Richard Donner's big-budget blockbuster Superman is an immensely entertaining recounting of the origin of the famous comic book character. Opening on Krypton with Jor-El sending three criminals into outer space (this comes into play in the second) the film follows the Man of Steel as he's sent to Earth where he develops his alter-ego Clark Kent and is raised by a Midwestern family. In no time, the movie has run through his teenage years and Clark gets a job at the Daily Planet, where he is a news reporter. It's there that he falls in love with Lois Lane, who is already in love with Superman. But the love story is quickly sidetracked once the villainous Lex Luthor launches a diabolical plan to conquer the world and kill Superman. This film, which has solid acting, writing and directing, is quite good. My only complaint is that there's a scene where Lex Luthor uses fire, ice and bullets on Superman. Exactly why this scene is here is a good question since it makes absolutely no sense. On a side note, this film and Richard Donnor's director's cut of its sequel are two of the few movies Marlon Brando been in in which he actually acts, even if he is only a supporting role in these ones. In fact, after these two films, Marlon Brando stops acting all together.