I'm a huge fan of the Superman franchise. While never really being a big comic book fan I consider the 1978 film with Christopher Reeve to not only be the best comic book film (notice I didn't say adaptation) ever, but one of my favourite films of all time.
Of course the sequel turned into a bit of a disaster with Richard Donner being unceremoniously kicked off the film and Mark Lester taking over. And that whole situation didn't rectify itself until just a few years ago when the Richard Donner cut was released on DVD.
The boxset it was released on included almost everything. The first 4 films, Superman Returns, hours of documentary material, even the pilot episode of Superpup - a 1958 TV show that had little people dressed as Superman universe characters but dogs. Surprisingly the show was never aired.
But the one thing the set was missing was Supergirl. Strange, as it is mentioned during the documentaries and was re-released at the time. I decided to go back and have a look and see if it was as bad as everyone remembers.
It's not. Obviously, it's not brilliant and along with Superman III and IV, it was one of the biggest follies of the 80s, but it's not THAT bad. Probably on a par with the third Superman film. The fourth of course occupies another realm of suck.
The plot concerns Kara-El (Supergirl, played by Helen Slater) and her quest to return an orb which is the power source for a group of Kryptonian survivors. Obviously the orb goes to Earth and ends up in the hands of Selena (Faye Dunaway) who is in tune with the occult and harnesses its power in a attempt to take over the world.
One of the main problems with the film is something I guess they could do nothing about, but at least they could have not done it so much. And that is mention Superman. Kara-El is Superman's niece so this happens quite a bit. Everytime it does I was just reminded of better films, and how much better they were than this. And referencing these films repeatedly was bad enough but there was absolutely no need to further remind viewers by having Jimmy Olsen (Marc Mclure) in it.
Another downside is the cast totally phone it in. Slater is fine as Supergirl but Dunaway, Peter O' Toole, Mia Farrow and Peter Cook (who I can only assume was angling for some of Dudley Moore's Hollywood fame) all look like they don't want to be there. You can see why the makers pumped these big names into it with a unknown as the titular character - look at Marlon Brando in Superman. But I guess it was a case of them just looking at the script - it was never going to set the world on fire and you can understand why Christopher Reeve dropped out of a cameo appearance at the last minute.
The score also grated on my nerves a touch. While you are never going to top John Williams there is no need to include a headache inducing keyboard stroke to signify 'launching into flight', a true sign of the decade in which it was made.
The films runs along at an OK pace (although it could do with a ten or fifteen minute trim which apparently it had at one point), with some watchable action sequences but it's all pretty pointless by the end. I can't see how the filmmakers (including director Jeannot Szwarc, fresh off Jaws 2 and about to make another big flop in Santa Claus: The Movie) thought this was a franchise making film. Maybe it's the weakness of the characters - no one in the last decade has tried to reboot it, and this is saying something for the remake mad generation we live in.
**
Not as bad as everyone makes out. Watchable, if overlong stuff. But constant reminders of the better films in the franchise and a starry cast on autopilot make this a Superflop.
Of course the sequel turned into a bit of a disaster with Richard Donner being unceremoniously kicked off the film and Mark Lester taking over. And that whole situation didn't rectify itself until just a few years ago when the Richard Donner cut was released on DVD.
The boxset it was released on included almost everything. The first 4 films, Superman Returns, hours of documentary material, even the pilot episode of Superpup - a 1958 TV show that had little people dressed as Superman universe characters but dogs. Surprisingly the show was never aired.
But the one thing the set was missing was Supergirl. Strange, as it is mentioned during the documentaries and was re-released at the time. I decided to go back and have a look and see if it was as bad as everyone remembers.
It's not. Obviously, it's not brilliant and along with Superman III and IV, it was one of the biggest follies of the 80s, but it's not THAT bad. Probably on a par with the third Superman film. The fourth of course occupies another realm of suck.
The plot concerns Kara-El (Supergirl, played by Helen Slater) and her quest to return an orb which is the power source for a group of Kryptonian survivors. Obviously the orb goes to Earth and ends up in the hands of Selena (Faye Dunaway) who is in tune with the occult and harnesses its power in a attempt to take over the world.
One of the main problems with the film is something I guess they could do nothing about, but at least they could have not done it so much. And that is mention Superman. Kara-El is Superman's niece so this happens quite a bit. Everytime it does I was just reminded of better films, and how much better they were than this. And referencing these films repeatedly was bad enough but there was absolutely no need to further remind viewers by having Jimmy Olsen (Marc Mclure) in it.
Another downside is the cast totally phone it in. Slater is fine as Supergirl but Dunaway, Peter O' Toole, Mia Farrow and Peter Cook (who I can only assume was angling for some of Dudley Moore's Hollywood fame) all look like they don't want to be there. You can see why the makers pumped these big names into it with a unknown as the titular character - look at Marlon Brando in Superman. But I guess it was a case of them just looking at the script - it was never going to set the world on fire and you can understand why Christopher Reeve dropped out of a cameo appearance at the last minute.
The score also grated on my nerves a touch. While you are never going to top John Williams there is no need to include a headache inducing keyboard stroke to signify 'launching into flight', a true sign of the decade in which it was made.
The films runs along at an OK pace (although it could do with a ten or fifteen minute trim which apparently it had at one point), with some watchable action sequences but it's all pretty pointless by the end. I can't see how the filmmakers (including director Jeannot Szwarc, fresh off Jaws 2 and about to make another big flop in Santa Claus: The Movie) thought this was a franchise making film. Maybe it's the weakness of the characters - no one in the last decade has tried to reboot it, and this is saying something for the remake mad generation we live in.
**
Not as bad as everyone makes out. Watchable, if overlong stuff. But constant reminders of the better films in the franchise and a starry cast on autopilot make this a Superflop.
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