Rating:  -
OK, it is not fully material filmed by Richard Donner himself. Some has been lost in the cutting room, but it is still far superior to the Richard Lester's version.
We finally get Part II of "Superman - The Movie". This would mean that in reality, the Superman saga, is in three chapters, like a Trilogy.
Superman III, becoming truly Superman II and The Quest for Peace, Superman III and not IV.
I also found far more interesting the continuity in the Fortress of Solitude, which offers us further insights in Kal-El's education by his Father Jor-El (played by Marlon Brando), and initiated on his far journey from Krypton to Earth in part One.
The bit with Susannah York, being suddenly his mentor and teacher, instead of Jor-El, was very strange and never fully explainable.
The picture is far better outlined and the pace, at least for the first half of it, is far tighter, than Lester's version.
I actually prefer Donner's vision and from now on I will only play Lester's as a comparison piece.
The DVD picture transfer is as good as the "Superman -The Movie" Special Edition one, which makes it very enjoyable since they are both the very same movie.
Some reviewer noticed that there were actual quality differences between the material shot by Donner and the one by Lester. I could not find any such differences, and if there may be some, they are totally unnoticeable while watching the movie.
Naturally, this is the opinion of somebody who rather get involved with the plot, rather than with visual characteristics, but if I had noticed something obvious appearing on screen, I would have been the first one to get shocked, but no, nothing major appeared on my HD screen.
Concerning sound we receive with both DVDs a decent Dolby Digital 5.1 Surround Sound, compared to Lester's flat Dolby Digital Surround, which is equivalent to a Dolby Digital 2.0 Surround.
Believe me, I don't usually like to be taken for a ride with special gimmicks like DeLuxe Editions and the like, but this version is worth every penny, and if don't already own the entire 8 to 14 DVD collection and you don't want the other movies, this is the additional one you ought to buy.
It is up to you, but Marlon Brando reprising his role as Jor-El is well worth the extra effort.
Rating:  -
Hollywood is filled with stories about how movies were supposed to be...and then became something else.
The Richard Donner cut of SUPERMAN II is a very rare chance to see what a movie was originally intended to be--or at least some approximation of what was intended.
Richard Donner had been fired and Marlon Brando demanded more money (Brando was no stranger to this kind of turmoil since this was why he didn't appear in GODFATHER II either). The Richard Lester version that was released in 1981 was more of a stand-alone comic book adventure with some of the original film left in.
But the Donner version fits much better with the first film, developing the relationship between Clark Kent and Lois Lane as well as Superman with his father, Jor-El.
Although some of the special effects look dated, and Christopher Reeves' hair goes from slicked down to blown dry in a single scene, this movie is definitely worth checking out to see what the filmmakers originally had in mind. The final scenes may leave you scratching your head (a reviewer named Superman Fan has written an excellent review that asks some great questions: If Superman can safely have sex with a human woman, why would he need to give up his super powers? If Lois says his secret is safe, then why does Superman go back in time--again--to erase her memory and keep the bad guys in the space mirror? The whole time travel thing never worked in the first movie either!).
Now...can they use the latest technology and other raw materials to make SUPERMAN III and IV worth watching...?
Rating: -
I been a fan of superman since I was a little boy.I was so happy when superman returns came out.But when I went to see the movie, I was not happy with it.Anyway superman 2 Richard Donner cut is what superman 2 is all about this is far one of the best titles out of the hole series.The hd dvd looks very good,sharp picture,outstanding sound.
Rating: -
I had no idea that any of Donner's footage remained.
Yes, I followed the whole dirty business between the Salkinds
and Donner, so the idea that ANY of this film remained was
fanciful at best.
Being a life-long Superman fan, naturally I lookedSuperman II - The Richard Donner Cut at this box with amazment and excitement.
After all these years, Donner's vision, Mankowitz' script, and the real prequel to Superman Returns, was released by Warners, possibly as an afterthought and marketing tool for "returns".
When I saw the film, I was blown away by the additions, happy about the subtractions, and I felt "closure" for Chris Reeve.
The story, while basicaly the same, is told in a much more exciting manner. There is NO doubt in this addition that Lois & Superman were intimate, setting up Lois' kid in "Returns".
Overall, it is a better paced film than Lester's. It's a better sequel than Lester's. It's a better directed film than Lester's. The pre-credit sequence, along WITH the credit sequence, are better than Lester's.
Now, just in case you get the idea that I don't like Richard Lester as a director, you should know that I loved "Help", and "A Hard Day's Night"The Beatles: The Making Of A Hard Day's Night.
But his comedic elements did not belong in a sequel who's original took the Superman Legend seriously.
Rating: -
Superman II - The Richard Donner Cut isn't a perfect film by any means, but it's a huge improvement over the Richard Lester theatrical version, which I found almost completely lacking in soul and filled with incredibly awkward shifts in tone - indeed, Lester's determination to abandon the verisimilitude that was Donner's watchword and turn the whole thing into a cheap custard pie comedy showed how little he cared for the material. As with Superman III, where he had more of a free hand, he seemed more interested in an Adam West-style slapstick spoof than anything else.
Although some have compared it to a rough cut, despite Donner only finishing about 70% of the film, the reconstruction is a lot smoother than expected. Aside from the awkward 'Last week on Superman' opening which goes on forever, it doesn't look bad at all - even the screen test used for one key sequence is shot in full costume on a fully dressed set, and is more competently executed than many of Lester's scenes. Using the first film's turning back the Earth plot device yet again is awkward and the effects reintegrating the unused Brando scenes aren't always as smooth as they might be, but it never looks particularly unfinished. If anything I found the editing much more disjointed in Lester's cut, where the additions were painfully noticeable - not just the different film stock or change in tone but the fact that everyone suddenly looked so much older in the reshot footage.
Although the film is now a lot tighter, the first half is still awkward - too much Gene Hackman, too little conquering the Earth (gee but the President rolls over easy: fry a few rednecks and knock over a single Washington monument and he'll give you the keys to the planet). It still has too much of that atrocious audio manipulation of Terence Stamp's voice that makes him sound like a bad drag act as well (and this a decade before he became Priscilla). But once the second half hits its stride, it's a massive improvement. While the early Brando scenes are purely functional, there's some real emotional power in his final scene, and with all the infantile cutaways to badly-executed slapstick comic cutaways to people getting ice creams in the face or the like removed, the battle in Metropolis finally works and even takes on an apocalyptic dimension entirely absent in Lester's isn't-this-childish-crap-really? approach to the scene.
The end is a little disappointing, but still perhaps more convincing than the kiss ending in Lester's cut. Most importantly the film finally has the soul that Lester chewed out and threw away. It still would have been a disappointing sequel had Donner been able to finish and tighten it, but compared to the piece of utter junk Lester delivered (and I really do think his version is appalling and was horrendously disappointed when it opened) it's a much more satisfying number. I'm glad to see something finally approaching a decent film.
Extras aren't extensive - some deleted scenes shot by Donner (but none from Lester's cut), mostly featuring redundant scenes with Gene Hackman, an introduction by Donner, restoration featurette and commentary.
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