Superman II The Richard Donner Cut
Directed by: Richard Donner
Starring: Christopher Reeve, Gene Hackman, Margot Kidder, Terence Stamp
Released: 1980 (2006)
Watched: September 17th, 2015
Thoughts Before: This one I remember a lot better, there were some silly moments to be sure (specifically that weird cape attack..) but I've never seen the Richard Donner Cut. It's kind of interesting. Back in the day Donner got kicked off the project for whatever reason, and Richard Lester finished the original version. Eventually though, some lost footage was found, and someone decided to reedit the film to be as close to Donner's vision as possible. I'm excited to see the changes, but hopefully it doesn't make the movie more similar to the first...
Thoughts After: My memory betrays me. I can't recall what exactly this Donner cut changed from the original Superman II release, but the Donner cut was not very good. Granted, it was better than the first. My biggest problem is that Superman kept doing things that made no sense to me. Stripping away his powers for no real discernible reason, reversing time AGAIN, fighting that dude in the rewound timeline who doesn't even know he was a dick to Clark before. Everything with Zod was pretty entertaining. Slowly seeing Zod's powers grow, and fight in the city was actually really entertaining. But it doesn't last. The majority of the film is Superman being weak and Lois Lane shaming him for it. And the climax is so lame. There isn't a climatic battle between the two, Superman just tricks Zod into taking a depowering shower. Ugh. It could have been so much more. I'm just worried about the sequels... Also, Gene Hackman is not Lex Luthor. My favorite part had to be Lois Lane continuously trying to kill herself to force Clark to admit he's Superman.
Bonus Round: Stamp Day for Superman is some weird little propoganda from back in the day to buy up some savings bond. The entire premise is that some crook lost all his money, and if he had bought some savings bonds wouldn't be in the dire situation he's in. He winds up kidnapping Lois, and of course it doesn't end well. It stars the guy who played Superman in the old serial series, and man that guy just doesn't do Superman or Clark Kent justice. Kind of interesting to see the first live action Superman, but the message is dumb, the execution is bad and they really don't do the man of steel justice.
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