Superman II: The Richard Donner Cut Film Review

Directors cut are nothing new with alot of movies having either an extended cut or a directors cut at some point in time. While the #ReleaseTheSnyderCut movement did make them a popular thing again it also made them alot less special well the film that i'm about to review for you all today was special due to the films really troubled production history that dates all the way back to Superman: The Movie and so then join me as I review the film that really is the final time that Christopher Reeve played Superman with the film in question being called simply just "Superman II: The Richard Donner Cut" enjoy.

The plot of this film is when three Kryptonian villains escape from the Phantom Zone and head towards Earth it's up to Superman to stop them before it's far to late. Now then interms of what I personally thought / felt about the actual plot that's actually featured / presented to us in this very film well then in all honesty I in all honesty personally thought / felt that the actual plot that's actually featured / presented to us in this very film was in all honesty not that bad as the plot for this film is just as good as the plot of the first film but at the same time tho it's a film that's alot more lighter tone plot wise then the plot of the first film and is alot less good then that of the first films plot but the plot of this film is really entertaining and as well as being really rather engaging as well in my freaking opinions anyways / at least.

Starring in this film is Christopher Reeve as Clark Kent / Kal-El / Superman and Gene Hackman as Lex Luthor. Also starring in this film is Marlon Brando as Jor-El , Ned Beatty as Otis , Jackie Cooper as Perry White , Sarah Douglas as Ursa , Margot Kidder as Lois Lane , Jack O'Halloran as Non , Valerie Perrine as Eve Teschmacher , Live And Let Die star Clifton James as The Sheriff , E.G. Marshall as The President Of The United States , Back To The Future star Marc McClure as Jimmy Olsen and Terence Stamp as General Zod.

Now then interms of what I personally thought / felt about he actual acting that''s actually featured / presented to us in this very film well then in all honesty I in all honesty personally thought / felt that the actual acting that's actually featured / presented to us in this very film was in all honesty really good. With all of this films cast turning in some really good performances which is to be expected given who is starring in this film as all of this films cast are a bunch of really good actors and as a result they were bound to turn in a good performance in this film with the true standout performer in this film being the great Christopher Reeve who really just simple nails it as Clark Kent / Kal-El / Superman with him really getting the character down with this making him really THE definitive live action movie Superman as he really is so good in this film with the acting in this film really being helped by the fact that the films script is just so good that all the films cast have to do is just say the lines as they are written and a good performance will come of them naturally.

Unlike the original cut of Superman II this film has Marlon Brando back reprising his role of Jor-El in newly discovered footage. Having Jor-El appear in this film makes more sense then it does having Lara as it was firmly established in the first film that Jor-El is Clark's mentor with it being him who gives him advice when he really needs it with Lara having given him the love of a mother when he was very young and heck it could even be argued that both this film and the first film are more about Clark and his birth father then they are about anything as it's there relationship that gets tested the most all throughout both of the films and as a result it makes no sense for Lara to suddenly appear in the original cut of Superman II when she had no impact on the plot of the original nor did she have any impact on Clark's character arc during that film whereas Jor-El did have an impact of the plot of the first film and does play a huge part on Clarke's characters arc in that film.

Without this film proving that fans actually want to see a cut of a movie from that films original director we wouldn't have gotten Zack Snyder's Justice League. Yes the whole #ReleaseTheSnyderCut movement did help with that but it was this movie that in the first place that proved to studios that this is something that could make them alot of money which is something that studios care about alot more with this film being pretty much a completely different movie with the film featuring roughly around seventy five percent new footage that wasn't featured in the original cut of the film with there only being a few shots that Superman II's replacement director Richard Lester directed being in the film just to make this cut of the film feel alot more complete much like how Zack Snyder used mostly new footage and there being a few shots and scenes from the original 2017 Justice League movie being used to make the film alot more complete then what it would have been.

This film does give alot of focus to the relationship between Clark Kent and Lois Lane which does work both for and against the film. As it works for the film as it was there relationship that was the emotional core of the first films third act and expanding on that relationship in this film does make sense to some degree but on the flip side of that is the fact that the film takes away from developing it's villains as the film is more focused on giving us the romance between Clark Kent and Lois Lane when the film could have done both and it would have worked for the film but given that this is a superhero film we don't usually expect nor even want to see a romance in our superhero films as nine times out of ten there just not that good and while the romance for this film does make sense in that it's a continuation of the storyline set up in the first film it's also one that adds nothing to the plot of this film and as a result it's something that could have been removed from this film and the screen time could then have been given to either Lex Luthor or Zod , Ursa and Non all of whom needed the screen time more then the relationship between Clark Kent and Lois Lane really did. 

While it does make sense that this film would have a recap of the first film at the start of this film it's also something that isn't needed in the grand scheme of things. As let's be real honest here the only people who would have been watching this cut of the film in this first place are people who have already seen the first Superman movie anyway and as such having a long recap at the start of this movie only serves to remind them that they could have been watching a much more better film and while it does make sense that it would be included as it does catch you up with the plot of the film it's also something that should have been at the very least been cut down quite a bit as none of what's shown outside of the villains escaping the Phantom Zone none of what they show in the recap adds nothing to the overall plot of the film and with the added screen time we could have gotten some development to the films three villains who despite being good villains still needed that extra bit of development to make them great and a really even more memorable villains on top of that.

Now then while I cannot for the absolutely life of me remember whatever this film exact grand total running time even was I do know that for a fact that this film has / had an exact grad total running time of roughly one hour and fifty one minuets. Which is a solid running time as the film has more then plot there tom cover that incredibly large amount of running time and while the film really does make the most of it's running time the film does oddly really feel like it short have been longer with both Clark Kent and Lois Lane and Lex Luthor both disappearing for large portions of the movie and both characters are main characters and yet every time that they disappear it's really for at least twenty minuets at a time which does have the effect of making this film feel alot shorter then what it actually is but I really will admit that this film has some really good pacing to it tho.

So now then as this is an action film that means that I gave to actually talk about the actual action that's actually featured / presented to us in this very film well then in all honesty I in all honesty personally thought / felt that the actual action that's actually featured / presented to us in this very film was in all honesty really good. With the films action being alot better then the action that we got in the first film and also being alot more fun to watch as well with the best example of this being the third act battle in Metropolis which is a fun and creative action sequence with Superman being and the citizens of Metropolis being put in genuine danger due to the fact that all three of the films main villains have the exact same powers as Superman which that alone opens it self up to alot of creative and fun action sequences all of which are things that are we get in all of this films many action sequences in my freaking opinions anyways / at least. 

Overall out of the two cuts of Superman II that are out there this one really is easily the better cut of the film as it not only really recaptures the tone and feel of the first film perfectly but at the same time it also advances the plot of the films in a way that makes sense all of which are really things that the original cut of the film failed to do in my freaking opinions anyways / at least. Now then i've talked about all of the good and as well as all of the bad things that are in this very film in this very review and as such that meas that this very film really does earn itself a grand old score of exactly a 7.5 out of 10 from me.

Now then as for where I personally got all of the images that I personally used in this very review well then boys and girls and as well as ladies and gentlemen I personally got all of the images that I personally used in this very review from the official Superman Anthology fandom wiki page , the official DC Extended Universe fandom wiki page , IMP Awards . Com and Google Images. With my personally preferred website to use to get images this film being Google Images this is because all of the images that I got for this review and that are still of course currently up and really are on the really great Google Images with them all being really fairly high in quality and as well as them all really being fairly high in definition.