Superman 2: The Richard Donner Cut
Hollywood is filled with stories about films that were intended to be a particular way by its visionary director, epic treats that were certain to go amongst the best of their kind ever made, but never quite came to fruition because The Artist (director) had certain falling outs with The Money (Producers / Studio) over certain creative or financial issues and thus what could have been never came to be, a fate that befell everyone from Orson Welles to Terry Gilliam. But sometimes, just sometimes, that original vision can be saved and restored, even many years later, and people can witness the glory of what could have been or maybe something even better. As was the case with Richard Donnerās 1978 Superman: The Movie, widely and rightfully considered the original forefather of the modern day superhero / comic book flicks, in Donnerās hands a magnificent piece of work that brought an epic feel to the most iconic of American legends. Unbeknownst to many at that time, Donner was actually shooting Superman and Superman II at the same time (similar in later years to Peter Jackson and The Lord Of The Rings Trilogy), obviously using much of the same sets and actors that were on hand for the first film. Donner even went so far to estimate that he personally shot about 80% of Superman II before production was shut down to put the finishing touches on Part One to get it into theatres, which it did to great success and acclaim, but then something strange happened. Donner ran into a major disagreement with Alexander and Ilya Salkind, The Executive Producers of the franchise, who took issue with the footage shot already by Donner amongst other things, which led to Donner being fired(!) and replaced by Salkind friend and British journeyman director Richard Lester, best known for the Beatles films A Hard Dayās Night and Help!, which showed off his penchant for goofball, English style humor. To add insult to injury, since Gene Hackman refused to return to reshoot any of his finished scenes as Lex Luthor (and got his way due to his major star status) and Marlon Brandoās scenes as Jor-El were not allowed to be used since Brando had claimed to be duped into believing that he was only shooting scenes for one movie and not two, the majority of the remaining cast members were roped into coming back to work for Lester (something that Margot Kidder particularly detested) and to save time, certain key scenes that had been shot by Donner were kept in, especially if they had complex FX involved, in the end resulting in a project where Lester footage beat out Donner footage by just over 50% and allowed his name to be listed as sole director as per DGA rules. The Richard Lester Superman II, released in 1981, has widely come to be thought of in many circles as a classic as well, albeit it carried a entirely different tone than that of Donnerās work, going from being a Biblical epic of a comic book film to almost an entertaining cartoon come to life, and was particularly popular among kids for whom āKneel before Zod!ā became an American catchphrase. But still Donnerās version, and how he would have done things, languished in a vault at Warner Brothers with many fearing that it would never be seen. However, about 10 years ago, with the then pending release of Bryan Singerās Superman Returns (widely considered a failure in its own right for adhering too closely to Donnerās style), the decision was made to dig out the footage, settle all issues with the Brando estate, and coax Donner to at least come back to work in an advisory capacity, editing everything together, throwing in some new shots here or there with body doubles, and even spring for some money to make up new FX shots. And amazingly, much of what came together resulted in a major success. The Richard Donner Cut of Superman II really does not have quite the patchwork, work in progress that was never finished feel about it, but rather that of a fresh new work that if one didnāt know for sure what was real footage and what was screen test material, one would never know the difference at all. The amount of new, never before seen footage mixed in with more familiar (but differently edited) scenes succeeds marvelously, and clocking in at 12 minutes shorter than the Lester Cut, also comes through as a leaner, meaner, faster paced, and BETTER version of the story itself, minus many of Lesterās more goofy indulgences that really werenāt necessary (for a look at a Superman movie that Lester had full control of, check out the obvious failure, Superman III), with one of the reasons for the quicker pace being the elimination of the opening Paris terrorist sequence shot by Lester, which featured the lamest movie terrorists of all time and Lois Lane outsmarting a French police officer by showing him a translation book. Since it was THEIR hydrogen bomb that had freed the three Kryptonian super villans from The Phantom Zone that Jor-El had placed them in, everything gets covered rather quickly in the first five minutes of The Donner Cut, with the trial sequence (using the Brando footage instead of a voice imitator), the Phantom Zone entrapment, and then the clear indication that it was Lex Luthorās nuclear missile that Superman averted in the original film that freed them from entrapment, sending a chill up oneās spine at Terence Stampās cry of āFreeeee!ā before we get the high octane opening credits and a whole new round of Chris Reeve as Superman, not only seeming like a new film with him as the star, but featuring more examples of him pushing himself as an actor in the role, like his argument and big reveal scene with Lois or his disagreements with his father in The Fortress Of Solitude. Indeed, the new footage with Brando offers incredible dramatic weight to the proceedings, something Lester couldnāt quite touch using the actress who played Supermanās mother (Susannah York) in his version. And yes, we do get more of Hackmanās deliciously wicked Luther (and Valerie Perrineās Miss Teschmacher), still the definitive portrayal of this iconic villain, and since ALL of Hackmanās footage was shot by Donner, the character starts to feel like he has more of a real, organic attachment to the story instead of being pieced into the narrative through the magic of editing, with the newer Luthor bits still having the wit and humor that Hackman so expertly brought to the fore. The so called āregularsā of the series (Kidder, Jackie Cooper, Marc McClure) get enough screentime to make their mark, with some scenes of Kidder showing her at the most beautiful sheās ever looked, while Clifton Jamesā self indulgent, stock redneck sheriff character is thankfully cut down to a very short cameo, and then there are our three supervillains, General Zod (Terence Stamp rocking the house forever no matter which version you watch him in), Non (Jack OāHalloran, with his own voice being used for the characterās grunts instead of dubbed in animal noises), and Ursa (Sarah Douglas, still the epitome of a sexy, evil bitch with a Brit accent), all of whom Donner confessed to having wished he had shot more (and better) footage with all of them, thus resulting in a decent amount of Lester footage still being used, but now at least the silly, comedic ācharacter developmentā bits involving all of them have been excised in favor of allowing them to have a somewhat darker tone, thus reinforcing the notion from the original film that if Superman was a sort of messiah figure, then Zod was most definitely The AntiChrist, complete with his minions to come here to destroy the world and rule whatās left of it, with the standout new bit being when Zod crashes through The White House and is met by armed soldiers and Secret Service loaded for bear and firing away at him, until Zod (keeping in mind that the bullets bounce off of him anyway) grabs an AK-47 for himself and starts shooting them all down with a sadistic smile on his face, something he didnāt have to do but felt he had to as an act of evil, appropriate irony. Thatās not to mention the battle of Metropolis (reedited to take out the really stupid Lester bits mostly involving the various citizenry of the city), the removal of several REALLY dumb sound effects and needless dubbed in lines that Lester had added, and of course the final confrontation at The Fortress Of Solitude is totally different, with Superman using his mind rather than his might to defeat Zod and Company. And the way Superman wraps everything up is actually the same as Part One, only better looking FX wise, and with a different tone, as Superman is actually smiling with confidence while heās doing what heās doing because well, he can! And all this while still retaining the charm and epic feel of Donnerās original that even though it doesnāt come across as fully realized as it could be, still can be considered a perfect companion piece to the original classic and maybe even more slightly mature in tone to Lesterās kiddie matinee (although it should be fairly and duly noted that Lesterās approach DID have an influence of its own on certain comic book style movies), but overall a triumph that now happily gives the fans that rarest of things: a true freedom of choiceā¦
10/10