This is gonna be long.

The best way to describe the film is incomplete. It's only 116 minutes long and you can tell this is the best they could do with the 75% of footage they had (Including the brief Lester snippets). So if this is only 75% of the film, that means there is about another 35 minutes of intended footage. But how is the film as it stands? Pretty damn good. It's ten times better than III and IV, and it gives the original Superman II a run for it's money. Let's start with the negatives.

My first complaint is that there is not enough Superman. Most of his stuff comes during the opening scenes which flashback to the first movie, and towards the end of the film. He appears briefly during the scene at Niagra Falls where he saves the boy from plunging, but it lasts about 45 seconds. There is about 45 minutes where we go without seeing Superman, and that's just too long, especially since the film is under two hours. I have to think that the estimated number I came up with, with 35 minutes missing, is a big reason for this. The film though works despite of this.

Another problem I had was with the music. This is where they had to swallow their pride and use most of Lester's cut. Here they try to have their cake and eat it too, using musical cues from both Williams' score from '78 and Thorne's from '80. They use mostly Williams' cut and it doesn't really work. There are just some bizzare cues in scenes where they don't belong. For instance there is a scene in the White House where Luthor comes to try and swindle the three villians. The musical cue there should've been the Lex Luthor theme from Williams in '78. They however use the cue from '78 from right after Superman saves Lois from the helicopter. It doesn't sound like a Lex theme at all and it's kind of distracting. There are other small instances like this throughout the film. Their best bet (Since this did have a budget) would've been to hire a composer for a small amount of money, to compose a new score for the film, using cues from both cuts and maybe some tiny new stuff. And yet despite of this, the film still works.

The last small problem is the film lacks a certain flow, though I can easily overlook that since this is incomplete.

I liked Lester's cut of Superman II, I still do. It's a fun and somewhat campy film, but it's not what Superman II should've been. It completely loses the epic feel of the first film. All you have to do is watch the fight between Superman and the three villians in Lester's cut and you know what I'm talking about. The Donner cut though is a different story.

Even though there is a lot of the same footage (The difference between the two are different shots taken by Lester to get credit) the tone of the film is completely different. It's an epic. It's not as epical as the first film, but with the addition of Marlon Brando to the new cut, it's a much better film. His scenes with Reeve are much more powerful than the scenes with his mother. Brando's other scene with Hackman is also much better, than the other with the bald guy. Luthor and Miss Teschmacher are much wittier and sarcastic which makes the scene funnier and better. And with the exception of one toilet gag, it pretty much falls in line with the rest of the Donner cut. All of the performances are much more sound actually, and this is definetly Donner's doing. The characters in Lester's scene kind of have a "wink wink" attitude about them (The exception is Hackman, because everything you see with Hackman in it was shot by Donner). He recieved the best out of his actor's while Lester only seemed to be going at it half-assed.

I would go over the new scenes but there are too many to mention, especially since I've written this long a review. I will mention some brief points though. The opener in the Donner cut is much better than the opener in Paris. While the Paris scene is good, it doesn't have the charm that the new opener does. As I mentioned above, every scene with Brando makes the film so much better. The Salkinds were cheap and it cost them in the long run. And then there is the highly criticized ending. Yes, it's exactly the same as in the first movie, but it works here too. It's an out, but it's the only out they had since this was the only footage they had. It was either that or the amnesia kiss.

All in all, it's an incomplete movie, but what's there is pretty damn good. As I mentioned, the Salkinds and Spengler miss a real opportunity here. Just based on this footage, if they had stuck with Donner this film probably would've made more money than the first. Also, Donner and Mankiewicz had ideas for parts III and IV. Well that worked out well didn't it? Can we get the two to collaborate with Singer on The Man of Steel please? I would love to see if any of their ideas could be used. I loved Superman Returns, but can you imagine a Donner/Mankiewicz/Singer imagining? They don't even have to be big parts in the making of the film. Have them be creative consultants or something. Anyways, I'm getting away from my point. As it is right now, it's a very good film. It could've been a masterpiece however, and that just makes me sad in the long run. We could've had a great I/II punch.

Instead, we got ultra cheap producers who went on to make Superman III, and then cut and ran away from the series. Good job guys.

A-

Well, this is a marked improvement over the first film. It's still goofy and the effects are lame and I remember enjoying this a lot more when I was younger (might be to do with this cut), but for one it doesn't have a 30-minute sleep-inducing introduction on Krypton. The first film went on for 2 hours and 20 minutes. This is a spry 1 hour and 50 minutes. There are still boring parts, but it is mostly passable. Zod and his crew are defeated all too easily, though, and the film yet again ends with him reversing time by spinning back Earth. How original. He could basically use that same trick in every movie to solve all problems. Lame as fuck. I also don't get the final scene in the diner. Perhaps this is just a thing in Superman II: The Richard Donner Cut, but if he has reversed time, then the guy in the diner and the diner owners should have no memory of their first encounter, yet they act as though they know. Big plot hole there!

And the film just feels outdated. Action sequences take for-fucking-ever. And not just that, but Reeve should have hit the gym more. Just looks like a normal dude. Oh, and I also think it's weird how Gene Hackman gets top billing ahead of fucking Superman himself. Speaking of Hackman, him and his female sidekick are too much of a joke in this. It's tacky.

C

You do realize that this is the Donner Cut? It's an unfinished/ experimental project It's not the actual Superman II that was released.

I'd watch the original Superman II or read the original script, then compare. Superman II remains my favorite, but the backstory is so much more enlightening. The Donner Cut at least gives a little insight into it. It's disjointed and was never meant to be the end, and Lois dying and the spinning of the earth was supposed to be the ending of this film, but then he stops Zod and them from leaving the phantom Zone because the Eiffel Tower Hydrogen Bomb scene wouldn't happen.

It really is kind of fascinating how fucked this movie was, and it still took the opening weekend record. And that's after it had been theaters for almost a year internationally.

Also I don't care what anyone says. Man of Steel had the neck break, but Superman crushing Zod's hand and just owning him at the end is just awesome!

lol. Yes, of course I know that. Hence why I wrote my review in this thread and not the Superman II thread. I can only review the film that is presented to me. And if you actually read my review you'd be able to tell that I've seen the Lester original before.

No I apologize. I was simply regarding to the fact that you said they went to "spinning world back in time" well. They are treating it as the first film's ending never happened, and added in the original ending. Lois was supposed to die in this film, but they used it in the first film. They shot the entire first film and 70% of the second film back to back. Then they had to reshoot 40 % that was already shot so they could not credit Donner.

As said earlier, it's not a directors cut. It's mostly deleted scenes trying to fix a film. It's really one of the greatest experiences a lover of film can have. To get Lost Marlin Brando and Hackman footage, to just get a glimpse of what they were trying to do. I just don't see how you can dismiss it so easily. It's all about the perspective. It was never meant to be viewed as a film.

I guess I was just never invested in this series to give a damn about what might have been, and I viewed it as a film (which it is), not an experiment (which it also is). The whole reason for watching this franchise recently was to watch this Donner cut. It's the only part I had not seen before, but instead of just watching it in isolation, I thought it might be fun to watch the entire franchise.

I agree, there is so much to see, but then it is labored by a lot of crap that the new editors had to adhere to at least make it coherent.

My biggest complaint was they went to such a far extreme to exclude as little Lester footage as possible. There are still so many scenes are seen that didn't make the cut. I think it's mostly for the Brando scenes (Which are pretty great) and the unused Williams music.

The movie at its core doesn't really change, it's a little more serious. All the great scenes were filmed by Donner outside of the Major battle and texas scenes.

Man but even the original you can just tell how Coked out Margot kidder was. It's almost shot for shot when she goes from doe eye beautiful to anorexic nut job. I'd watch the Lester cut again Algren just for that.

I definitely have fonder memories of Superman II than what I witnessed a few days ago watching this cut. Might watch it again sometime.