Superman II: The Richard Donner Cut DVD Review
Posted by Bryan Kristopowitz on 01.03.2007
or, the "Richard Lester is a Scumbag" Edition
Clark Kent- Superman/Clark Kent
Gene Hackman- Lex Luthor
Marlon Brando- Jor-El
Margot Kidder- Lois Lane
Terence Stamp- General Zod
Sarah Douglas- Ursa
Michael O'Halloran- Non
Jackie Cooper- Perry White
Marc McClure- Jimmy Olsen
Ned Beatty- Otis
Valerie Perrine- Eve Teschmacher
E.G. Marshall- The President
Directed by Richard Donner (some scenes are directed by Richard Lester but they go uncredited)
Screenplay by Tom Mankiewicz, David Newman, Leslie Newman, and Mario Puzo, based on a story by Mario Puzo and characters created by Jerry Siegel and Joe Shuster
Distributed by Warner Brothers
DVD released November 28th, 2006, from a movie released in 1980, shot in 1978
Rated PG for sequences of action violence, some language and brief mild sensuality
Runtime- 116 minutes
Website: http://www.supermantag.org http://www.dccomics.com/ http://www.warnervideo.com/
As I'm sure most of you already know, way back in the late 1970's when Richard Donner was knee deep in making "Superman: The Movie," he was also making the "sequel" "Superman II" at the same time. Because of problems with the producers, the Salkinds, Donner was forced to finish "Superman: The Movie" faster than he wanted and anticipated and was then removed entirely from "Superman II," despite the fact that he had already filmed a large chunk of it. Apparently, the Salkinds didn't want to pay Marlon Brando a second time and Donner wasn't happy about it (among other things). So the Salkinds brought in British director Richard Lester to "finish" the movie and what he "created" is the movie we all know as "Superman II." Many years later, after much hooha on the internets and the finding of all of the "Donner" footage, people at Warner Brothers and editor/producer Michael Thau convinced Donner to get behind a "restoration" of his "vision" of "Superman II." And now, in 2006, we have "Superman II: The Richard Donner Cut" DVD, where Donner's "vision" is presented for everyone to see. The major problem with the DVD is it doesn't feel complete, and I'm not talking about the fact that the movie presented is basically a fancier version of a workprint.
The Flick
"Superman II: The Richard Donner Cut" is the same essential story as Richard Lester's movie with some major changes. The three Krypton criminals that Jor-El (Marlon Brando) sent into the Phantom Zone have been released from their prison and are on a crash course for Earth, Lex Luthor (Gene Hackman) is in prison, contemplating a way to escape and hoping to find his arch nemesis Superman's secrets, and Lois Lane (Margot Kidder) is in the midst of figuring out who exactly Superman is. Superman falls for Lois, gives up his powers, the Kryptonian criminals lay siege to America and the world and destroy the White House, Lex Luthor escapes, finds Superman's hideout, Luthor teams up with the Kryptonian criminals, Superman gets his powers back, there's a huge fight in Metropolis between Superman and the Kryptonians, and they all end up in Superman's hideout at the North Pole. Now, in this version, all of the Paris scenes are cut, the Niagra Falls scenes are abbreviated, there's a new scene where Lois tricks Clark into admitting that he's Superman, and all of the scenes were Superman's mother appeared have been "replaced" with the scenes Marlon Brando originally shot. Basically, all of the "funny" stuff that Lester included in his version is gone. There are a whole bunch more changes, but, basically, you have to actually watch the movie in order to see and get them. It's defintely a very different movie in terms of tone and "scope" from the Lester version. I can't say, though, that it's a "better" movie that the one credited to Lester.
First, the Lester version, for all of its alleged problems, is an actual completed movie. It was edited and completed way back when it was essentially made and it flows like a "real" movie. The Donner version, because it's basically a reworking of the existing footage, some of which was never actually completed properly, can only ever feel, like I said above, as a "fancy workprint." Donner was never given a chance to actually finish the work he started, so he and Michael Thau (and I don't think it's wrong to say that he, as the editor, is the real "vision" behind this movie as he put it together. Yes, he tried to do it as he figures Donner would have done back in the day, but it's still only his interpretation) did the best they could with what they have. Second, I don't see anything really "wrong" with the Lester version anyway. Yes, a whole bunch of the movie isn't his, but Lester did enough with his own "vision" to make a movie that people still watch today. The Lester movie is a "good" movie. And third, and this is the biggest problem I have with the movie, is the ending. The ending here is basically the same ending as "STM," Superman altering time by flying around the world and changing the way the world rotates so all of the stuff that just happened didn't. I never liked that ending for "STM," and here it's just stupid. The fact that the Kryptonian criminals are sent back to the Phantom Zone just raises more questions than it solves. It's meant to be the "real" way Superman gets Lois to forget that she knows Superman's secret identity. Quite frankly, the Lester "kiss" version, regardless of how ludicrous it seems, actually works better. But that's just me.
DVD Specifics
"Superman II: The Richard Donner Cut" is presented in Widescreen enhanced for widescreen televisions. It has 5.1 English Sourround Sound and English, French, and Spanish subtitles. The movie looks in pretty good shape for being "missing" for so long.
Special Features
-Introduction by director Richard Donner
This is a short introduction by Donner quickly explaining what it is you're about to watch. It is what it is.
-"Superman II: Restoring the Vision" Documentary
This is a way, way, way too short documentary explaning the process of how the flick was put together, where and how the footage was found, and how "well" it came out. This documentary should have been like three hours. The story of the making of "Superman II" is complicated, involves all kinds of stuff, and it sure as heck can't be smooshed into a short documentary like this. What we do get is good and interesting, and maybe there's more stuff on the "Superman: The Movie" Special Edition in regards to the whole Salkinds story and Wrner Brothers didn't think it was necessary to duplicate it, but there should be a whole bunch more here. And, with what we have, they could have called it "Let's throw Richard Lester under the bus" for the treatment he gets here. Heck, maybe he deserves it, but, again, there's a whole bunch of stuff we end up missing because the DVD producers don't put it on here.
-Commentary by director Richard Donner and creative consultant Tom Mankiewicz
This commentary should be amazing. Outstanding. It should be filled with all kinds of inside stuff and explanations and all that kind of thing. It has very little of that. Donner admits right at the beginning that he can't remember a whole bunch of the movie's shooting, that he tried to forget most of the stuff he did for the movie because his relationship with the producers was so bad and the whole thing was a mess anyway, and he wasn't that involved in the resgtoration process. Mankiewicz remembers more of the shooting and the behind the scenes stuff, but even he doesn't get into too much of the "good" stuff. They both bash Richard Lester again and again for his "stupid decisions" and how he and the Salkinds ruined the franchise because they really didn't understand it. There are long pauses in the movie as, I'm assuming, both Donner and Mankiewicz try to remember stuff. Why Michael Thau wasn't included on the commentary or given his own commentary I don't know. It would have been nice, too, for Donner to explain the new disclaimer he has at the end of the credits explaining how he doesn't believe in smoking or wearing furs. And for some reason "bullshit detector" is bleeped out during the conversation. And is it me, or does it seem as though this commentary is spliced together from two seperate commentaries? I don't think it actually is, but with Donner and Mankiewicz constantly referring to themseleves in the third person and the fact that they seem to be have an unconnected connectecd conversation it makes one wonder. It's a disappointment. It could have been so much more.
-Deleted scenes
We get six deleted scenes. The most interesting one is the North Pole police one. You'll know it when you see it. It would have been nice, though, if come kind of commentary had been offered, either by Thau or Donner. Just for some background.
Conclusion
This is an interesting bit of "Superman" cinematic history, and an interesting chance to see a "new" movie cobbled together from stuff thought long gone. It's sad that we didn't get the chance to see the actual version Donner wanted to create back in the late 1970's, and it's sad that this DVD presentation isn't more extensive. I defintely recommend seeing it because it's worth it. But you should do some reading on the internets about it before watching. It's best to get some background. You can read about "The Donner Cut" here and 411's own Scotty Flamingo did a bit about it here.
Movie: 8.0
DVD: 5.0
The 411: "Superman II: The Richard Donner Cut" is an interesting new version of an old movie. It's a wonder that it ever happened, sure, but it's a shame that the extensive history of the whole Donner/Superman franchise isn't presented at the level it should be. This should have been at least a 2-disc set. What we get is, at best, okay. We should have had more.
