Superman: The Movie DVD: Review By incmob

Superman, a beloved classic starring the charming Christopher Reeves, the energetic Margot Kidder, the devious, and provocative Gene Hackman, and Directed by Richard Donner, is still a testament of how a great superhero film should be made. At the time in 1978 superhero films, were not films that saturated the market, like the next century has done courtesy of improved effects, and better story telling. After finally winning the High definition war, which could have closely been compared to the duel in superman II, Blu ray conquered, and became the next phase of home entertainment, since dvd had taken over from vhs, in 1995.

I felt that for the first film on viewing on my new player, just recently purchased, i would make it an event, and chose the first superman film to witness just how good blu ray definition is.

As the double edged sword line famously said by gene hackman states "It's kryptonite, Superman. Little souvenir from the old home town. I spared no expense to make you feel right at home."

with that i say that superman has never looked better in high def 1080p. my lcd is only 60hrtz, so i am not sure the difference would make at 120 or even 240 for that matter, but it is absoloutely a beautiful crisp viewing. outlines are very clear, and the colors radiate as if the characters are only inches from you. I do not have a home entertainment audio setup but i imagine if i did, the sound would be clear, and intense, because the sound from the lcd's speakers sound great just the way they are.

The film still plays out like it is 1978, with bellbottom wearing actors, and late 70's cars driving through the streets, but i am not one to criticize a films value based on currency.

The film is still enjoyable to watch. the flirtation and chemistry kidder and reeves have, the amazing opening sequences of the council banishing zod, ursa and non to the phantom zone, the early meaningful scenes of clark and pa kent, the deviance of lex luthor, well... its all here and looks great... but...

And it is a very small but, but something that stands out, and seems to tarnish some of the imagery of the film for me is the flying scenes with superman. Reeves clear as can be, is distracted most of the time by the shoddy film stock behind him. Granted, it was film stock, and although with standard def, blends the two together beautifully, i cant help but feeling that the scenes, well... look a bit on the fake scale. If indeed i did believe a man could fly in 1980 when i first viewed the film, or even in 2006 when i bought the anthology on dvd, i have to start doubting if he really was flying. Unfortunately we all know the answer to that, but does not keep me from finding the beauty in the film, maybe even more than i originally had.

Pros:

Clean lines

high resolution

audio clear, and remastered

colors vibrant

little to no grain

still a great film

great commentary

integrated deleted scenes (although not necessary, are a plus in the pros side)

Cons:

blue screen effects