That's right, for the first time on a Road to I'm doing double duty by reviewing two versions of the same film, and also deciding which is better. But enough rambling let's get to it.
Superman II is a comic book movie, the sequel to 1978's Superman, and the second installment of the original Superman film series. It was produced by Dovemead Ltd. and International Film Production and distributed by Warner Bros. Superman II was written by Mario Puzo, David Newman, and Leslie Newman and directed by Richard Lester.
The story is, after finally being free from their prison, General Zod and his cohorts plan to take their revenge by going to Earth an conquering it. To make matters worse, in effort to be closer to Lois, Superman renounce his powers. Can Superman find a way to get his powers back, or will all of Earth kneel before Zod?
- Negatives
I've got nothing.
- Mix
Alright, we've got three slight issues with this. One of them being Lester's directing. Now, he is quite good, the problem was the stuff he shot really clashed with the tone of the movie. Where it feels as though the movie wants to be serious, there's quite a few campy moments that follow. This clash didn't absolutely ruin the entire movie for me, but it does bring the quality down a bit.
Then there's the action. Some are really fun, but Lester had this vision where he it wanted to be more like the comics. What's the issue with that? Well for starters technology wasn't up to par back then, and because of this the action can be slow at times. I remember this one moment when Superman goes to kick Non in the face, but because of Lester's decision it came off as Superman did so slowly that you're surprised Non didn't do anything because it looked like he had all the time in the world to move the other way or block.
The last thing I'll touch on is the special effects. Now yes, the first movie had it's not so good effects, but for the most part it's not too bad. Here, there's still some good effect work on display, but man the blue screen effects are just bad. I just can't defend those.
- Positives
If there's one thing to give credit to, it's the performances. And yes Christopher Reeve does get credit, but I also want to give credit to the likes of Margot Kidder, Terence Stamp, Sarah Douglas, etc. Despite having to go through some backstage drama, everybody managed to give some very good acting in.
While I'm the biggest fan of this verison of Superman II, I still feel it was a pretty decent sequel overall. Besides, it's a hell of a lot better than Superman III and IV.
My final rating is, Okay.
Alright, with the theatrical cut out of the away, let's move onto....
The Richard Donner Cut is of course a re-edited director's cut of Superman II, it was produced and distributed by Warner Bros. This one has huge amounts of discarded footage, alternate takes, and story elements not featured in the theatrical cut. While it was edited by Michael Thau, Richard Donner was overseeing production.
My Thoughts
Now many of praises, okay one of my praise, is in the theatrical cut, I won't touched too much on that. So let's focus on other aspects such as tone. One of my slight issues with the Lester cut was the comedy. Now Donner still has some humorous moments, but! The tone with this cut is very much similar, if not exactly like the first movie. So we do get some darker moments, while the more campy stuff is significantly toned down.
Then there's the action. Now most the action was stuff that was still the theatrical cut before Lester and co. came along and made their changes. However, the fight in Metropolis is a big improvement. It's not as long as I was expecting, but the fights are way better. Primarily cause it actually looks like the actors are actually in motion, which I greatly appreciate.
The last praise I'll give is the story. It feels so much stronger, probably thanks to the tone, I wrote about earlier. But I was also liked about the story was what Donner had in mind. The relationship story between Clark and Lois feels much stronger and I felt had a lot more development to it, and I also liked the conversation Superman had with his father about giving up his powers. They have a really good conversation about how yes Clark is aware he's being selfish by wanting to be with Lois, while Jor-El makes an argument that he can't favor one over all. So there's much more weight in this discussing than the other verison.
Now if I do have one slight criticism it is the footage. There's quite a few instances where you plainly tell things just are finished. Hell, there's test footage of Christopher Reeve and Margot Kidder right in the middle of the movie, and it's very noticeable. Although, while we still should criticize this part, we really shouldn't be too harsh. Mainly because it was the best Richard Donner had to work with. Hell, even he wasn't too satisfied with the ending he used, saying had he completed the movie back the 1980, he definitely would've shot a different ending. And considering how much he cared about making these movies, I believe him.
The Richard Donner Cut does have it's undisputed flaws, however, between this and the theatrical cut, I'm picking the Donner Cut because it's much closer to what Richard had in mind. And unless the quality says otherwise, I'll be a supporting to a director's vision than something a corporate community wanted.
My final rating is, Good.
That's a wrap. Come back on Thursday, Jul 18th, for review of Justice League: Crisis on Infinite Earths - Part Three. Until then, enjoy the rest of your day.
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