Superman Part II

Wow. This edit was fantastic. There were some issues in the audio (the sync issue in the blank bullets scene for example) but the video editing was top notch. The narrative was perfect and I enjoyed the hell out of it. It's the best Superman II edit I've ever seen and I highly recommend it! Thumbs way up!

Wonderful. Ollie's edit felt very organic and flowed a hell of a lot better than Thau's edit or the let's-invent-thirty-new-superpowers original edit that I grew up on. The streamlining aspects of the piece and the inclusion of some of the best bits of Thau's at-times abysmal reworking along with some of the Lester pieces definitely felt natural. And that was the key. Nothing felt...jarring. Rather, it was quite smooth in transition and execution. My gripes are few, if any, and have ZERO to do with the implementation of such scenes. Instead, my gripes are with the original source material. They revolve around the blank bullets scene, which has always stuck out like a sore thumb to me and which I've never liked (even the acting and dialogue felt forced...as a screen test likely should). The other is in some of the fight-scene FX in Metropolis. Primarily the usage of the Statue of Liberty (which I also thought looked much less realistic than it's counterpart flight-and-kick sequence from Lester's cut).

Other than that, any flaws inherent to the source were Thau's fault (herky-jerk music editing in a couple of portions to support use of Williams' original music) or the issue of having to use as much Donner footage as possible. But this was leaps and bounds better than either released version.

The thing I lament the most is that some of the old Superman Cinema regulars (hell...even me) weren't invited to help save Thau from himself when he cut the thing together. Otherwise, if I could get this in Blu-Ray with lossless audio, I'd have it replace the versions in my Motion Picture Anthology in a heartbeat.

Kudos to you, Ollie. Nice work. :)

All right, for starters: sorry for having let so much time pass by. Now, I was really trying to look after a version of "Superman II" that could be the right version, not aversion which was good but felt incomplete, or a version finished by another director and furthermore absolutely ignored the feel of completeness that was due, since Richard Donner had planned the second one not as a 'sequel' to the first one, rather the second episode, "Part II", which would have completed his storyline. This was an incredibly well done edit, and really did give a lot of what was needed. I was never a big fan of Superman, but was always willing to sit through the first two films as Richard Donner had intended them. But then "The Richard Donner Cut" made me wish "Superman: The Movie" didn't have the same ending as its sequel. Then, your cut. This really solved many, many of the problems I originally had with both the original cuts, let alone the blank bullets scene, which I would have probably edited differently, to cut out Clark's changing hair, but I don't even know if it would have been possible. The cuts were always seamless, and the film was satisfying. Continue with this!! Go on! And I loved the fact that the ending wasn't recycled!! Congratulations!!!

Canon Editor

Superman 2 was the film that got me into fan editing. It was the first film I did. As a HUGE fan of the first 2 Reeve films, I had made it my personal quest to see every fan edit of Superman 2, and see where the "best" edit ideas lie. Ollie's edit here takes quite a lot of what I feel is "the best choices". Out of the 15 or 20 edits of S2 that I've seen, Ollie's is definitely in my top 5 (including my own personal fan edit of the film).

I don't agree with every choice he's made, but after 8 years since the release of the abysmal "Donner Cut", without any word from Selutron, or any further release to right the wrongs, I'll take ANY edit that is vastly superior to either of the official releases sold in stores, regardless if I prefer "this" version of a scene than "that" one.

Audio/Video quality: Well, it's DVD instead of Blu, but in all honesty just fixing the color timing to the theatrical blu of S2 is a project in and of itself lol. A/V is fine for DVD.

Editing-wise this edit is spectacular. There's a few hiccups sure, but they can always be quickly and easily corrected down the line if Ollie chooses to do so.

Narrative: Again, I have my own choices that I prefer over Ollie, but he more than makes up for it by using "Lois knows" ending. That's EXACTLY how I made it in my edit when I made it 6-7 years ago. Just a little restructuring of the "pizza" scene, and BAM, perfect narrative structure.

One thing I didn't think I would like is the runtime. at 103 minutes, it's one of the shortest edit of S2 made. I thought it would be too rushed (like the way the Donner Cut did), but thankfully Ollie chose the right takes, scenes, and edits that gives the story and characters room to breathe. Whereas the Donner Cut just felt like a rush to get it over with, Ollie makes the short run time "fit" just right. And this coming from someone who's preferred version has always been the KCOP cut, which has the longest runtime at 145 minutes (Nearly 45 minutes longer). So for me to enjoy a really short edit of the film says a lot.

Enjoyment: I loved this edit mostly because, now that the fan editing community has had some time to "take in" the entire Superman 2 fiasco regarding different directors, different scenes, different music...etc now we have a fan edit that comes out years since the last one, and now that we've all had some time to really think things over, it really seems like, to me, we all want the same thing. And by that I mean, we're all beginning to agree with what "works best" for the film. So a lot of us are all kinda just trading off ideas and using them in each others edits.

My edit may no longer be available online, but thanks to this edit, I'm just happy that people will see what I believe is the best ending to the film. No amnesia kiss, no re-hashing the turning back time ending. Lois is fine with knowing his secret. Sure, I would've let the villains live, but those deleted scenes need to be cleaned up first.

The fourth version of Superman II I have seen (after Lester, Donner and Booshman's Redux cuts) and probably the best. Cutting straight to the villains being freed is bold and energetic, but I think a brief recap (just the trial and banishment) would help reinforce who these people are, over two hours (at least) having passed since we last saw them.

Otherwise almost perfect. A couple of edits feel a little noticeable, and I do miss the extra scenes at the ending contained in Booshman's Redux (Arctic Patrol and Jimmy's new camera), but as far as I am concerned this is my go to version for now.