Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #7331 in DVD
• Released on: 2006-11-20
• Rating: Parental Guidance
• Formats: Box set, PAL
• Number of discs: 3
• Running time: 233 minutes

Synopsis
Once again mild-mannered reporter Clark Kent (Christopher Reeve), hiding his identity as Superman, must fight for law and order. This time around, a triumvirate of nasty villains from the planet Krypton break free of their dimensional prison and hightail it to Earth, where they enjoy the same superpowers as Superman. Meanwhile, Lois Lane (Margot Kidder) has discovered that Superman and Clark are one and the same person, so Superman debates whether to give up his abilities to become a normal man and share his life with Lois. Includes both the Richard Lester version released in cinemas and the original Richard Donner Cut that was abandoned in the late 70s and completed in 2006.

Customer Reviews

A Must for Any Superman Fan
This is a hard review to write as I wouldn't want to spoil what is contained within the Richard Donner cut of the film.
His cut of the film is the one that was never really made - he was sacked after shooting most of the footage for this film, during production of the first Superman film.Richard Lester took over and re-shot scenes and changed the feel of the film, and is the one that we all saw at the cinemas.
So, what to make of the 'lost' Donner picture.Well, it is fair to say that you shouldn't expect a highly polished film.It has been patched together with archive footage, and in one particular scene, a screen test!
But that is not to take anything away from it.You certainly get the feeling that the Donner Cut is the continuation from Superman the Movie.The themes from that film are developed, whereas the Lester film seems to stand apart from it.
As other people have mentioned Marlon Brando is in this film, and this certainly belongs in this film.When you see it, i believe you will prefer his role, to the sequence in the Lester version.Donner's cut seems much more grandiose, and emotional than Lester's version.
However, that is not to criticise Lester's film.I love both films - they are both good for different reasons.Lester's is definitely better produced, and finished off - but then it would be, as he was employed to finish it!Donner's is probably the true vision, though flawed in many aspects.
What i would suggest is that you make your own mind up!The price of this pack on Amazon is brilliant and you can't go wrong.The Donner cut is only going to be really relevant if you love Superman, or are a real film buff.But, for this price i would say BUY IT!You get more value for money in this pack than most newly released dvd's, 2 very different films, and some great extras!
What more could anyone ask for?

Brilliant, but different..
Having viewed this version of Superman 2, it is radically different. I viewed this film as a separate entity and I found in its own right if Richard Donner had completed this film back in the late 1970s the edit of scenes in the film would have been flawless, but in 2006 as Richard explains in the interview on this DVD, only his footage around 70 percent was filmed, therefore compared to the theatrical version the Donner Version on this DVD looks like huge chunks of the film are missing. Nevertheless the Marlon Brando scenes are spectacular. The fight scenes are a bit more brutal.

If you watch this 'Donner Version', watch it as an independant film, and you will enjoy it!

Finally, the Richard Donner cut
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.

The 3-disc edition is definitely the one to go for - as well as including Donner's cut and Lester's much longer theatrical version, it also has an excellent array of extras.