Superman

Directed by Richard Donner, Superman follows Christopher Reeve’s title character as he attempts to prevent the nefarious Lex Luthor (Gene Hackman) from decimating the Californian coast. Filmmaker Donner, armed with a script by Mario Puzo, David Newman, Leslie Newman, and Robert Benton, delivers a slow-moving yet predominantly engaging superhero picture that benefits from its emphasis on character development over spectacle, as the narrative, which spends almost a full hour on Superman’s origin story, is generally focused on the individual exploits of its various protagonists (and antagonists) within a decidedly episodic atmosphere – with the ensuing lack of propulsive forward momentum, as a result, rarely as problematic as one might’ve anticipated. (It’s equally clear, however, that the movie does suffer from a number of stretches that could and should have been streamlined, with this particularly true of a fairly tiresome sequence detailing Superman’s night flight with Margot Kidder’s Lois Lane.) The introduction of actual stakes within the film’s exciting third act, coupled with a fairly bonkers twist involving Superman’s time-travel abilities, ensures that the whole thing concludes on a decidedly positive, memorable note, which ultimately does secure Superman‘s place as a better-than-average comic-book adaptation that’s aged relatively well in the years since its 1978 theatrical release. (And this is to say nothing of the across-the-board superb performances, especially Reeve’s compelling, heartfelt turn as the legendary Man of Steel.)

*** out of ****