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Streaming Superman II – The Richard Donner Cut Online.
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Having impartial watched the Richard Donner version of “Superman II” twice (once with his commentary with ‘Creative Consultant’ Tom Mankiewicz), I can say that I occupy the Donner version, over Richard Lester’s…but with reservations.
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Other reviewers point out redundancies, over-long scenes, and character development problems in the Donner version, but these aren’t really aesthetic arguments; what you scrutinize are the basic scenes, originally shot; Donner, himself, admitted that had he continued on the film, he would have had to do reshoots of several key scenes, and, of course, would have been alive to in the editing process (which couldn’t be accomplished to the same degree, in the ‘restored’ edition) . The ‘turning the world back’ resolution was intended for “Superman II”; when the Salkinds chose not to demolish the first film with a cliffhanger ending, Donner shot the Lois ‘death’ scene, and Supes turns attend time to attach her…so repeating the same resolution in “Superman II” was simply a case of using the new film conclusion, which Donner would have changed, had he continued with the film.
There are plotholes, and leaps of logic; as the film stands, Luthor is apparently in the Fortress of Solitude when Superman destroys it(!) ; Clark’s ‘revenge’ against the diner bully makes no sense, since, after winding succor time, the modern confrontation never took place; indeed, the Jor-El ‘farewell’ scene would have been unnecessary, as well, insomuch as Supes rewound time attend to before he lost and regained his powers. And what ever became of Miss Teschmacher?
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All this having been said, there are moments where I deem Richard Lester’s lack of belief of Superman and his Universe makes me stand in Donner’s corner; he introduced abilities Supes never had (Saran-wrap symbols…what exactly were they supposed to do? …the ‘Kiss of Forgetfulness’…turning Metropolis citizens into amusing buffoons, during the climactic brawl…the whole British-accented town sequence, when Zod ‘introduces’ himself to the world) . Other critics have panned Brando’s ‘Jor-El’ in the Donner sequel, praising the Salkinds for dropping him, and increasing Susannah York’s involvement, but she seems totally out-of-place as the ‘final authority’ figure in the Lester version. Maybe he was overpriced, but I assume Brando was indispensable, and the film certainly would have been tremendous enough to offset his paycheck.
I deem the Donner version has more ‘heart’, and reverence to Superman, than Lester’s broader, more comical ‘take’. Even with the abrupt transitions, logic lapses, rough edges, and redundant resolution, a vision of what “might have been” emerges, and it was a pleasing terrific film!
attended last week’s world premiere screening of the powerful anticipated Superman II: The Richard Donner Chop. Like many Supe fans, I’d been looking forward to this for a LONG time. However, I’m here to instruct you to lower your expectations on this one. It’s simply not as grand as the released version finished by Richard Lester.
After seeing the Donner version, I watched the Lester version again to execute distinct I could coherently compare the two versions. I concluded there are several very serious problems with the Donner version, and I’ll lay these out, alerting you to spoilers.
First, a few comments about the novel Superman 1, so you understand where I’m coming from. IMO, the first film had several major tone shifts. The Krypton share was very serious, bordering on pretentious. Brando played Jor-El not like a man, but as a demi-god, cool, unexcited and friendly. The Smallville share (my approved fragment) evoked Frank Capra-John Ford Americana, human and emotional. And the Metropolis piece started as an luscious laughable book, but then degenerated into goofy camp as Lex Luthor’s ridiculous conception unfolded, and Gene Hackman mugged and played Superman’s arch-enemy for laughs. For me, the Luthor characterization and earthquake dwelling ruined what I notion what could have been a heavenly film. And I totally didn’t pick Superman turning benefit time, which I concept was a complete cop-out. All right Superman fans know that Supes can’t do that (and even if he could, he wouldn’t)! So that’s the “baggage” I bring to this review.
On to Superman II. As most fans of the series know, Brando filmed scenes for the Fortress of Solitude sequences, but they were dropped when he demanded more money, and redone with Susannah York as Lara. Donner’s version restores the Brando scenes. I found these restored scenes too long and not very generous. The truth is, Brando did these films for the money, and basically walked through his role. I doubt that there is any peep of Brando’s work that mentions Jor-El as one of his memorable performances. It seemed that Donner wanted to include every frame of Brando, so there’s a lot of repetition. For example, Superman II now opens as Portion 1 did, with Jor-El sentencing the 3 villains to the Phantom Zone, reciting the litany of their crimes. When Luthor plays succor the recording crystals in the Fortress of Solitude, he gets the steady same explanation by Jor-El, about the villains. Hearing this information twice is tiresome and unnecessary. Later, Jor-El interacts with his son. But the tonal shifts of the first film approach encourage to undermine the second one. Brando’s pompous interpretation of Jor-El simply doesn’t mesh well with Reeve’s everyman version of Supes. These actors are in two different movies. Lester got around this by using Lara instead, in a performance that we can now recognize had more humanity than Brando’s, but was light enough to acquire the comical book tone. Lara is sympathetic and basically supportive regarding her son’s conflict about treasure vs duty, and this serves the narrative well, providing the emotion the memoir needs at this point.
SPOILER. In Donner’s version, Jor-El is judgmental and dismissive to his son which, although is right to his characterization, does not get Superman’s ultimate decision to give up his powers believable. But Donner’s worst choice is in the placement of this scene. In Lester’s version, Superman talks to his mom about his conflict, then gives up his powers BEFORE he sleeps with Lois. The implication is that Superman can’t have sex with a human unless he surrenders his tidy powers (no doubt, his desirable orgasm, going faster than a speeding bullet, would be fatal!) . But Donner has the sex scene first, and then has Superman talk to Jor-El and give up his powers.
This begs the demand, if Superman can have sex with a human, why give up his powers? It makes no sense! Changing the order of these scenes completely undermines the human legend and conflict at the core of the film. Later, when Clark returns to the Arctic in hopes of restoring his powers, there’s yet another scene with Jor-El, who says “I knew this was going to happen,” followed by some ridiculous mumbo jumbo in which Jor-El somehow transfers his spirit into his son to restore his powers. It’s supposed to be interesting and emotional, but it’s not because there’s no human relationship between Jor-El and Kal-El to initiate with. Richard Lester simply showed us Clark finding the green power crystal and left the rest to our imagination, keeping the tone of the entire film light, like a amusing book. Donner, however, adds in elements of pretension, and even said in the panel discussion afterward that he was trying to effect a movie about the father-son relationship. But it doesn’t work, and it doesn’t belong because Superman II isn’t a movie about father and son, it’s about a man who has to choose between what he wants for himself and his responsibility to the world.
Almost every scene in Donner’s version goes on too long. There’s usually an extra unnecessary beat at the slay of scenes. There’s more Luthor and Otis, more Luthor and Miss Teschmacher, more Luthor with the villains, all which lifeless down the slip for the sake of marginal gags. If you like Hackman’s Luthor, you may be pleased this. But I didn’t.
There is a nice alternate version of the scene in which Lois throws herself into the river in an attempt to point to Clark is Superman. Donner’s version takes status at the Daily Planet, where Lois jumps out the window – same gimmick, different execution. And the conceal tests on the Superman 1 DVD are turned into the revelation scene at Niagara Falls, which works glorious well.
SPOILER. Finally, we have a major cop-out with the ending. After the villains have been vanquished and we’re abet at the Daily Planet, Lois tells Clark that his secret is friendly with her. But rather than giving Lois the “magic kiss of forgetfulness” to erase her memory, Superman once again turns support time, using the same footage from Section 1. He turns aid time so far that the villains raze up wait on in the Phantom Zone, meaning that the entire movie never happened! This is followed by the final denouement from the released version, in which Clark Kent returns to the diner and takes down the bully who beat him up. However, because time has been turned encourage, Clark had never been here before, so this makes no sense either! There’s also another serious lapse of logic regarding the time reversal which requires too mighty explanation, but it will be distinct to most viewers.
Most of the music is recycled from the first film. This didn’t bother me, but someone else who was there said that the cues kept reminding him of the scenes from Share 1 in which they originally occurred.
All in all, the Donner Version is an piquant curiosity, with some valid moments among a lot of misfires. But personally, I’m gratified we have the Richard Lester version, which is more coherent tonally, makes more sense, and is more gripping. Superman completists will no doubt want this DVD for the collection. For everyone else, I suggest you rent it before you catch it.
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