Raised by humans, a young man with superpowers of alien origin moves to the city and becomes a reporter, disguising the fact that he’s there to stop evil forces as the soon to be famous superhero, Superman.
I’m not the biggest superhero fan. I like a few films about them here and there, but I’m not ever going to be the first person in line at an Avengers film or screaming my head off with every new movie announcement. To each their own, I suppose. But for me, in order to like a superhero film, it has to be so much more than just a string of fight sequences and special powers being thrown into a messy plot with a lot of explosions and special effects. It has to have a heart. And that’s what Superman manages to do perfectly.
Directed by genre boundary breaking director Richard Donner, who managed to do fantastic horror in The Omen and even better Christmas comedy in Scrooged, Superman was an all out groundbreaker, defining what it means to be a superhero movie for decades to come and setting the highest of precedents that still manages to hold up almost 50 years later. While there had been previous adaptations of the source character created by Jerry Siegel and Joe Shuster, none of them were of quite the same caliber as Superman came to be, and you would be hard pressed to find a more pivotal moment in the history of not only superhero films, but graphic novel adaptations as a whole. Superman is a story that has been emulated over and over, but could never be duplicated, and it’s a testament to the talents of everyone involved that it managed to be such a truly phenomenal film.
But the film would be nothing without Christopher Reeve. One of my all time favorite actors, Reeve brought both sides of Superman and Clark Kent to life with such ease and beauty that it’s tempting to say no one has lived up to this portrayal in any adaptation since. He IS Superman, and the bar was set so high by his interpretation of the character that everyone who superseded him has been but an imitation at best. Accompanied by an ensemble cast including the likes of Marlon Brando, Margot Kidder, Gene Hackman, and Ned Beatty, you can’t find this much talent on display easily, and the powerhouse talent shines through the screen and continues to do so even now. The chemistry between Reeve and Kidder is tangible and romantic, the palpable tension with Hackman’s Lex Luthor is divine, and every character is well crafted and solid.
With groundbreaking special effects that, for their time, really rocked the world with how Superman’s powers were showcased, and an iconic score that still stands the test of time, Superman is the pinnacle of superhero films, and for good reason. It’s breathtaking, and for a film made in 1978, it still somehow looks pretty damn good.
In the very first big screen adaptation of Clark Kent, the film knocks it out of the park, setting the precedent for every future installment in the franchise, and in the genre, making Superman a staple in cinema for decades. And rightfully so.