Quickie Movie Review: "Superman: The Movie"

Rated: PG for peril, some mild sensuality, and language
Starring: Christopher Reeve, Margot Kidder, and Marlon Brando
Released: 1978 (theaters)

Synopsis: The lone survivor of the doomed planet Krypton, Kal-El (Christopher Reeve) is sent to Earth as a baby and grows up in a small town.  When he grows up, he becomes a reporter for the Daily Planet...as well as the high-flying superhero Superman, a defender of all things good.  When dastardly Lex Luthor (Gene Hackman) learns of this new do-gooder, he'll stop at nothing to stop him, even putting millions of innocent people at risk to fulfill his plan.  Will Kal-El be able to hold up truth, justice, and the American way?

My Review: This may not have been the very first superhero motion picture, but it introduced the genre as we know it today.  It mostly works, though there are some dumb sequences, such as how Lex and crew figure out how Kryptonite is Superman's weakness.  (Just a flash realization? What sense does that make?) Still, comic-book-movie fans may enjoy this, although most of them have likely already seen it.

Content Concerns:

• Sex: Mild kissing.  Superman takes a look at Lois' underwear with his X-ray vision. 4/5
• Nudity: A female character wears two different low-cut outfits.  A baby boy's private area is seen. 4/5
• Language: Two d-words, five h-words, and one use each of the a-word and s-word.  "Gee" and "golly" are used a time or two. 3/5
• Violence: A planet explodes, killing millions of people; Superman is shot at, frozen, and cast into the fire, but still unhurt; an extended sequence features a character dying as a result of a earthquake trapping her in her car; a wire wraps around a helicopter, causing a near-fatal crash; a guy is killed by a train; etc., and none of it is bloody or gory. 2/5
• Drugs: Two characters smoke; another character starts to, but Superman tells her she shouldn't, and she doesn't. 4/5
• Frightening/Intense Sequences: Along with what was mentioned under "Violence," a character dies rather suddenly, and the scene where some Kryptonians get sentenced to the Phantom Zone might be upsetting. 2/5

Score: 3.5/5