The Complete Superman Movies Collection (4 Discs)

This box-set has all Christopher Reeve's incarnations of the man of steel
SUPERMAN 1978.
By far the best of the Christoher Reeve movies.
The film set a bench mark of all comic book to movies that followed that few could match.
A perfect comic book adaption.
*****
SUPERMAN II 1980
This sequel has more action than the first film, but lacks the emotional core that made the original so special, but is a rousing conclusion to the story set up in part one.
****
SUPERMAN III 1983
This is where it started to go wrong, with no Gene Hackman as Lex Luthor there was something seriouse missing in this third outing, even Comic Legend Richard Pryor can not liven up this outing. The film is saved by another strong turn by Reeve and some good action sequences, and also the part where Superman turns bad.
But the slapstick comedy is out of place with the previouse two movies and does grate.
With it's faults the film is still entertaining.
***
SUPERMAN IV 1986
This is a very poor final outing for Christopher Reeve,
The film was a cut budget offering, and you can tell, with it's poor special effects and poor script.
You can tell that the film was butchered in the editing process, and there is rumour of the directors cut to surface in the future. But as the film stands it is a insult to the original, even the welcome return of Gene Hackman as Lex Luthor cannot do anything to save this mess.
**

It's a real shame the series had to end with such a stinker. But if you have to complete your Superman collection this is the cheapest way to do it, but the box-set is let down by a seriouse lack of extra features.
If you want to collect the series in style, then save your money and buy the Excellent 7 disc or the superb 9 disc box-set that have all 5 movies including the brilliant SUPERMAN RETURNS, and the Richard Donner version of SUPERMAN II, plus hours of bonus features.
As a stand alone box-set it's good value but nothing super!

This box-set has all Christopher Reeve's incarnations of the man of steel
SUPERMAN 1978.
By far the best of the Christoher Reeve movies.
The film set a bench mark of all comic book to movies that followed that few could match.
A perfect comic book adaption.
*****
SUPERMAN II 1980
This sequel has more action than the first film, but lacks the emotional core that made the original so special, but is a rousing conclusion to the story set up in part one.
****
SUPERMAN III 1983
This is where it started to go wrong, with no Gene Hackman as Lex Luthor there was something seriouse missing in this third outing, even Comic Legend Richard Pryor can not liven up this outing. The film is saved by another strong turn by Reeve and some good action sequences, and also the part where Superman turns bad.
But the slapstick comedy is out of place with the previouse two movies and does grate.
With it's faults the film is still entertaining.
***
SUPERMAN IV 1986
This is a very poor final outing for Christopher Reeve,
The film was a cut budget offering, and you can tell, with it's poor special effects and poor script.
You can tell that the film was butchered in the editing process, and there is rumour of the directors cut to surface in the future. But as the film stands it is a insult to the original, even the welcome return of Gene Hackman as Lex Luthor cannot do anything to save this mess.
**

It's a real shame the series had to end with such a stinker. But if you have to complete your Superman collection this is the cheapest way to do it, but the box-set is let down by a seriouse lack of extra features.
If you want to collect the series in style, then save your money and buy the Excellent 7 disc or the superb 9 disc box-set that have all 5 movies including the brilliant SUPERMAN RETURNS, and the Richard Donner version of SUPERMAN II, plus hours of bonus features.
As a stand alone box-set it's good value but nothing super!

I've been meaning to see these movies for a while, so when the chance came up to buy all of them, I had to go for it. I have already seen Superman 1 and 2 and they are both great. This review would have been 5 stars if it wasn't for Superman 3 and 4.

I personally felt that Superman 3 was the weakest of the series, with Superman 4 not far behind. The first main problem the Superman 3 is that Lex Luthor is not in it, he brought a bit of comedy to the films with him proclaiming that 'he is the greatest criminal mind of our time' and so on, but without him in it, the movie seemed a bit bland.

Another thing about Superman 3 is that we get to see his dark side, which sounds good on paper, but it isn't pulled off very well and the fight between bad Superman and Clarke Kent is laughable (for the wrong reason) and drags on too long.

Superman 4 sort of made up for the shocker that was Superman 3, but not by a lot. The best bit is that Lex Luthor is in it, so that relates it more to the first two films, but thanks to a sub-par supervillain in the form of Nuclear-Man. But Superman 4 also gets bonus points because it sends a message out about nuclear weapons, and I found that it worked quite well because it was woven into the story and not thrown together as an afterthought.

Overall, this boxset gets 4 stars. The first two films are excellent, Superman 3 was a huge dissapointment, and Superman 4 was also a dissapointment, but it was at least better than Superman 3.

Admittedly this is the most basic set of the 4 Reeve films (serious fans may want to get the more expensive one with the various different cuts of the films) it is very good value if all you want to do is just watch them. Superman 1 is actually the extended version available in the other packages so it has a couple of additional scenes to the version released in the cinemas in 1978. Superman 1 also has a good set of extras including a recent interesting documentary about the making of the film, screen tests for actresses to play Lois Lane and a commentary track. Superman 2,3 & 4 just have the basic film and trailers. The film prints are all fine too as is the sound so its good value for the price.

In fact the only real problem that none of the various packages can overcome is the quality of the actual films. Superman 1 & 2 are awesome stories and are still great fun to watch. Christopher Reeve is perfectly cast in the title role and pulls it off magnificently. The support cast are all great too (Margot Kidder, Gene Hackman, Ned Beatty, Brando and a wonderful performance from Terence Stamp in Superman 2). Superman 3 is looking a little dated now and Richard Pryor seems a little out of place in it, but it does have some great moments that make it watchable (the junkyard fight is truly spectacular and is the scene everyone remembers). Superman 4 is a horrible mess caused partly by the budget being slashed in half just before filming began. This results in some rotten special effects, a really laughable supervillain and a feeling that this could have been a decent film if the Salkinds (the producers of the first three) hadn't bailed out and sold the rights to Cannon Films, producers of low budget Chuck Norris and early Van Damme adventures. Still i suppose it is necessary to include Superman 4 just to make the set complete. And it must be said that whatever the faults of Superman 4, Reeve and Kidder still maintain their dignity with solid performances.

On the whole this set is worth buying if you aren't too fussed by missing the extras on the other 3 films.

Christopher reeves was perfectly cast as the man of steel.Love the first three films,but the fourth is disappointing.They just dont make them like this anymore!