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Superman II – The Richard Donner Cut is directed by
Richard Donner (Lethal Weapon.) The film stars Christopher
Reeve, Ned Beatty (Back to School), Marlon Brando (The Godfather),
Jackie Cooper, Gene Hackman (The French Connection), Margot
Kidder, Valerie Perrine, Terence Stamp (Star Wars Episode
I) and Susannah York. The musical score is by John Williams
(Star Wars series.) ***
Superman II stars right where its predecessor left off.
Following the events of the first movie, the three exiled
Kryptonians escape their imprisonment in the Phantom Zone.
Once freed, they travel to Earth with every intention of
conquering it – and criminal genius Lex Luthor has escaped
from prison and joined forces with them! Meanwhile, Clark
Kent/Superman finds himself falling more and more for Lois
Line – so much so to the point that he considers giving
up his powers to be with her. With a new threat on the horizon,
our hero must choose between living life with the woman
he loves or remaining the Earth’s protector – and it needs
a hero now more than ever. ***
This review is most going to focus on my comments on
the Richard Donner cut itself, rather than Superman II as
a whole. I also won’t be delving into the whole story behind
the Salkinds and Donner’s being fired – seeing as how there
are a ton of different versions of this story and most of
it is already well-known anyway. ***
My opinion of Superman II, be it the Donner or the
original theatrical Lester cut, is very strong. This is,
if you ask me, the best film in the entire Superman franchise.=2
0It is paced better than its predecessor, filled with more
action and interesting situations, tougher villains, an
interesting identity crisis for our hero, and, perhaps most
importantly, it isn’t bogged down by having to tell an origin
story. To put it bluntly I LOVE Superman II, in any shape
or form. Even more than the original Superman, which is
revered as a classic. ***
As for the Donner Cut, it’s a very mixed bag. As a general
rule, Donner’s version removed all of Lester’s footage and
replaces it with aborted footage that Donner had shot during
the filming sessions of and immediately after the original
film. Lester’s footage is only retained where it is needed
and no Donner equivalent exists. Likewise, when Lester shot
the film he reshot most of it, including footage Donner
had already created in some shape or form. We’re never going
to see the movie exactly as Donner wanted us to, but I can
safely say this is about as close as we’re ever going to
get. And believe it or not, it’s quite a different film!
***
As for key omissions and additions, there are quite
a few. Most unnecessary comic relief scenes Lester shot
are done away with. The entire opening Eiffel Tower scene
from the Lester film has been aborted, as the prologue of
the movie now implies that the missiles from the first movie
free the villains from the Phantom Zone. The major addition
to the movie comes in the form of new Marlon Brando footage
(Brando didn’t appear AT ALL in the theatrical Superman
II, siding with Richard Donner as many of the actors did.)
***
The problem with the Donner Cut is that, as I previously
stated, is that it will never be perfect due to certain
footage never being shot or certain footage being lost.
Much of the footage use to compile the Donner Cut actually
consists of screen test footage, and this tends to give
the film an uneven appearance and even create some continuity
problems. ***
As for my final verdict, I belie ve the Lester Cut feels
like a more cohesive, completed film, while the Donner Cut
had better ideas and footage/ideas/etc. Had the Donner Cut
been shot from the beginning and Donner not been fired,
it easily would have been the better movie. So what version
is the better one is really a matter of taste. I like Superman
II, period. Be it Lester’s or Donner’s. And there’s certainly
enough here to appeal to any fan of the Man of Steel. ***
On a final note, this package ONLY includes the Donner
Cut – the Lester Cut isn’t i ncluded in any shape or form,
nor has it been released on Blu-Ray. To date the Donner
Cut is the ONLY version of Superman II on the Blu-Ray format.
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Image and Sound:
It’s pretty much impossible to write a cohesive review
of the Blu-Ray of Superman II’s Donner Cut, since the footage
is “thrown together” from various sources. This is a “Frankenstein’s
Monster” of a movie that comes from so many different types
of footage, from professionally-shot Donner footage to screen
test footage. That said, the image quality is all over the
place from start to finish. As a whole, most of the movie
looks better than the first Superman did on Blu-Ray, but
it’s really not a major jump over the standard-def counterpart.
The sound is a similar story, featuring no lossless track.
I was quick to criticize the Superman (first one) Blu-Ray
for not being a big improvement over its earlier DVD release
counterpart, but it’s not fair to give that same treatment
to the Donner Cut of Superman II when you consider the differing
nature of all the video content present. Still, there
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