit sequence just go whoosh and hear that soon to be iconic theme slowly build - it must’ve been incredible. That sense of grandeur is only partly what makes this film work so well.

In revisiting the film, the most striking thing is how the film completely changes tone at various points but it’s done so smoothly you hardly notice. Once the credit sequence is over, William’s score quickly changes tempo to something vaguely ominous before building itself back up again, it’s my favourite cue in the entire film and we’re quickly thrown into the end of a trial where three men and one woman are summarily proved guilty of insurrection. Jor-El decides their fate and banishes them to the Phantom Zone. Jor-El tries unsuccessfully to convince the council that their world is going to end in 30 days and sends his son to earth instead while everything crumbles around them and their planet eventually explodes. This part of the film is more about the myth making and Christ parallels which are echoed in Jor-El’s final words to his son.

When the ship crashes in Kansas, Martha and Jonathon Kent discover the child inside and adopt him, they name him Clark. This portion of the film is a complete contrast to the beginning; You have wide-open spaces, the sun shines all the time and there’s definite warmth compared to the scenes on Krypton. There are some truly wonderful moments in in this section such as Clark racing the train and his final goodbye to Martha in the field. Clark later moves onto the north pole, and suddenly, we’re back in the cold, sterile territory where his fortress of solitude is created and his heritage revealed to him.

The rest of the movie takes place in New York and the film just completely relaxes. We get our first look at Christopher Reeve and he owns the role. It’s a shame the role is so completely iconic that it would overshadow every other part that Reeve would take. He was a talented actor. Unfortunately, he didn’t help things by agreeing to star in Superman 3 and 4 though. As Superman, I think Reeve actually achieves a lot with the role. It could’ve been so easy to play him as kind of aloof, but he gives Superman a relaxed charm. His date with Lois Lane was played perfectly (except for the ‘Can you read my mind?’ bit where Kidder’s delivery of that dialogue is just embarrassing to listen to). Reeve’s greatest moment as Superman though is the moment where he finds Lois in the submerged car but is too late to save her. Donner gives us various angles of Superman from a distance before Superman finally steps back and let’s out an inhuman scream.

As a kid, I could never watch that scene. His scream just scared the living fuck out of me, but it’s a great moment and adds another layer of humanity to his performance. As Clark Kent, he’s even better. His first day on the job and he’s like a kid just taking everything in, meeting Lois and just instantly falling in love. It just makes Reeve’s overall performance that much greater as he presents us with two completely different characters and he slips back and forth between each one with such ease. I’d forgotten how attractive Kidder looked in this movie and her chemistry with Reeve is undeniable, both in her scenes with Superman and Clark Kent. Like Reeve, she presents us with two different performances, her scenes with Superman have her flustered and acting like a girl with her first crush. With Clark, she’s ballsy and has a take-charge attitude.

We’re also introduced to Superman’s ultimate nemesis Lex Luthor, and Gene Hackman’s performance is almost like a nod to the golden age of Superman comics. From the moment we meet Clark Kent, it’s pretty much like that. Never really played seriously. Gene Hackman is alternately comic relief but he gives it a cynical edge. The real comedy relief comes from Ned Beatty and Valerie Perrine who play off Hackman extremely well, especially Ned Beatty. That edge comes to the fore when he finally meets Superman and you realize how much of a bastard he really is despite how charming he may be.

The effects are still great after all these years, the front projection and wires technique still look very cool. Considering the massive action sequences this film had, they still hold up.

There’s also a commentary from producers Pierre Spengler and Ilya Salkind. It’s interesting to hear these two men talk about the same role but with different goals. Pierre dealt with all the business aspects so his viewpoint is more technical. Ilya dealt with the creative aspect and is more engaging as a result. It’s an informative commentary.

So there it is. The theatrical cut is an epic thrilling adventure with the most iconic theme of all time (did I mention it was Iconic?) that has alternately influenced every other superhero movie since.

Disc 2: Expanded 2000 Cut

I'll keep this part short. The scenes that were added as part of the 2000 release don’t add much. You have additional scenes of Jor-El trying to reason with the council about the fate of Krypton, the council planning to arrest Jor-El for insurrection, alternate shots of General Zod, Non and Ursa trapped in the phantom zone, The little girl who sees Clark racing the train is revealed to be Lois Lane and her parents Noel Neill and Kirk Alyn (Who originally starred in early Superman Adventures) Martha Kent calling Clark for breakfast, Clark greeting Jimmy and others in the Daily Planet on his first day, Superman revealing to Jor-El what it felt like to use his powers to help humanity, Clark making a veiled comment about Superman to a passerby on the street after watching the news, Superman running through a gauntlet of machine guns, flamethrowers and ice to get to Lex Luthor, and the Hollywood sign falling and nearly crushing some kids while the earthquake is in progress. It’s interesting to see these scenes added to the film, but I think it would’ve been better to just leave them as extras, which funnily enough, they did on disc 3.

There’s also a commentary by Richard Donner and Tom Mankiewicz and right from the starting gate these two guys are cracking jokes. It’s great to listen to these two just knock stories back and forth while the film plays. It’s the superior commentary mainly because they mix facts with a fun sense of humor about what went on while making the film.

Also on this disc is an audio only music track, which is awesome, the only annoying thing is that the cues will abruptly fade out when no longer needed. It’s sort of jarring and not at all like listening to a soundtrack where they’re all cued up as long piece, which I realize is the point seeing as it’s the film and not a separate soundtrack on CD.

Disc 3: Extras

The three documentaries on this disc are highly informative. They track this film from when the idea was first thought up by Ilya Salkind, to the script, casting decisions, Guy Hamilton being brought on board, to the inevitable tensions that arose towards the end. It’s all documented here with behind the scenes footage on every vital aspect of the movie. I’m not sure why they added the additional scenes from the 2000 edition. They may as well have just left out the expanded edition and left these scenes as extras or just left the expanded movie and not bothered with the scenes as additional extras. There’s also two scenes from the cutting room floor where Lex asks Otis to feed his ‘babies’, meaning his pet tigers/lions. We never actually see them. Also, a scene where he lowers Miss Teschmacher into the pit where his ‘babies’ are only for Superman to save at the last minute. There are also screen tests for Christopher Reeve with actress Holly Palance and screen tests for the role of Lois Lane. It’s fun to see Anne Archer and Leslie Anne Warren test for the role as well as Stockard Channing. There’s also some additional audio music cues from the film.

Disc 4: Extras

Now for the fun stuff. This disc is packed full of old Superman serials, another making of from the seventies, an hour long Superman film called ‘Superman Vs The Mole Men’ with George Reeves as Superman from the fifties. Best of all though are the nine Superman cartoons from the Fleischer Studios in the forties.

The making of is pretty good. You get to see more behind the scenes footage and it’s hosted by Christopher Reeve.

'Superman Vs The Mole Men' hasn’t aged well at all but it’s still kind of fun to see how they got around the limitations of special effects at the time. You can see the shoulder padding on the Superman suit.

The nine cartoons are terrific fun. You get to see Superman punching robots. PUNCHING ROBOTS. The best one is ‘Billion Dollar Limited’ where Superman tries to stop a bunch of criminals from stealing a load of gold bullion, Just immense fun, and it makes you wish Bryan Singer had seen these before he made Superman Returns.

Overall, it’s a worthy purchase if you’re a completest. If you already have the 2-disc version then this will seem like an unnecessary buy no matter how cool the Fleischer cartoons are. They are very cool, for the record.