Superman II- The Richard Donner Cut
DVD Review: Superman II Donner Cut
Obvious differences are all the Brando scenes, the screen test assembly of Lois shooting Clark Kent, her suicide test from the Daily Planet offices, the explosion that releases the Kryptonian criminals is now the rocket from Superman and an entire ending sequence has been created.
But, it’s still the story of Superman giving up his powers to be with Lois Lane, but having to fight the Kryptonians. The fight stuff is still there. The Eiffel Tower sequence is gone, so there’s actually less of Superman in action. But the memorable beats remain, only with some different nuance.
Christopher Reeve’s acting in the Brando scenes is clearly more calculated. It’s no longer simple exposition and you see Superman really playing the son of Jor-El, not just a guy checking the records for answers. The alternate Lois and Clark scenes definitely seem more innocent than the knowing revisions in the Lester cut. But it’s the same story. Nothing breaks the continuity of Superman III and The Quest for Peace, thank God!
Some of the new effects are really cheesy, like really quick, home-made CGI. But man, they’re adding stuff that just didn’t exist in the original footage and they’re not claiming to be like Star Wars. So it’s neat, and the screen test performances are so good they deserve to be in the film. The Washington Monument shot is such a badass idea, it hardly matters that it looks like one of Stephen Colbert’s Green Screen Challenge entries, and the revised ending is actually a really nice job. I saw some digital artifacts but it’s so in tone with Superman 1, and also I screened it in a theater, not on a more manageable TV screen.
It’s 10 minutes shorter, which improves the pacing somewhat. But it still feels like those 10 minutes were some really awesome ideas that Donner was never allowed to shoot.
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