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Superman 2 / Superman 2 - The Richard Donner Cut (3 Disc Special Edition) [1980]


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THE edition i always wanted to see!
Review date: 2008-10-02 Rating: 10 out of 10

This has indeed been a very long wait and being a Brando fan extremely 'worthwhile' While the early Brando scenes are purely functional, there's some real emotional power in his final scene and the film is so much more enjoyable to watch! excellent and i can now forget the previous superman II

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Reviews


"Let me put it this way...all the good parts of Superman II are mine." - Richard Donner, 1989
Review date: 2008-08-14 Rating: 10 out of 10

It's a long story, but 26 years after it was filmed, Richard Donner's version of Superman II has finally been unleashed on the world. Donner had already shot 70% of the movie when the Salkinds, notorious control freaks and owners of the franchise, fired him, hiring comedy hack Richard Lester to finish the movie. The Superman II that hit theatres was a camp, overblown comic-strip made flesh, dragged down by buffoonish villains lacking menace, and incongruous slapstick that defused the film's power in popcorn. Richard Lester reshot about three quarters of the movie, and made it lesser - he also worked his `magic' on Superman III, with even poorer results. Superman II: The Richard Donner Cut is not just an alternate version of the film - it is, to all intents and purposes, a new movie. Almost every shot, and every line of dialogue, is a different take, a new angle, or an alternate reading of the now well-known lines.

The tone of the film overall is nearer Donner's original Superman film instead of Lester's sequel: in this version, the villians aren't a camp gang of flying Black-Satin Village People, but a trio of bad tempered, contemptuous monsters. The jokey tone - the overblown slapstick of flying wigs, ice creams, telephone boxes and nudge-nudge wink-wink innuendo - is dispensed with. Quite how anyone could have looked at this footage and thought it could be improved by adding the sci-fi equivalent of wee jokes is testament to the fact that film-makers and not accountants should make movies.

The scenes shot by the frankly ham fisted Richard Lester, replete with unsubtle 'comedy' and blunt, clichéd dialogue, have been drastically castrated and re-edited with brutal, bleak efficiency. In cases where Lester reshot footage, the Donner version tends to be used wherever possible. There are still a couple of issues that can't be fixed due to the fact that they were never filmed, and some footage is even taken from early audition tapes, but these minor quibbles aside, the new version is a coherent, superior vision. The re-inclusion of scenes shot with Marlon Brando as Jor-El are worth their weight in gold - it's an insult to think they were originally cut and replaced with scenes of Superman's Mum over a pay dispute - and go some way in plugging the plot holes that Lester's daft version left gaping.

There are a couple of moments from the Lester cut that I would see inserted into this version of the film to make it, in my eyes, the definitive cut, namely the Parisian opening and the short scene involving Mount Rushmore. Whether the new ending is the right choice for the film is up for debate, but it seems to be, in the circumstances, the best available choice. As far as the rest of the film is concerned, the Donner version comes up trumps over Lester every single time. To cut a short story long, if you like movies and if you like Superman II, you'll find Richard Donner's version is a superior experience, and as close to a definitive version of this film as you can get. It's a shame that we can't give him a time machine and get him to go and sort out Superman III and IV.

There wasn't a comic book adaptation as good as this until "The Dark Knight", 28 years later

Kneel before Zod!
Review date: 2008-06-01 Rating: 10 out of 10

Okay here's how it works: Richard Donner and the producers of the Superman films fell out. As a result, Donner did not complete Superman 2 and in order for the producers to be able to claim that Donner was not the director, Richard Lester had to film a certain amount of scenes, which meant that some of Donner's footage was thrown out. Years later, people reassemble Donner's footage and based on his notes try to put together the film he would have made.

Now, I am a huge fan of Superman 2, the story of Superman's conflict with the Kryptonian criminals and Lois Lane's discovery of Superman's dual identity. The first film you get is the one that you've watched on Bank Holidays. It is a lot of fun, very knockabout and irreverent, but it has a couple of plot holes and it has the Kryptonians displaying powers that seem a little off. I still love it though. Then you get the Donner version. This is not quite the film Donner would have made because it wasn't finished but it gives you a good idea of it. And it is still highly enjoyable. It removes the plot holes (such as how Superman gets his powers back), makes Lois more intelligent and has the wonderful scene between Clark and Jor-El. That's a great scene. It's much the same story, but staged differently.

So which film is better? I dunno. I like them both. There are scenes in Lester's film, like the Eiffel Tower bit or the bit where Clark burns his hand, that I love. Similarly there are bits in Donner's film that I love too. However, there are also bits in both films that could be improved on. In fact, if there was a way to edit together your own version of the film, that would be perfect. Simply the fact that we get more of Chris Reeve playing the definitive Superman is enough for me.

But you get so much more with this set. There are some TV specials, one of which is Superman's 50th anniversary - a tongue in cheek show set in Metropolis presented by Dana Carvey (Garth of Wayne's World). It's silly but fun. Much better is the inclusion of Fleischer Studios' Superman cartoons. They're very 40s in their styling but the animation is fantastic. Such care is taken. And the writing! Such adventures!

You're getting a lot of stuff here, it's a fantastic collection.

Lester version much better by a mile.
Review date: 2008-01-11 Rating: 2 out of 10

Why all the hype about the Donner cut of Superman 2? Frankly, it is much worse than the lester version. A few scenes come to mind. The scene in the Lester version has Clark revealing who he is to lois in the hotel after she has just throw herself in a river. The scene and script which follows is beutiful and heart moving. Instead, Donner's version is totally void of any emotion at all, as Lois fires a blank gun at him to find out if Clark is really Superman. The acting is worse, and totally unconvincing.

Another scene that comes to mind is in the fortress of solitude. In Lester's version Superman and lois have a moving conversation about how tough it must be for Superman to hide his true identity as Clark - in Lester scene the music fits beutiful with the script and the body launguage of Superman and Lois as they look in each others eys. This is missing in Donner's version. The scene in Lester's version has Superman talking to his Mother, before he loses his power's. In Donners version it is his Father that Superman talks too. Again the scene with his mother is much more convincing, and heart moving.

Finally, the Lester version with Clark and Lois in a love scene at the Daily Planet before the end scene is one of the best parts of the film, again this is missing in the Donner version. This Donner version is a load of hype - it is terrible and totally unconvincing. I am just glas the Lester's version was the one that the world got to see.

Mark

Stockton On Tees

Superman II - but not as you know it.
Review date: 2007-11-16 Rating: 10 out of 10

This little oddity is Superman II (as you remember it), a disc of miscellaneous bonus stuff that you'd expect from a "special edition", and a fair reconstruction of what Superman II might have been like if it hadn't all been changed part-way through filming.

The original Superman II is something you will almost certainly remember - if you weren't old enough to see it in the cinema, you will have seen reruns of it many times on TV. It should be sufficient to say that this is the one with the three Kryptonian criminals and Superman briefly making himself powerless. The bonus disc is bundled with "original" Superman II (there are two DVD slip-boxes in the box, one for each version of the film). It's probably worth watching the eight 1940s Superman cartoons on the bonus disc (it's kind of interesting to see what's changed and what hasn't), but it's very racist about the Japanese (and Africans, briefly), quite shockingly so. That was reflective of the times, I suppose.

Superman II "The Richard Donner Cut", in the other slip-box, is the film that could have been, made up of some scenes which were shot but dropped (and re-shot), some from the film as you know it, and some, sadly, which would have been shot but they'd only got around to doing screen tests for. The previously-unseen material actually does explain things better or make more sense in a lot of cases, but the lack of material does mean some rather sudden cuts, and some of the continuity goes right out the window. The only time it's really obvious that you're looking at screen-test footage is the scene in the hotel room, where Lois shoots Clark and he is clearly wearing completely different glasses in some of the shots.

Watching the alternate version, I was struck by the fact that I didn't remember enjoying Superman II this much before. The sillier humour is gone, and instead we get more Lois & Clark interaction (some of which is quite funny), and Marlon Brando continuing as Jor-El. Most certainly it's not a polished film, nor can it be, and that fact is jarring in places, but at least if you're a Superman fan it's well worth watching.

So, is this DVD set worth buying? As General Zod would say: KNEEL BEFORE ZOD!

Product Details/Specifications


Actor(s):
Christopher Reeve

Creators:
Christopher Reeve (Primary Contributor)

Director(s):

Recording label: Warner Home Video
Manufacturer: Warner Home Video
EAN: 7321902101088
Binding: DVD
Number of items: 3
Format: Box set, PAL, Special Edition,
Release date: 2006-11-20
Audience rating: Parental Guidance
Region code: 2
Running time: 122 minutes
Theatrical release date: 1980
Language: English (Original Language)

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