Superman II - The Expanded Richard Donner Cut

A quality edit that every Superman fan should check out. Great job with upgrading the deleted scenes.

Dugnutt has a keen eye for what shots work and what don't. The edit doesn't rock the boat too much, but all the moments were carefully considered and expand on the overall experience of watching the Donner Cut, making it feel more complete than the original as intended. I have give serious props to the color correction on these clips, they're done so well I didn't even recognize they were from the Lester Cut or deleted scenes! I especially love how they darkened the Fortress when Clark goes back there, that wass a nice touch. On the visual editing department, it is gorgeous, and the extra stuff means the narrative is improved as a result.

However, what hurts it for me is the audio editing. Some places are pretty solid, like the Niagra Falls or Houston scenes, and some are actually great like the scene where the guard notices Lex escaped, but other parts suffer from pretty violent transitions (such as the first Ursa expanded shot), or mild popping noises that let you know a scene was cut together (Lex and Teschmacher waving bye at Otis, or Lex's arrival at the Fortress as examples), which took me out of the movie too many times. It's a good edit, one worth it if you love the Donner Cut, though I think it could use some work,

It is nice to see the extra footage included but there were a few times when I was taken out of the moment, from what I understand the Donner Cut has a few audio issues (haven't got my copy to hand to check) where the voices sound like a different person is dubbing over the actor, not sure if these could be fixed. There also seemed to be a couple of occasions where the audio transitions could have been smoother, Ursa chasing after an astronaut for example, but video quality is generally excellent (considering some of the sources).

The fifth version of the film I have seen so far (after the Lester, Donner, Booshman Redux and Ollie W cuts), this was never going to be a definitive cut for me (am not a fan of Superman turning back time twice), but it certainly fulfills its title and I commend Bobson for the work. I still favour Superman Part II for the moment, looking forward to seeing what other editors have made/will make of this seemingly infinitely editable title.

Ever since the Donner cut was released way back in 2006 there's been many fanedits of Superman II through the years, the most notable to me was Booshman's which I'd lost to hard drive failure.
Last week I watched Wraith's superman edit and reading that this was the perfect edit to acompany that with, I relinquished in the chance to give it a watch.

Not sure where to start talking with this edit, so I'll just jump right in with the thing I particularly liked and add points from there, the first is the pacing, the first hour flew by so quickly, no sooner are the Kryptonians freed we're seeing what Clark and Lois are doing, then we have Lex's escape, I appreciate Zod not speaking Russian - even if Aliens speaking fluent English is a stretch in itself. After the moon sequence there's quite a bit more time before we get to the main 3 again, Once we get past the sequence with the Sheriff and the deputy when we next come back to them they have all but decimated the town - I really liked the way Zod blew the fire back, just a few seconds cut removed the bad flame animation but we got the gist of what he'd done.

There's always a preference in communities about which scenes are better in regard to Lois attempt to be saved and the Superman reveal. I've never minded the Rapids sequence in the Lester cut but the Tripping over the rug is just a far less interesting reveal. Lois is no fool and is onto Clark immediately at the start of the film, and after her first failed attempt explains her reason bluntly "I was risking my life" I think the Bullet scene is quite possibly Lois at her most cunning as a reporter and one of my favourite Lois scenes in all of superman.

It's such a silly moment but I really like the assault on the whitehouse, Zod wouldn't need to use human weapons, but when he's firing that gun, the glee on Terence Stamp's face is priceless. I always liked that Donner tried to keep all three of them as a capable threat, even if myself as a child appreciated that Non was the silly one that couldn't figure out his powers.

I don't like the time reversal, but as explained before the credits roll, this is the redux of the Donner cut from 2006 that should have been to the closest specifications of the director's vision, for that I respect it.

Also: maybe I'm misremembering the booshman edits from years ago (Plus I haven't revisited them on any blu ray) but I remembered the deleted scenes being far blurrier than here, there were a couple of far away shots where the artic police looked a little bad but you could reason that to so much dry ice being on screen. But I thought all were reintegrated really well.

This was once again, the perfect viewing for a Sunday afternoon.
Thank you Bobson

Bobson's edit will be the end-all-be-all for this film, which has its intrinsic ups and downs, but I never wanted to ever give up on it, as, yes, this is childhood and a film I grew to love, despite Lester's silliness.

Donner's official edit was noble, but seemed a little haphazard. Our intrepid editor here has taken the narrative and - most importantly - has drawn it out, and developed the nuances of the scenes that matter while, yes, killing the silliness in general and getting it together. Is it just me, or does the Lois-falling-out-of-the-building-scene just look better than it did on the Donner cut?

The ending with the trucker, btw: love it. It's funny, because, yes, in the alternate timeline there is no need for the "unprovoked attack", but in this case it's totally Kal-El getting a little private revenge that only he knows about. Justified? Well, who knows, but it's a snarky little move - who hasn't dreamed of such things? Kal-El isn't infallible! In fact, the irony is that this is his all-too-human moment, a moment perhaps "beneath" him, but very human nonetheless.

Brilliant narrative, careful, well-paced, and essential. I'm not a fan of most superhero movies and couldn't care less about anything Marvel, but Superman I and II are parts of growing up in the early 1980s, and anyone who was a kid in those days knows what it means to feel that chill when Zod realizes what Kal-El pulled off in the chamber during the film's climax.

Beautiful edit, Bobson! -