"Superman 2: The Adventure Continues" is by far the best Superman pictures made during the 1980s. The first picture was boring, the third one was for laughs-casting Richard Pryor, while the fourth one….(Well, let's face it. Most people don't even remember there WAS a fourth one).

In the second installment, the title character faces three evil foes from his home planet who were jailed in space by his father Jarel. Meanwhile, Superman falls heavily for Lois Lane and eventually revels himself outside of his Clark Kent persona.

The three evil doers, under the command of General Zod, are released from outer prison by a hydrogen explosion in space, pretty much caused by Superman's own actions. So Superman, wanting to be mortal and of the people of earth so that his sexual escapes with Lois do not kill her (I'm referring to a humorous bit of dialogue in Kevin Smith's film "Mallrats"), he steps into this special Krypton chamber and becomes a normal earth born man. Just in time to realize the President of the US has surrendered the control of the country to Zod and his cohorts.

So in turn, Superman has to march back to the north pole and become a "made" man again, and he only got to tap Lois' ass ONCE. That sucks.

Anyways, the story of the picture reads funny, but it is the most solid plot for Superman to face, especially having very human struggles inside. Similar story plot was included in the recent "Spiderman 2."

Christopher Reeves is of course awesome in his role, and Margot Kidder returns as Lois. However, the absolute greatness of the cast comes from Terrence Stamp as General Zod. His super villain performance was so stupid, and yet acting somewhat lacking in testosterone. Its weird, but makes a strong nemesis for the man of steel. Let's face it, Superman runs around in blue tights, so why not have a supervillan who comes off slightly limp wristed.

Gene Hackman returns as Lex Luther, but his involvement in the story was feeble and not needed. However, Hackman in anything is worthwhile, so I did enjoy seeing him show up. Ned Beatty makes a hapless cameo as his "Superman" one character Otis.

If you haven't seen any of the Superman movies from the 80s, watch the second, the others you can probably miss. However, be warned. It IS an eighties comic book movie, so the visual effects in the show are extremely dated.

Benn - Where's the Humanity?