Superman II: The Richard Donner Cut

This should have been the original Superman II! When you watch it, you finally understand what the hell Superman and his father have been saying all these years. It all makes sense now. Having grown up on Superman, I feel cheated!!! I had to wait until now to finally understand one of my favorite film series! It's just a crime!

Not only does Donner's film flow better and enlighten the viewer, it even makes those annoying villains have more purpose. Even as a kid, I thought they were ridiculous. They're still ridiculous in this film, but Donner links them more clearly to Superman's past, so you get pulled into the plot line more.

Watch this film and you'll see my point.

Superman 1 and 2 were intended by the director to be a unit, and were filmed concurrently, as Jackson's Lord of the Rings films were. This approach works. Originally, after most of Sup 2 was in the can, the producers got rid of Donner and the Brando footage to save money and broke up the thematic flow of the two films. They made Sup 2 into a cheap money-maker follow-on to 1 and ruined it in the process.

What the studio has done here is, nothing short of grand. They've essentially remade this film as it was intended to be. It flows seamlessly from Superman The Movie now. Richard Donner's great pride in his work is evident from his enthusiastic intro on the DVD.

The storyline is cohesive, the emotionally soaring (!) tone of the first film is maintained and heightened. Scenes that reflect the fabulous chemistry between Reeve and Kidder have been restored.

The extensive Marlin Brando footage, shot and intended for the Fortress of Solitude scenes, has been restored.

This film is well worth a watch, particular in conjunction with a re-look at Superman I first. Hats off to Warner Brothers for bringing Richard Donner's vision for it back to life!

Before you watch this DVD there is something very important that you must understand. Richard Donner never completed Superman II. And, since he never completed the film it was impossible to truly make a "Donner cut" per say. What this DVD (edited and produced by Michael Thau) shows us is what the film "may" have looked like. Once you understand that you will be able to enjoy the experience.

Why do I go through that explanation? Well...because from the complains I've heard and read it seems that people don't seem to understand that. So, that's why I felt it should be addressed.

Now, on to the review...

Donner was hired by the Salkinds in '76 or '77 to direct two Superman films at the same time. When time and money was running out the decision was made to stop production on Superman II and focus on the first one. By that point Donner had already completed about 80% of the film. When Superman became the biggest hit of 1978 the decision by the Salkinds was to fire Donner. He was replaced by Richard Lester (A Hard Day's Night) and Lester re-shot most of the film. Only about 30% of Donner's work remained.

After almost 30 years WB finally released Donner's version since most fans demanded to see it. And, on the DVD, Donner, thanks the fans which I felt was a nice touch.

The plot of the movie is the same as Lester's Superman II. General Zod and his goons escape the Phantom Zone. They arrive at Earth (or Planet Houston as they call it) and quickly take over. And, where's Superman? He made the mistake of giving up his powers to be with Lois Lane. So, will Superman recover his powers on time to save Earth from Zod? You will have to watch the film to find out.

Now, the question on everyone's mind is whether or not this version is truly better than Lester's take. The answer is yes! Why? Because Lester never really understood the material. Which is prove when you watch Superman III. Donner, on the other hand, truly understood the material. He understood that...YES...it's a comic book adaptation but it's still an art form. As silly as Superman may seem he understands that there is a wonderful story to tell. And, he understands that there is wonderful characters to develop and have an audience understand and fall in love with. When you watch this DVD that's what you'll see. A film directed by a man in love with the material. Not a film by a man who did it for the money. If you love Superman: The Movie then you'll love Richard Donner's version of Superman II. The ONLY flaw of this version is that it was never completed.

Superman 2 the Richard Donner cut is an unfinished movie that appears to be more of a special feature then an actual concrete movie despite what some might say.

This movie/cut of Superman 2 came about due to the infamous behind the scenes drama of the original Superman 2 (1980).

Originally Richard Donner (who directed the 1st Superman movie) was going to direct the 2nd one as well and even shot a lot of scenes for 2 while he was still making the 1st one.

However due to rising tensions between Donner and the producers he was let go and replaced by Richard Lester who proceeded to finish the movie using some of Donner's scenes while shooting his own which were re-written to some extent. Despite this Superman 2 (1980) ended up being very good and one of the best superhero sequels ever.

Still fans wanted to see what Richard Donned would have done if he had stayed on the project so as a result in 2006 we got the Richard Donner cut.

Now the plot of the Richard Donner cut is essentially the same as the original Superman 2 released in 1980 except there are some differences here and there.

For example in the original Superman 2 the movie opens with Superman saving Lois in Paris from terrorists who are about to set off a hydrogen bomb. Superman throws the bomb into space where it explodes and accidently releases Zod and his cronies from the phantom zone which they were imprisoned in by Superman's father Jor El.

In the Richard Donner cut however we see it is the missile that Superman launches into Space in the 1st movie that sets Zod and co. Loose.

The movie has several alterations like this in the 1st act and the 3rd act which while varying in quality it is still interesting nonetheless.

By the time we get to the 2nd act though where Clark Kent aka Superman and Lois Lane go to Niagara falls and Zod attacks earth that's when the movie really starts to falter.

This is because Donner only shot about 50% of Superman 2 due him being let go before he could finish it so as a result he uses little snippets of footage Lester had shot for his version as well as even screen tests which weren't made to be seen in any capacity to finish the film. You see why this doesn't work right?

I mean I'd be okay with him using the Lester footage since those were actually completed but like I said he only uses snippets if it. So for example let's say a scene in the original Superman 2 (1980) was 2 minutes long, well Donner only uses 30 seconds of it making it appear really rushed. Especially the romance of Superman and Lois.

In the original Superman 2 (1980) Lester shot the relationship between Lois and Superman in well fleshed out and developed scenes meanwhile in the Donner cut it's very rushed and feels under developed since again he only uses snippets of what Lester had shot as well as screen tests.

Which to me is maddening since he could have just used whatever Lester had shot to mitigate that problem.

Like I said there are even times where he uses screen tests to fill in the holes which again are unfinished and barely expectable.

It also doesn't help that all the stuff in the Lester cut was just better than any of the stuff Donner had shot in my opinion.

For example the Paris scene at the start of the original Superman 2 (1980) was a far better opening for the movie vs the missile recap we got in the Donner cut not helping that because this cut was made in 2006 and had a small budget they used really bad cgi to complete the missile scene which looks awful. In fact they even uses stand ins for Christopher Reeve and Margo Kidder at certain points which of course is very distracting.

Due to the unfinished nature of this movie they even re-use the ending of the original Superman (1978) to complete this movie which is completely stupid and makes no sense.

There are literally only 2 good things in this cut.

1. The Marlon Brando scenes which were cut from the original 2nd movie were put back in this cut and are pretty good. The only reason they didnt use any of the Marlon Brando scenes in the original cut was because the producers didn't want to pay Brando again.

2. The fight in Metropolis in the Donner cut is also better then the original cut as it not only has better action but it also cuts out any of the original slapstick humor Lester put in for some reason.

Besides those 2 things however the original Superman 2 (1980) cut by Richard Lester is much better and more worth your time.

Only watch the Donner cut after watching the original cut.

Most movie fans know that Richard Donner began shooting Superman I&II simultaneously, and that he was fired after the first was completed to be replaced by Richard Lester. Lester re-shot most of Donner's footage, re-working scenes and dialogue and finishing the second film as well as time, budget, and his own talents allowed.Compared to the first, it was badly paced, choppily edited, and filled with horribly out of place attempts at comedy. Superman's showdown with Zod and his henchmen in downtown Metropolis was still (and in many ways, is still) the greatest superhero battle ever captured on film, but the rest of the film was weak and uneven in comparison. The result was an entertaining enough follow-up, but one was until now left to wonder what might have been had Donner had the opportunity to finish the film properly.

In an unprecedented move, Warner Bros. recently allowed Donner to re-master and edit all of his original Superman II footage. Most of the footage had survived, and some parts had to be filled in with segments from Donner's re-shoots and even a couple of full dress screen tests.

The result is, while a bit rough around a couple of edges, remarkable. The new version is paced much better, and gone are the more cringe-inducing moments from the theatrical cut (like Superman's amnesia kiss, or Clark's bumbling around like a buffoon and falling into a fireplace). More importantly, however, is the dramatic weight that some of the restored scenes add to the film. A wonderful father/son dynamic is revealed as Superman and Jor-el (Marlon Brando, appearing in previously unseen footage) find themselves at odds over the last son of Krypton's proper role on Earth. In the theatrical cut, when a de-powered Clark returns to the fortress of solitude in a quest to regain his powers, he finds the glowing green crystalline equivalent of a "Get Out of Jail Free" card. In The Donner Cut, Superman's powers are not restored without a price.

If you haven't seen The Donner Cut, you haven't seen Reeve's finest acting as the son of Jor El. We also get more Gene Hackman and the delightful Valerie Perrine.

The action scenes are as punchy as as ever, and again, campier comedic elements have been removed. The new ending will definitely divide audiences. I won't spoil it here, but it certainly is different, and I'm not quite sure how I feel about it yet.

Here's hoping that in the future, the Man of Steel's cinematic exploits continue to be steered by class directors such as Richard Donner rather than hacks such as Sidney J. Furie or Richard Lester.