Superman II (The Richard Donner Cut)

Shortly after Thanksgiving, I made a run to BestBuy one Saturday evening with Will, and while there, he picked up the DVD to the new Richard Donner cut of Superman II. He was very excited about its release, having been a fan of the Superman franchise for some time, and often pondering how Superman II would have fared had it been given the chance to run its course—though as the story goes, Richard Donner, who filmed the first Superman movie, was fired from the production after filming 80% of the sequel, only to be replaced by director Richard Lester in favor of a more campy sequel over the more epic vision held by Donner.

It's been many years since I saw the Richard Lester version of Superman II, so I don't think I could make a good comparison between the two. Will, on the other hand, practically knows it by heart, and did a write-up recently on the two films. While I myself have enjoyed the Superman movies, I can't say I'm a huge fan of them. Oddly enough, superhero movies generally don't excite me (with the exception of the Michael Keaton Batman). But I must confess, I found the Richard Donner version of Superman II quite a fascinating watch, largely because we were afforded a rare glimpse of how an original director would have filmed the story. So often we hear of directors coming and going from a project, and I think this is one of the few times we get to see how someone else (or in this case, the original director) would have conceived and released the film.

Despite my not having seen the Lester version in a while, I was still able to notice a few of the changes—most notably the presence of Marlon Brando reprising his role of Jor-El from the original (I think he was cut entirely from the Lester version). I think that element alone made the Richard Donner cut worth watching! I think there were some updated special effects, too, but you'd have to check with Will on that one.

And you know what? The more I think about the differences between the two cuts, the more I think I need to make a Blockbuster run for the Richard Lester version. But before I go, I'm going to give the Richard Donner cut an 8 out of 10. And getting to see how it was originally conceived by its original director—that in and of itself is a rare treat that I'm glad I didn't pass up.