Superman II

There is a long history to Superman II that dates back to the inception of the original film. Producers Alexander and Ilya Salkind decided not to make just one Superman movie, but two simultaneously. Since both films shared many of the same sets, the bulk of Superman II was shot at the same time as the first film by that film's director, Richard Donner. It was an ambitious, but also kinda brilliant gamble that nearly paid off. Except that shooting on the sequel was put off as the release date for the first film got closer and the focus shifted to completing that film with the plan that Donner would return and finish the second film as well. Except tensions between the Salkinds and Donner reached a boiling point and he was fired off the film and replaced with Richard Lester.  

The film begins with Lois (played by Margot Kidder) covering a terrorist attack on the Eiffel Tower in Paris. When Clark (played by Christopher Reeve) discovers this, he quickly switches to Superman and flies straight for Paris. Turns out the terrorists are planning to detonate a hydrogen bomb. Superman is able to rescue Lois, who in typical fashion managed to find her way right into the middle of the crisis, and get rid of the bomb, jettisoning it into space. However, the detonation of the bomb manages to break free three Kryptonian criminals, Zod (played by Terence Stamp), Ursula (played by Sarah Douglas) and Non (played by Jack O'Halloran) from their floating jail known as the Phantom Zone. They head straight for Earth with only one goal in mind: Conquer it and rule it themselves. The only man that can stand in their way is Superman.

In order for Richard Lester to get credit as director for Superman II, he had to shoot at least 51% of the film. His contributions to the film included the Paris opening scene, as well as shooting segments of the segment of the film where Lois and Clark are off in Niagra Falls covering a possible honeymoon racket. It's there that Lois finally starts to suspect Clark is Superman, a fact confirmed when he trips in their ridiculous honeymoon suite and his hand goes into the fire, but is not burned when Lois inspects it. He also reshot segments of the climactic showdowns between Superman and the Kryptonian trio both in Metropolis and later at the Fortress of Solitude. Of course, if you watch the film with this knowledge in mind, you can tell what Donner shot and what Lester shot because with the exception of the first scene, everything else was pretty much all gag based, very silly and slapsticky, which is disappointing and leaves the film disjointed. Also anything with Gene Hackman in it, who returns as Lex Luthor, was shot with Donner. It's not that the Richard Lester version is terrible, he even made some good additions to the film with the Paris opening and Superman's appearance in Metropolis to face Zod and his cronies, with his epic line, "General would you care to step outside" kicking off a genuinely thrilling climax. It's just that the film has a very uneven tone that hurts it a little. It also stings a little that Donner, who had created a genuinely magical first film, wasn't allowed to continue that vision and complete the second film. Well, at least not right away.

In 2001, as the original Christopher Reeve films were being restored to be released on DVD, Warner Bros. managed to unearth the Superman II footage. All the Superman II footage. As news of this discovery became public, petitions quickly began to circulate asking for a Richard Donner cut of Superman II be assembled and released. It wasn't until late 2005 and all legal rights about ownership of the footage was cleaned up that work began in earnest by editor Michael Thau. Slowly, but surely he was able to tempt Donner into helping with the cut with the director initially very hesitant to be involved, but by the summer of 2006 was completely involved. The film was completely restored and released on DVD in the winter of 2006, just in time for Christmas. 

The result was night and day. The Richard Donner version was almost a completely different film. Tighter, faster paced and more consistent with the first film. It also had a completely new opening that ties directly in with the first film. Rather than a hydrogen bomb, it was the Hackensack, NJ bound nuke that Superman deflected into space that freed the Kryptonian trio. Following that is one of my favorite scenes in the Superman films as Lois, looking over her latest story and the pictures of Superman and then to Clark Kent starts to figure out who Clark really is. She then proceeds to draw a fedora and coat and tie over a picture of Superman to confirm it. There is just something about how Margot Kidder plays this moment that I absolutely love. Among the other alterations include all the Marlon Brando footage shot for Superman II had been restored, replacing the scenes in the Richard Lester version that had replaced Brando with Susanna York as Superman's mom to save having to pay Brando a second time. It's the smaller changes and the deletions of the more slapstick humor that makes the Donner cut the stronger film. The one downside is that the film repeats the ending of the first film with Superman turning back time. Now, the turning back time bit was always originally meant for Superman II, but when Donner and Mankiewicz realized they needed a stronger ending for the first film cannibalized their plans for the ending of the sequel intending to come up with a new ending when they resumed work on the sequel. Since that never happened and since Donner hated the Lester ending, we have a time turning reprise. I actually don't mind it personally and every time I watch it, I usually quip something along the lines of, "You gotta stop doing that Clark, you're gonna break something."

So, yeah, that became less a review of Superman II and more a look at the history of the film and the two very different versions. Of the two, I prefer the Richard Donner cut. I remember getting the DVD set for Christmas in 2006 from my mom and the first thing I did was watch the new cut of Superman II, feeling a chill as tears welled up in my eyes as the opening credits of the film ended with the words "Directed by Richard Donner" slamming into place as the theme music reached it's crescendo. It was an awesome moment. After it was finished and still now, I feel it's the better of the two films. I haven't even watched the Richard Lester film in several years. I may just have to check it out again, even if I'll wind up sitting there, wishing I was watching the Donner cut.