Superman 2: The Richard Donner Cut

February 06, 2007

Now what is special about this Superman 2 in relation to the previous Superman 2?

Well, what happened was back in the day when Richard Donner was making the original Superman (1978) he shot enough footage to make another movie but what happened was the film's producers Ilya Salkind and Alexander Salkind didn't agree with his vision for the second film. So they brought in Richard Lester to re-shoot some scenes and change the film to their liking. Superman II (1980) isn't a bad film. I liked it better than the original. The action was good, the villains were great, and the love story was almost perfect. What I could not stand about the movie was all the extra "hilarious" little bits. These funny little moments here and there that had nothing to do with the story or even with the main characters cheapened the film.

So did Donner's new cut fix this?

Yes.

The whole movie is more of a continuation than a part 2. It does a quick flash back to a few scenes of the first movie but much like the beginning of The Lord of the Rings: The Two Towers (2002) moments from the first movie have longer scenes in the flash back and quickly bring us up to speed and give us more information on our characters.

Donner's version keeps the focus on the main characters not on the guy on the street who is watching the Kryptonian battle over head. Plus he used different takes so the scenes that were very familiar are now completely new. One of my personal favorites was General Zod shooting a machine gun.

The pacing is crazy in the movie. It was also crazy watching a film I have seen for 26 years in a whole new light. Whole scenes are missing and replaced with new scenes. I sat down with my Superman buddy (we both love the films and knew this was something we had to watch together).

Definitely Superman II: The Richard Donner Cut is a film to watch if you love Christopher Reeve and Superman.

Wait… it is not all roses…

I loved this movie up till the last two minutes. Superman does something which basically ruins the whole movie. I was screaming out loud when this happened. It must be seen to be believed. I still will add it to library because it was still a great ride and fun to watch the movie in a whole new way.

Click here to read the staff review by Mania.