Superman 1978 Film Review

Superhero films are a dime a dozen these days however that wasn't all ways the case as there was a time where comic book movies were seen as being poison as the box office. That was until the film that i'm going to be talking to you all about today came out as even tho this film didn't change the public perception of what a good comic book movie could be like it is something that without this film we wouldn't have the comic book movies that we have today as people would be to scared to make them and so the join me as I review the film that really did make you believe that a man can fly with the film in question being called simply just "Superman" enjoy.

The plot of this film is when evil mastermind Lex Luthor threatens to destroy the San Andreas Fault it's up to Superman to stop him and to save the lives of millions people including Lois Lane before it's far to late. Now then interms of what I personally thought / felt about the actual plot that's actually featured / presented to us in this very film well then in all honesty I in all honesty personally thought / felt that the actual plot that's actually featured / presented to us in this very film was in all honesty really good with the films plot more then holding up almost forty years later as while yes it's a simple plot and is by far the most simpler of all of the plots for any big budgeted live action Superman film it's the fact that it's that simple hat makes all the more charming as this is a film that doesn't really need a super complicated plot to make it work it just needs the bare minimum of plot and that's really it and while yes it would have been nice if the plot of this film did get alot more focus an attention as that's when we get some of the best scenes in the film it's not something that's needed as what does carry the plot and make it oddly even more better then what it really could have been is the films actors as they do elevate the plot of this film by just being there likable selfs and that is something that wouldn't be allowed to happen in the film had this super dark and super complex plot as that's not what's required to make a Superman film work and that is something that alot of the mote recent live action Superman films have forgotten all about as sometimes simpler is better with the plot of this film also being really rather entertaining and as well as being really rather engaging as well in my freaking opinions anyways / at least. 

Starring in this film is Christopher Reeve as Clark Kent / Superman , Gene Hackman as Lex Luthor and Margot Kidder as Lois Lane. Also starring in this film is Ned Beatty as Otis , Jackie Cooper as Perry White , Valerie Perrine as Eve Teschmacher , Jack O'Halloran as Non , Glenn Ford as Jonathan Kent , Phyllis Thaxter as Martha Kent , Terence Stamp as General Zod , Susannah York as Lara , Marc McClure as Jimmy Olsen , Sarah Douglas as Ursa and Marlon Brando as Jor-El.

Now then interms of what I personally thought / felt about the actual acting that's actually featured / presented to us in this very film well then in all honesty I in all honesty personally thought / felt that the actual acting that's actually featured / presented to us in this very film was in all honesty really good. With all of this films actors turning in some really good performances as their respective and for some like Christopher Reeve for example are so good in this film that they simply ARE those characters and that is something that you can see wright from the get go as this films director Richard Donner really did know how to get a good performance out of his actors which is a skill that put to great use in this film and it's something that really does show as all of this films actors including all of the extras all turn in better performance then what was required of them as nobody would have blamed these actors if they chose to phone in their performances as comic book movies especially back then didn't typically require great acting and yet because of the fact that all of this films actors including Marlon Brando who might be possibly phoning in his performance but it's so good that you really can't tell and the very fact that they all chose to give this film some really good performances is something that goes to show you just how good this films actors really were with the acting that's in this very film really being helped by the fact that this films script is just so good that all this films actors have to do is just the lines as they are written and a good performance will come out of them naturally which is something that really does help to raise the overall quality of the acting that's in this very film.

In what could be seen as being either a good thing or a bad thing is the fact that this film puts alot of focus on the relationship between Clark Kent/ Superman and Lois Lane. With it being made very crystal clear right from the get go that he really does like her but she only has the hots for Superman with that dynamic being explored all throughout the film and while it is great that there relationship did get some focus in this film as it's her dying that makes Superman turn the Earth rotation backwards just to be in with a chance of saving her but at the same time tho this is a Superman movie we therefor want to be spending alot more time with Superman being well a hero then we do on this relationship which while that does work with the two of them having some very sweet scenes together all of which do add to there dynamic but it's also something that you don't really want to see in a Superman movie as the primary audience for all comic book movies has always been little boys and little boys aren't all that interested in seeing these two people fall in love with each other but given just how key there relationship is to the plot of the film it's also something that you need to have in the film as we need to understand Clark's pain when Lois does die at the end of the movie and that wouldn't be possible if there relationship wasn't given all that much time and attention as it would come across as being weird and outplace given that the two characters would have basically just met each other but tho because it's given all that time and attention then we the audience do get to feel Clark's pain when she dies and all of that is due to the fact that there relationship was given alot of time and focus.

With this film we also get the rather odd tradition of using Lex Luthor in alot of the live action Superman movies something which the newest film which is out this Friday is going to continue doing. With him being a wonderfully over the top and campy villain in this film which is something that might anger comic book purists but at the same time given that this film can at times go into those campy and over the top places having him be exactly like that does oddly work in this films favour as we get to see how he really is the smartest person in his own criminal organization as Otis is dumber then a pile of bricks and has the IQ of a tablespoon and Eve Teschmacher whilst she is quite clearly the smarter of the two she's still not as smart as Lex is with it being kind of fun just seeing the three of them come up with a scheme only for Otis to bungle his way into messing it all up with the acting between Gene Hackman and Ned Beatty being really good in those scenes as you can tell right away that all three of them are having fun playing there characters with Gene and Ned in particular as they get to do some really funny stuff as well but it's not all fun and games with this version of the character as this take on Lex does also get the chance to show of just how smart he already knows how to redirect these missiles to do as much harm as is humanly possible with his plan also being something that does work as he plans to use the land left over by the San Andreas Fault to create several new towns and make a huge profit off of all of them which is something that is not only a unique plan but it's also something that perfect for this take on the character and while it's not as grand as the villain plans that we get in movies and TV shows today it doesn't need to as again sometimes doing something alot more smaller scale and simpler is better as is the case with this films villains plan.

There are a few things that this film doesn't do quite as well with the first of which being the fact that the film doesn't really explain why Superman and Lex hate each other. As the first time that we see them together on screen they already hate each other's guts which makes no sense as they haven't really met before now so therefor wouldn't Superman be more willing to trust Lex instead of hating him with the really the only thing that Lex had done to antagonize Superman at that point in time was contact him via a frequency that only dos can here and that's really it and given the plot of the film does rest on Superman not trusting Luthor you'd think that the makers of this film would put in more of effort into making there hatred of each other seem more believable as really the only thing that you'd have to do is just show Superman stopping Lex from doing a smaller scale crime earlier on in the film and that's really it but because of the fact that the makers of this film have to spend quite alot of time on Clark's upbringing and even showing us Krypton being destroyed which is fair enough as they are doing the whole origin story afterall it does have a knock on affect as it now means that things that should have gotten some of the focus like the relationship between Lex and Superman really can't with the other thing that the film gets a bit wrong is the fact that it does spend far to long in just telling us the origin of Clark as it takes until the very least the forty minuet mark for Christopher Reeve to appear in the suit for the first time with the rest of those forty minuets just being the origin story which is really well shot , written , acted and directed but it's also something that could have done with being trimmed down just a tiny bit.

Thankfully this film does what alot of the more modern Superman live action films fail to do and that's make Superman hopeful. This is something that shouldn't a be foreign concept to modern day filmmakers as Superman is meant to be the eternal optimist who always looks for the best in everyone even if they can't quite see it n themselves yet and yet for some odd reason alot of modern day film makers seem to like making him this miserable character which is not only not who Superman is as a character but it also makes him a really annoying character to watch and yet in this film he is always hopeful and he's always smiling which mean that when he does get truly angry at the end of the film when Lois dies it means something all the more special because of the fact that we audience haven't seen the character be this angry before now and yet if you compare this to Man Of Steel he's never hopeful and and he's always angry and so then he does act out in that film it means nothing as we've seen him act like that all the way throughout the film and the Joss Weadon cut of Justice League for all of it's faults still at the very tried to make Superman a hopeful character again it failed in doing so but there was still an effort made there with this being something that all Superman films be they live action or animated should always strife to do as that's a key aspect of the character and if you get that wrong then your already off on the wrong foot as that's just the first step in getting the character down perfectly something that the makers of this film did on their first go and because of that we got a really great take on the Superman character out of it.

Now then this film has / had an exact grand total running time of exactly two hours and twenty three minuets and sixteen seconds. Which to be fair to this film is a perfectly solid running time for this film but at the same time tho there is no need for this film to be as long as it was as while yes the film does have the right amount of plot there to cover that amount of running time it also has alot of scenes that could have been either cut down or cut out of the film in it's entirety as we don't need to see everything on Krypton before it blows up we just need to see three things the first of which is the planet being destroyed with the second of course being Clark being sent to Earth and the third being the prisoners being sent to the Phantom Zone which even then that'd debatable on if we need to see it in this film as it's more of a seed being planted for the next film and has nothing to do with the plot of this film and they could have cut down on some of stuff from the Smallville part of the film just to the trim the fat down a bit with the film really using it's running time as wisely as it really could have done as the film does develop it's plot as well as it could have dine given just how much that it has to fit in and still a good plot on top of all of that and while yes it would have been nice if the plot of this film did get some more development it really didn't need it in the grand scheme of things with the same thing also being true for the films as outside of Clark , Lois and Lex we really don't get to find out all that much about this films characters which for characters like Jimmy does make sense as he's more of a side character in this film but for characters like Otis and Eve Teschmacher get no character development with the only thing that we find out about Eve Teschmacher is the fact that she has a mother who lives in Hackensack New Jersey and that's really it but I really will admit that this film really does have some really good pacing to it tho.

So now then as this is an action film that really does mean that I have to actually talk about the actual action that's actually feature / presented to us in this very film well then in all honesty I in all honesty personally thought / felt that the actual action that's actually featured / presented to us in this very film was in all honesty really good. While yes granted this film really only has the one action scene throughout the whole film it's a scene that works really well because of the fact that the film has taken it's time and actually let us get to know the characters before something bad truly happens to two of them with the one action scene in the whole entire movie being the destruction of the San Andreas Fault which is something that works as we get to see how it impacts not only several of the films characters but other people be it from kids in a school bus which just so happens to be on the edge of a bridge to a train driver trying to get his train full passengers safely to other side there's always something that means that these people also got affected by Lex's plan with it also being helped by the fact that we get to see Superman truly struggle to be in two places at once as just when he gets rid of one rocket he remembers the other one and so he has to go and do all that work all other again and because he's been busy thinking about the rest of the people of the world he forgot about the one person closest to him that being Lois who is the only tragedy because he couldn't be everywhere at once and in a fit of rage he goes against Jor-El's own rule about not interfering with human history just to save this one person and it's that level of drama and suspense that makes this action the best one in the whole entire film in my freaking opinions anyways / at least.

Overall while t will of course remain to be seen if the new Superman movie will be any good or not one things for it does have some really big huge shoes to fill as while there have been over live action Superman films that have had more action not one of them have come close to matching just how good that this film was and more importantly still is as it's just that good of a film in my freaking opinions anyways / at least. Now then i've talked about all of the good and as well as all of the bad things that are in this very film un this very review and as such that really does mean that this very film really does earn itself a grand old score of exactly an 8.5 out of 10 from me.

Now then as for where I personally got all of the images that I personally used in this very film well then boys an girls and as well as ladies and gentlemen I personally got all of the images that I personally used in this very film from the official DC Universe fandom wiki page , IMP Awards . Com and Google Images. With my personally preferred website to use to get images really from this very film being the really great Google Images this is really because of the fact that really all of the images that I really indeed got and really used from Google Images are all really high quality really with all of the images that really are all and of course really currently up and on the really great and the really solid Google Images really are all being really fairly high in quality and as well as them all really being fairly high in definition.