The Superman Motion Picture Anthology Review

• 14th Jun 2011

Let us not waste any time. This Blu-ray set offers 8 discs crammed with material: from the Christopher Reeve films to Bryan Singer’s belated semi-sequel. This set comes with so many goodies you’d be hard pressed to find a set that compares (Ok so The Alien Anthology is up there).

So let’s have a look: The first film is still a classic and tells us the origin tale. There is the theatrical and directors cut of the film on separate discs.  Both have a separate Commentary track as well as long documentaries on the making of this original as well as some added screen tests, deleted scenes and a few cartoons! The visual quality of both versions is very impressive. The films already got the treatment before, but they have been upgraded to Blu-ray Standards which is always helpful.

Superman II also comes with two versions. The theatrical, and then the Richard Donner cut having finally had his way – thanks to fan support on the internet. See it does work to ask in mass for things you want. His cut is shorter, trimming away most of the fluff he did not film, and even offers plenty of alternative shots, edits and even entire scenes. Superman II was never a bad film even in its original version though, so this offers fans a unique decent alternative to an already alternative film.

The Donner disc also has a behind the scenes of the making of this cut. And it looks like many a man hour was spent on it. There is also a wide variety of deleted material, retro making of material and a ton of Fleischer cartoons. Both films again have separate Commentary tracks (while the producers tracks are just fine, we highly recommend the Donner and consultant, Tom Mankiewicz on both of the two films they worked on).

Superman III, still underrated to this day, and Superman IV are present on single disc editions. They each have a commentary track – but very little else. It seems getting the special treatment is left only to the films that are considered great. This is a shame, as further depth reveals what may have gone wrong, or what could have been for these films (Thinking about it – they might have also offered Supergirl which does exist in this universe and was made by the same company as the early films). Both III and IV look great with the exception of stock footage used.  Stock footage and matte painting really can destroy the look of your film. And Blu-ray does very little to help your picture quality in terms of old grainy footage. It’s a bit of a distraction on a big screen, but otherwise the natural footage shot for the film does look and sound good.

And then there is Bryan Singers Superman Returns. The film itself is perhaps a little on the long side, but does tie in better than it had a right to with the previous films. This release comes with the same extras as the DVD release and perhaps the a couple more but we didn’t have a disc to review for this. On further research; it is worth noting that Superman Returns hasn’t been given the polish job the older films have.

The final disc houses much of the bonus material. Up in the Sky documentary is a two hour start to finish look at Superman’s history. There is also a five part saga looking at the cinematic adventures. Again – most of the focus going on the first two parts – with some repetition from the original documentary. There are few other featurettes including a tribute to the late great Christopher Reeve who remains the best so far.

Superman fans won’t want to miss this box set as it is likely to be the one crammed with the most bonus features for a long while to come.  Anyone that bought the DVD set may want to take caution as there is very little extra here.  But completists will want to upgrade for the better picture and sound quality. Plus there is less discs to jump around between (13 last time round!) – and the price is hardly breaking the bank. So considering what you get this is an absolute steal.

Now all we have to do is wait for The Man of Steel to hit theatres in the near future. And then we can start all over again.

Steven Hurst