Superman II

Superman II is a 1980[5][6][7] British superhero film directed by Richard Lester. It is a sequel to the 1978 film Superman and stars Gene Hackman, Christopher Reeve, Terence Stamp, Ned Beatty, Sarah Douglas, Margot Kidder, and Jack O'Halloran. The film was released in Australia and mainland Europe on December 4, 1980,[1] and in other countries throughout 1981. Selected premiere engagements of Superman II were presented in Megasound, a high-impact surround sound system similar to Sensurround.

Superman II is well known for its controversial production. The original director Richard Donner had completed, by his estimation, roughly 75% of the movie in 1977 before being taken off the project. Many of the scenes were shot by second director Richard Lester, who had been an uncredited producer on the first film. However, in order to receive full director's credit, Lester had to shoot up to 51% of the film, which included refilming several sequences originally filmed by Donner. According to statements made by Donner, roughly 25% of the theatrical cut of Superman II contains footage he shot, including all of Gene Hackman's scenes. In 2006, a re-cut of the film was released titled Superman II: The Richard Donner Cut, restoring as much of Donner's original conception as possible including deleted footage of Marlon Brando as Jor-El.

The film received positive reviews from film critics who praised the visual effects and story and was a box office success. Three years after the film's release, a second sequel, Superman III, was released with Lester returning as director.

Plot
Prior to the destruction of Krypton, the criminals General Zod (Terence Stamp), Ursa (Sarah Douglas) and Non (Jack O'Halloran) are sentenced to banishment into the Phantom Zone for insurrection and murder, amongst other crimes.

Years later, the Phantom Zone is shattered near Earth by a shockwave stemming from the detonation of a hydrogen bomb, which had been launched into space by Superman (Christopher Reeve) after foiling a terrorist plot to blow up Paris. The three Kryptonian criminals are freed from the Zone, finding themselves with super-powers granted by the yellow light of Earth's sun. After attacking human astronauts on the Moon and the small town of East Houston,Idaho (which they mistake as being capital city of "Planet Houston" due to NASA's transmissions), the three criminals travel to the White House and force the President of the United States (E.G. Marshall) to kneel before General Zod, on behalf of the entire planet during an international television broadcast. When the President pleads for Superman to save the Earth, Zod demands that Superman come and "kneel before Zod!".

Meanwhile, the Daily Planet sends Clark Kent and Lois Lane (Margot Kidder) to Niagara Falls. After Superman saves a little boy from falling into Niagara Falls, Lois wonders why Superman just happened to be in the area and suspects he and Clark are the same man. She dares Clark to admit he is Superman by jumping into the Niagara Falls river, but Clark manages to save her without exposing any of his abilities. That night, Clark accidentally falls into the room's fireplace, when trying to recover Lois' fallen hairbrush. When Lois discovers that his hand is unburned, Clark is forced to admit he is Superman. He takes her to his Fortress of Solitude in the Arctic, and shows her the traces of his past stored in the energy crystals of the fortress, one of which is the green crystal that created the Fortress and opened Superman's contact with his parents. Superman declares his love for Lois and his wish to spend his life with her. After conferring with the artificial intelligence of his mother, Lara, Superman decides to become a human and removes his superpowers, by exposing himself to red Kryptonian sunlight in a crystal chamber. Clark and Lois become romantically closer, spending the night together. The two leave the Fortress and return from the Arctic by automobile. Arriving at a diner in Metropolis, Clark gets beaten up by a truck driver named Rocky (Pepper Martin). It is there that Clark and Lois learn of Zod's conquest of the world. Realizing that humanity cannot fight Zod themselves, Clark decides to return to the Fortress to try to reverse the transformation.

Lex Luthor (Gene Hackman) escapes from prison with Eve Teschmacher's help, leaving Otis behind. Luthor and Teschmacher find and infiltrate the Fortress of Solitude before Superman and Lois arrive. Luthor learns of Superman's connection to Jor-El and General Zod. He tells Zod about Superman being son of, Jor-El, their jailer, and offers to lead him to the Man of Steel in exchange for control of Australia. The three Kryptonians form an alliance with Luthor and go to the offices of the Daily Planet. Superman arrives, after having found the green crystal and reversing the transformation process, restoring his powers, and battles the three Kryptonians in Metropolis. Zod realizes Superman cares for the innocent humans, and takes advantage of this weakness by threatening bystanders. To protect the civilians and the city, Superman realizes the only way to stop Zod and his crew is to lure them to the Fortress. Superman flies off while Zod, Ursa, and Non pursue him, carrying Lois and Luthor. Upon arrival, Zod declares Luthor has outlived his usefulness and plans to kill both him and Superman. Superman tries to get Luthor to lure the three into the crystal chamber to depower them, but Luthor, eager to get back in Zod's favor, reveals the chamber's secret to the villains. Zod forces Superman into the chamber and activates it. Afterwards, Zod forces Kal-El to kneel before him. Superman does so, and Zod extends his hand. However, when Superman squeezes it, Zod grimaces in pain. Zod realizes too late that Superman reconfigured the chamber to expose the trio to red sunlight, while Superman was protected from it. Superman easily defeats Non and Zod, while Lois knocks Ursa into a pit. Superman flies back to civilization, returning Luthor to prison and Lois home.

At the Daily Planet the following day, Clark finds Lois upset about knowing his secret and not being able to be open about her true feelings because he is Superman. He then kisses her, using his abilities to wipe her mind of her knowledge of the past few days. Later, Clark has a rematch with the truck driver who beat him up earlier and defeats him easily. Superman then restores the damage done by Zod, replacing the flag on top of the White House and promising the President to never let him down again.

Cast
Gene Hackman, Valerie Perrine, Ned Beatty, and E.G. Marshall are the only actors who did not participate in the film's reshoots under the direction of Richard Lester. Where additional shots were needed for continuity, Lester used body doubles in place of the original actors. Marlon Brando's scenes were excised entirely, due to the high fee the actor had demanded for the use of his footage in the film.
 * Gene Hackman as Lex Luthor: Evil criminal genius and Superman's nemesis. Armed with vast resources and scientific brilliance, Luthor's contempt for mankind is only surpassed by his hatred for Superman. Luthor strikes a bargain with the three Kryptonian criminals in an effort to destroy Superman.[7]
 * Christopher Reeve as Clark Kent / Superman: Born on Krypton and raised on Earth, Superman is a being of immense strength, speed and power. Morally upstanding and instilled with a strong sense of duty, Superman tirelessly uses his formidable powers, which he gets from the Earth's yellow sun, to protect the people of his adoptive homeworld. His alter ego is mild-mannered Daily Planet reporter Clark Kent. Superman's abilities include: X-ray and heat vision, vast strength, speed and invulnerability, super-intelligence, flight and the hitherto unknown ability to throw the 'S' symbol from his costume as a plastic trapping device of some description.[7]
 * Ned Beatty as Otis: Luthor's incompetent henchman.
 * Jackie Cooper as Perry White: Mercurial editor-in-chief of the Daily Planet newspaper and Lois and Clark's boss.
 * Sarah Douglas as Ursa: Zod's second-in-command and consort. Ursa's evil will and power-lust are equal to and sometimes surpass those of General Zod's. Her contempt and utter disregard for humans and all life form as well as her twisted taste for destruction make her a very deadly adversary. She has an inclination to collect insignia and heraldry from people she defeats or dominates, such as the NASA patch from the EVA suit of an astronaut she kills.
 * Margot Kidder as Lois Lane: The ace reporter for the Daily Planet and Superman's love interest. Lois, is a driven career journalist, who lets nothing stand in the way of breaking the next big story and scooping rival reporters. While ignoring the potential consequences that sometimes put her in peril. She finds out that Clark is Superman, but her memory is erased when Clark kisses her.
 * Jack O'Halloran as Non: The third of the Kryptonian criminals, Non is "as without thought as he is without voice." At 7 ft (2.1 m) tall, Non is a formidable hulking mute, who easily matches Superman's strength but has the intelligence and sometimes curiosity of a child and communicates only with guttural grunts and growls. Though he lacks the mental ability to use his powers effectively, he does however possess the same taste for destruction as his Kryptonian companions.
 * Valerie Perrine as Eve Teschmacher: Lex Luthor's beautiful assistant and girlfriend who helps Lex Luthor escape from prison.
 * Susannah York as Lara: Jor-El's wife and Superman's biological mother.
 * Clifton James as Sheriff.
 * E.G. Marshall as the President of the United States.
 * Marc McClure as Jimmy Olsen: Teenaged photographer at the Daily Planet.
 * Terence Stamp as General Zod: The ruthless, arrogant and megalomaniacal leader of three Kryptonian criminals banished to the Phantom Zone and unwittingly set free by Superman. Zod, upon landing on Earth and gaining the same super powers as Superman, immediately views humans as a weak and insignificant sub-species and imposes his evil will for world dominance. However, his arrogance causes him to quickly become bored with his powers and he is almost disappointed at how little of a challenge humans are. His insatiable lust for power is replaced however by revenge when he learns that the son of Jor-El stands in the way of his absolute rule of the planet.
 * Richard Griffiths as Terrorist #3
 * John Ratzenberger as NASA Controller #1
 * Shane Rimmer as NASA Controller #2
 * Angus MacInnes as Prison Warden.
 * Antony Sher as Bell Boy.
 * Gordon Rollings as Fisherman.
 * Marcus D'Amico as Willie.
 * Richard LeParmentier as Reporter.
 * Pepper Martin as Rocky.
 * Eugene Lipinski as News Vendor.

According to the 2006 documentary You Will Believe: The Cinematic Saga of Superman, Sarah Douglas was the only cast member to do extensive around-the-world press tours in support of the movie and was one of the few actors who held a neutral point of view in the Donner-Lester controversy.

Richard Donner briefly appears in a "walking cameo" in the film. In the sequence where the de-powered Clark and Lois are seen approaching the truck-stop diner by car, Donner appears walking "camera left" past the driver's side. He is wearing a light tan jacket and appears to be smoking a pipe. In his commentary for Superman II, Ilya Salkind states that the inclusion of his cameo in that scene is proof that the Salkinds held no animosity towards Donner, because if there were, then surely they would have cut it out. Conversely, Donner has used his inclusion in the scene to debunk praise heaped on Lester around the release of the film where Lester took credit for the intense nature of the "bully" scene in the diner, pointing out that he (Donner) filmed the scene and not Lester.