Techtite's DVD Reviews!

The Complete 

Superman Collection!

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A Techtite Review

[Note: links to order each film, individually, follow this review...]

This is a collection long in waiting. Is it worth it? Well, for fans of the first Superman film, I'd say that's a very likely "yes". I think I ranted enough in my review of the Superman 1 DVD , as well as my review of the Superman 2 DVD (if purchased individually), so I won't repeat myself here. However, the question remains: are the sequels worth buying the whole collection? This is up to anyone's opinion; I say, YES.

First of all, the good news; all DVDs are in widescreen format, top-notch sound, and with perfect film-to-digital transfer. Making the purchase even sweeter, is an admirable reflective-foil colored collectors box to keep them in, that looks almost like something a citizen of Krypton would have on his own shelf. However, admittedly, that's all there is to the collection (more gripes on that, later)...

You'll notice that, while I have an individual review for the first and second films, I don't for the others. That is because the whole film series took a deep downward spiral afterwards. Desires for a respectable, "epic" look to Superman were left behind, to make way for a slapstick farce. Oscar-Winning composer John Williams was replaced by Ken Thorne, conducting music  merely cheaply based on Williams' original material (making the music sound, quite obviously, like a cheap knockoff duplication). Richard Donner, who directed the first film, was replaced with Richard Lester, who apparently, desired slapstick over action and suspense. BIG mistake.

However, I should discuss the collection at hand. Here's a list of the DVDs included (click on titles for more elaborate reviews for those films, where applicable) :

• Superman 1 (aka Superman: The Movie), a definite Deep Impact, as reviewed by Techtite, in full, here.
• Superman 2,  Perhaps one of the best sequels of all time, as also reviewed by Techtite in full, here. In a nutshell, this is another worthy Deep Impact.
• Superman 3. WHAT WERE THEY THINKING?!? Suddenly and inexplicably, Superman is little more than a slapstick comedy pratfall rodeo clown (hey, I can only call them as I see them). Richard Pryor joins the fray, as a bumbling computer whiz who seems to be on hand merely to act goofy, wail a lot, and bug out his eyes whenever Superman does something sort-of-cool. Top it all off with the main nemesis; a master computer which sounds way too much like an old Atari 2600 playing Pac-Man (ever play Pac-Man on the Atari 2600? Auugh!). As much as it pains me to say it, this worthless "sequel" rates a drop-bottom Burnout.
• Superman 4: The Quest For Peace. Christopher Reeve's own desires to teach an anti-war message to kids, led to this lonely "quest," for...one...more...tolerable sequel. This movie, done by yet another new director (Sidney Furie) was cute, when pitting Superman against the walking reject of Children's Afterschool Specials, "Nuclear Man." Well, such childlike innocence in scripting was part of its charm, I guess. Critics liked it much more than Superman 3, though even a barrel with a crumb in it is better than one that's empty. As for me, while it's still very below-par compared to the first films, the do-it-for-the-kids undertones demands a marginal-thumbs-up rating; Small Crater.

You'll also notice this DVD review, unlike other reviews, has no separate section to describe exclusive DVD features. That's because there aren't any, aside from the ones on the Superman 1 disc (as I already stated elsewhere). Is anything added to the other discs in the collection? No. Is there a "bonus" disc, with special materials not available without this collector's set? No. The only additions are each film's original film trailer, though this is miniscule.

Which leads to the inevitable question: Should you get the collection, or just get your favorite Superman film individually? Well, if you're going to buy Superman 1 and 2, and would ever consider watching the critically-approved Superman 4 with your young kids, I say get the collection. It's currently priced at a buy-3-get-one-free value, which means you'd get Superman 3 for free, anyway, and you even get a cool, snazzy looking box to keep them all in. That's not bad, right? Suffice to say, this is one of the reasons I bought the collection myself.

	Final Rating : Large Crater. Essentially, two top-notch films (1 & 2) are packaged with their two low-grade sequels (3 & 4). However, if you're a film collector, this is the collection to buy! If you can get the collection affordably, like I did, then Superman 3&4 are practically given for "free," anyway.
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 Click the picture to order this DVD collection

Techtite also recommends: 

Superman: The Movie - Original Soundtrack CD

If you'd rather buy the films individually, click the titles/links:

Superman - The Movie (Special Edition)

Superman II

Superman III (are you sure...? Okay; here's the link...)

Superman IV - The Quest for Peace 

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