In the last film, we briefly seen the trial of General Zod and his cohorts before they were squished into a polaroid -- I mean sentenced to the Phantom Zone.
That film didn't really follow up on that thread, instead focusing entirely on Kal-El's origin story.It always seemed a bit odd they included it at all.
Here, we're once again treated do a truncated version of the trial, the destruction of Kypton, and the arrival of Superman. We're watching the Richard Donner Cut tonight, so I'm guessing there will be minor differences from my recollections.
One of those differences is Zod's line of "And one day...your heirs!" In the first film, we get an uncomfortably tight closeup of his mouth yelling this line. Here, we're spared with a more distant shoulder-level shot, possibly a B-roll from the original film. The different shot is more reserved, and as such, it feels like it lacks the emotional punch of the original by leveraging our discomfort.
We also revisit Superman disposing of one of the warheads in the previous film. Sent off into space it sputters as the fuel runs out, then explodes in near proximity to our film's foes. This frees them from the Phantom Zone, allowing the movie to finally begin.
The setup takes almost 9 minutes before we get to the opening credits. It feels rather odd for an 1980 film to have such a lengthy set up like this, giving it an episodic feel rather than a standalone film. Granted, this was before pervasive home video, so the lengthy cold open was important for its time and place.
Let's watch!
A particular treat of this film is improved sense of pacing over the first film. The following three scenes introduce us to the three concurrent plotlines which make up the film.
The first is Lois and Clark. Clark needing to maintain his secret identity.The next is Lex Luthor and his continuing machinations. And finally, General Zod. Three plots is a lot for a television episode, but perfect for a film. My intercutting between each plot, the film maintains a great sense of pacing and keeps your interest.
Once again, it's delightful to see Hackman again as Luthor. That gruff, self-assured swagger walks the knife edge of being over the top, which is an excellent match for the film.
"Houston"!? "To Rule"!?
Well....no, you'd probably be an improvement at this point.
@socketwench - I for one welcome our new Texan Kryptonian overlords.
