The distinctive music, the opening credits come flying at you through space, then the march and all the rest. This is superman, the first true sequel to the original first two films (and with the plot contiunuity to match). The actor looks and acts like Clarke and Superman as portrayed by Christopher Reeve, the guy behind the music is a fan since a kid of the old John Williams score, and the director gives all signs of being a fan-boy himself. With all this going, how can it miss? Easy, it didn't.

Picking up in the spirit of the first two movies (and discounting 3 and 4 as throw away trash), this is a real movie, a real Superman movie. Lex is bad and bald, Supes is heroic, the heroics are all truly heroic, the threats are real, and the plot works very well. Emotion crosses with a world-threatening plot by Superman's most deadly enemy, Lex Luthor, to give us a true and worthy tribute to the original movie and comics.

In an age of soaring thater prices, this is one of the few that you should actually see on the Big Screen.