Superman II

Superman: The Movie is easily one of my favorite movies of all time. There is a sense of wonder and genuine movie magic happening that i cant help but smile throughout the entire thing.

I cant say that i love Superman II as much as the first, but i have always held a soft spot for it. Reeve is still the ideal Man of Steel, and there are quite a few heroic moments to be had. Specifically the scene where Zod and his crew have busted into The Daily Planet looking for The son of Jor-El only to find Lois Lane. The way the theme sneaks up on you and newspapers being blown away by Superman arriving always gives me goosebumps.

Also, Terrance Stamp is bad ass.

For those who don't know, the original films director, Richard Donner, was kicked off of production for the second one even though he had already filmed over half the movie. The studio brought in Richard Lester, who brought a bit more humor and fantasy to Superman, with mixed results.

As i said, I have a soft spot for the original version of Superman II, but there is a lot of stuff going on that really doesn't make sense.

Now, i know, its a superhero movie, and I'm all for suspension of disbelief, but why the hell does Superman become a magician here? Throwing a giant, disappearing 'S' at a bad guy, giving Lois Lane a kiss to erase her memory? It's all a bit silly and really doesn't fit with the first film's more epic tone.

The fact that Marlon Brando isn't in the movie at all doesn't help anything either.

Luckily, in 2006, the studio allowed Donner to put together a rough cut of the movie he would have made. With a lot of creative editing and use of screen tests and long lost footage of Brando, Donner was able to come as close as possible to his original idea for Superman II.

Before I first watched this edition in 2006, I hadn't seen Lester's version in quite some time and was hoping it would allow me to go into this new version as fresh as possible. Turns out that wasn't the case. The nostalgia i had for the original version was much stronger than I expected. It was definitely interesting to see how the sequel was originally conceived, but after it was over it just made me want to watch the theatrical version.

However, having recently watched the original film a few more times, and finally seeing Lester's part II for the first time in years, I found myself revisiting Donner's version. To my surprise i actually ended up preferring his cut, as I appreciated not only the continuity in tone to the first film, but the sense of awe and wonder as well.

That's all i have to say about that.