#christopherreeve

Remember back in 1981 when critics were falling over themselves saying Superman II was this massive improvement over the first one? You probably don’t — but thankfully, there’s a blog called Superheroes Every Day that documents this painful chapter in cinema history.

These critics were acting like Richard Lester had reinvented cinema. TIME Magazine’s Richard Schickel calls it “that rarity of rarities—a sequel that readily surpasses the original.”

Yeah? You mean the sequel where Superman throws a giant cellophane S 🩻 at the villains? That thing flops off his chest like he’s peeling a Fruit Roll-Up, lasts about three seconds, and does nothing. That’s your masterpiece?

Then there’s New York Magazine’s David Denby, saying “All is well” now that Lester’s in charge. Right — because “all is well” when a guy in a red sequin vest is roller-skating backward 🎭 through hurricane-force wind. Zod and friends are tearing Metropolis apart, cars flying everywhere — and Lester cuts to a street performer doing slapstick in reverse. The city’s under attack, but the movie’s doing cabaret.

And don’t forget the guy in the phone booth ☎️. The villains are literally creating gale-force chaos, the booth’s getting ripped off the street, the poor guy’s spinning sideways — and he’s still yelling into the receiver like, “Hold on, I’m losing you!” Lester’s idea of peril is a man refusing to hang up while the world ends.