Superman

Data
Title: Superman
Year: 1978
Length: 143 minutes
Director: Richard Donner
Writers: Mario Puzo, David Newman, Leslie Newman & Robert Benton; story by Puzo; characters by Jerry Siegel & Joe Shuster
Starring: Marlon Brando, Gene Hackman, Christopher Reeve, Margot Kidder
Music: John Williams
Distinctions: Special Academy Award for visual effects; Oscar nominations for Best Score, Best Editing and Best Sound



My reaction
Synopsis: a baby from another galaxy grows up to fight for truth, justice and the American way
How I saw it: on video several times, most recently yesterday (have on DVD)
Concept: Great.
Story: Bad. It starts out so promising... and makes progressively less and less sense as it goes on.
Characters: Indifferent. Superman has frustratingly little personality (although Clark Kent is quite nice), and the villains are all unfunny comedic relief.
Dialog: Bad.
Pacing: Indifferent. I think there are about three movies here, and none of them get enough time to have a fair chance, whilst, and at the same time, the movie is kind of slow.
Cinematography: Good.
Special effects/design: Good. I absolutely love the design, but the special effects get pretty bad.
Acting: Good. They do alright considering what they have to work with.
Music: Indifferent. One of Williams' worst scores.
Subjective Rating: 7/10 (Good). There's a lot wrong with it, but it's fun anyway. And dude, it's a superhero movie in which the superhero actually fights crime! And solves problems that he didn't create himself! Why don't they do that anymore?
Objective Rating: 2.4/4 (Okay)