Superman has always been a split personality — both the Man of Steel with awesome powers and the mild-mannered Clark Kent, reporter for The Daily Planet. In this sequel, our hero falls in love, momentarily loses his strength, and faces up to the difficulty of deciding whether to follow his destiny or the dictates of his heart. Since all of us identify in our fantasy life with both sides of Superman, his struggles in this story become ours more than ever before.
Superman II is brimming with action and adventure. Director Richard Lester's (A Hard Day's Night, The Three Musketeers) cinematic style is perfectly suited to the kinetic screenplay by Mario Puzo, David Newman, and Leslie Newman.
One of Superman's heroic feats — he rescues Lois Lane from the top of the Eiffel Tower where some terrorists have set off on atomic bomb — turns out to be the prelude for disaster. He tosses the bomb into outer space where the force of its explosion frees Zod (Terence Stamp), Ursa (Sarah Douglas), and Non (Jack O'Halloran) from their imprisonment in the whirling disk of the Phantom Zone. These Kryptonian villains possess the same powers as Superman. Flying through space, they happen upon — and swiftly destroy — a Soviet-American space mission on the moon. They decide to conquer earth.
In a small town, the threesome demonstrate their incredible powers by destroying barns and stores with their breath of hurricane velocity. Their incendiary eyes burn up the best weapons that American military technology can pit against them. Moving on to Washington, D.C. they take over the Oval Office. There, Lex Luthor (Gene Hackman), who still fancies himself to be the best criminal mind on earth, petitions them to accept him as their partner. He promises to lead them to Superman in return for ownership of some beach-front property — namely the continent of Australia.
Meanwhile in Niagara Falls, where they are trying to expose a honeymoon racket, Clark Kent and the ever intrepid Lois Lane, have fallen in love. He reveals his Superman identity and woos her in his Fortress of Solitude at the North Pole. Christopher Reeve conveys just the right dash of klutziness as Clark Kent, and Margot Kidder is beguiling as the career conscious Lois Lane. They are each perplexed by the choice as to whether work or love is more important to them.
Superman II is a lively spree that is bound to be a summertime crowd-pleaser. The final confrontation between the Man of Steel and his Kryptonian enemies are special effects masterpieces. Of all the comic book flicks to hit the silver screen over the past several years, this one is far and away the best.