Superman 5 Film Collection (DVD)

The Superman movies (Reeve) were always a childhood delight, even if the third one is too comedic, and if the fourth one is too much of an attempt to re-make Superman II, and if all of them are dated (the charming saccharine stuff about truth and justice... Ah, for the innocence of those days...).Donner's vision for the Superman films (1 & 2) were ahead of their time. Filmmakers did not want to try putting superheroes onto the big screen, out of reasons of credibility. Yet Donner took the risk, and made a fantastic first outing.He did shoot the first two movies back-to-back. Unfortunately, he was fired, and Superman II was partly re-shot. You can find details all over the internet, and while I overall prefer Donner's vision, some of Richard Lester's alterations were not bad. (Do note, the special edition of II is a "what if", based on existing footage and screen tests. It's not HOW his vision would have fully been, especially as the Paris scenes and spinning around the world to prevent time travel would have been eliminated and used elsewhere respectively.III is Lester's vision, which is a little too campy at times, but still has some substance. In particular is Ross Webster (in what was originally meant for Lex Luthor) wanting to make kryptonite. In the comics, the red kryptonite is what makes Superman go berzerk, whereas in S-III the kryptonite is still green (a pity it wasn't red, since Superman looked decidedly suspicious at the green crystal). III is a mixed bag but is somewhat enjoyable overall...IV feels like a bad remake of S-II, which is unfortunate as it was great to have the full and proper cast back. (With Donner's firing, some of the cast left the franchise or had scenes cut down, but they were persuaded back for IV.) Unfortunately, the mojo just isn't there, and Lex's kid looks is the personification of 1980s fashion (best left unseen unless you're wearing dark sunglasses and coated in SPF-500,000 sunblock...)Pity 'Supergirl" wasn't included...But we've all seen the movies and have varying opinions and I can't hate IV, either.I could spend a day tackling the extras, which pretty much define "definitive".My package came with Superman II and the Donner Cut both slightly popped out of their packaging, but not enough to be bopping around the case to get scratched, and Blu-Ray discs have a coating to prevent scratching.The set I bought has the 3D logo emblazoned on the front and seems to be a US release, based on verbiage on the box. Some have received import sets, but there is no difference - apart from the box design (that I know of). For the <$60 I paid, I don't care that much.The sound quality is top-notch, especially given the limitations of the source material used for recording. As always, John Williams (amongst the others who scored the movies) always set the bar for movie soundtracks high and it's a delight to listen to.The Blu-Ray quality are sharp, as you would expect. Details are fine, compression artifacting is minimal, blacks and grayscale contrasts (shadow detail) are very nice, and grain is remarkably limited. Some grain is good, as too much noise/grain removal strips detail, but for this set they got the balance perfectly. You will see more grain in multi-layered edited scenes (e.g. blue screen with Kypton in the background in the opening of Superman II). But compared to other recent releases (which still get high marks for quality control), the level of grain reduction is handled extremely well, especially in live action scenes requiring little post-production layering.Some scenes do have negative scratches on display - this form of cleanup was well-handled overall, but some got through the restoration process.And some digital enhancing was used to remove wires... It's nice to see some of this type of editing was put into place, meant to keep true to the original production but to remove gaffes. They didn't add CGI fluff in the background just for pointless theatrics.But, especially for III and IV Superman's costume, Clark's denim jeans, and planet Earth were remastered in a teal color rather than the original blue. This is distracting. Some of this might be due to the source material and editing means available in the 1980s, of course. But as some websites pointed out, his outfit had been the proper blue in earlier releases but a deep gorgeous teal for the Blu-Ray release. So far, it's noticeable but not disconcerting, but if they removed wires from Superman, it would have been cool if they remastered all scenes to show as much uniformity between film elements as possible.UPDATE EDIT: I was wrong; Superman II is also afflicted by "the Man of Teal". Color accuracy is incorrect with blues, but the sharpness of the imagery just about makes up for it, IMHO. I wish the mistake hadn't been made, since I don't think this hue adjustment was deliberately made. Especially as some scenes don't show the change as overtly as others.Overall, this is a solid set - if you can handle the occasional blue->teal color shift in Superman's outfit, Clark's denim jeans, and Earth in some of these films, then it's a no-brainer. The overall restoration work, and slew of extras, IMHO, makes this set well-worthwhile despite the technical gaffe.

THE FILMS: Not having seen the Christopher Reeve Superman films before, I was essentially guilted into buying this collection (really, it was my choice to see them in this way). Thank goodness I did get this, though. There are several comic book films that I'd put above these, but I feel like I did myself a service by hunkering down and marathon-ing this Blu-ray set over the course of a month. This set contains the following feature films:- Superman: The Movie (1978)- Superman: The Movie - Expanded Edition (2001)- Superman II (1980)- Superman II: The Richard Donner Cut (2006)- Superman III (1983)- Superman IV: The Quest for Peace (1987)- Superman Returns (2006)For my thoughts on those, you can visit their respective Amazon pages. Both versions of SUPERMAN and SUPERMAN II are listed on the same page, so the review contains both. My general thoughts on the series (1-4) are that while they opened the door for the flood of comic book adaptations that were to come in the following decades, there are aspects which haven't aged as well, namely the lighter tone and some of the special effects. Even still I enjoyed them all, particularly the first two.THE SUPPLEMENTS: Despite only giving entries in the series 3-4 stars, the extra material provided is why I'm giving this set 5 stars. There is just so much stuff for the film fan to dig into. The first four films each have commentaries, with the first two having a separate one for each version. There are also several documentaries, vintage and retrospective, which cover all aspects of production. For me, the retrospective docs were a little more valuable in terms of assessing the successes and failures of the films, as well as providing more detailed information on how they were made. That's not to put down the vintage specials, which did have some behind-the-scenes footage, but they just didn't hold up as well. In particular, the Lorne Michaels-produced 50th Anniversary Special was rather corny and stupid. Still, it's impressive how complete they were in what they included. Additionally, there was a wealth of material not related to the films or their production. Perhaps the most interesting/substantial of these was the theatrical feature SUPERMAN AND THE MOLE-MEN, which served as a pilot for the George Reeves TV series. They also included all 17 Fleischer/Famous Studios Superman animated shorts. While they were well-animated, the subject matter and tone dated them considerably. For SUPERMAN RETURNS, there wasn't any commentary but there was a nearly 3-hour documentary on the making of the film and a short featurette on how they digitally recreated Marlon Brando. There was also roughly 80 minutes of Bryan Singer's video journals he made during production. The most interesting segments, however, were jokes. In one, Bryan Singer "takes over" for Peter Jackson on KING KONG, and the other one has Frank Darabont "replace" Bryan Singer. Otherwise very thorough, if a bit dry at times. However, the crown jewel of the additional material in this anthology set is the Bonus Disc, which has the bulk of the retrospectives. The two biggest explore the history of the Superman character and the production history of the Christopher Reeve films. Lots of great anecdotes and interesting information, particularly for someone who doesn't read comics and hasn't followed the history. The only hole I could find was that they were unable to interview Richard Lester for any of the documentaries. His perspective would have made all of this as complete as possible. There is also a shorter featurette on Superman's cultural influences and role as modern mythology. They wrap things up with a touching tribute to Christopher Reeve and a surreal/stupid, unaired pilot for THE ADVENTURES OF SUPERPUP (which thankfully never went to series). Aside from all I mentioned before, there was the usual extras like deleted/extended scenes and trailers.OVERALL: Say what you will about the films themselves, which have become a pillar of pop culture and continue to be loved/reviled to this day. I certainly enjoyed watching them for the first time, and look forward to rewatching them in the future. What really makes this set worth your money is the care that went into the films' restoration (they look stunningly good) and the material provided to supplement them. I'd be hard-pressed to come up with a better Blu-ray set that I've so enthusiastically delved into. And, for those who worry about such things, the actual physical set is well-constructed. It comes in a slip-case and the inside container opens up with four separate compartments that house two discs each. Honestly, I prefer when they have cases with "pages" with one disc per side, but the spacing between each disc is sufficient so that they don't touch each other. If you're a Superman fan or like comic books movies in general, I could not more highly recommend this set. It will be money well-spent.

Good price on the movie and liked it