Superman: The Epic Cut

Ever since I was a little girl, I've loved these movies. Such wonderment and curiosity came along with the first time I watched, and every time I think of Superman I think of Christopher Reeve. Well, this edit might be the first time in a long time I've felt the story in a new and exciting way since I first saw them as a child. Wraith's editing here is revelatory, uncovering a long-hidden gem from the existing material (with new material to supplement that, masterfully integrated.)

Never have four hours gone by quicker, and every change is practically invisible. Editing decisions were made so precisely, that even when I did think about something from the original version it was hard to recall what precisely had been changed. There is a certain feeling of two halves that is inevitable with the material, but the divide between the two films seems less like stitching two together and more like an act break in an epic tale - precisely as we can only assume Donner intended.

For any fans of Superman, this is essential viewing. For me, this is the definitive version of Donner's Superman, for others it will be more academic, but everyone should set some time aside to watch this edit.

Excellent editing and communication. Merged both cuts and all content seemlessly! Thank you for this! Waited many decades for a cut like this.

So this cut is super long, don't get me wrong though that isn't a bad thing.

This movie though being 4 hours long, doesn't feel like it is that long. I really enjoyed it. As I said in the other review, I watched this and the Wraith Cut back to back the other night. I originally got them for my 13 year old daughter who grew up loving the first two Chris Reeve movies to watch. My kids ended up with a respiratory infection so once they are recovered, hopefully tomorrow, we will watch them together as a family. She is looking forward to watching them quite a bit.

Anyways, back to my review. This has a lot of extra things to it that the Wraith cut doesn't have. It seems to follow the shooting script ideas from my understanding. Compared to the Wraith Cut that captures the emotions/feel/idea Puzo and Donner wanted with the first two films, this cut captures also the complete picture so to speak. The idea, emotions, look, and scene order they originally wanted. It doesn't have an intermission but since this isn't a theater I just paused and went to the bathroom.

Anyways seeing Chris Reeve as Superman always bring a tear to my eye. This is such a great cut. I can't put into words how much it means to me to have this. I really do love it so much.

Epic and done with total love for the greatest superhero movie of all time. A true pleasure.

Fanedit reviewed is a combination of Superman I and Superman II Donner Cut called “The Epic Cut”. The changelist on this page currently details a different edit (of only Superman I). To be clear, the edit I watched is tagged on screen (briefly) as “S EPIC v1.05 2022 revised B”, and following comments refer to this edit.

The editor is to be applauded for allowing us to see Superman I & II as one long movie. I watched the whole 4 hours in one sitting, so that attests to the edit’s watchability! Short review; it’s fun, watch it! But it’s worth a few more detailed thoughts too. These are just things that struck me while viewing. For context, my personal experience is that I know “Superman The Movie” extremely well, after many many viewings, and have seen other Superman movies far less often (e.g. Donner cut only when it first became available).

The Krypton explosion has been replaced, and I’m not sure of the source but it doesn’t work IMO. It’s very slow and doesn’t fit the pacing of the destruction sequence as a whole.

The “Superman’s first night” section is heavily cut, IMO to its detriment. The whole bank robber car chase / boat capture, and cat in the tree scenes are missing. Without these, Superman’s initial reveal to the world is rather heavily centred on saving aircraft, and the only crimefighting element is nabbing a single burglar! Perhaps these were cut for time, but in a movie allowed to run over 4 hours, I can’t imagine Donner himself would have cut them. Conversely, I think there are elements present that would have been cut if I&II had been finished as a single movie. The main offender here is all the nonsense with Luthor, Otis, and Eve around stopping the missile convoys. It goes on way too long, and isn’t even very good.

The villains’ escape from the Phantom Zone is too sudden IMO. Superman diverts a rocket into space and it is almost instantly passing Saturn (a journey which would take years!), and then the villains are free even before the earthquake has started in California.

In the finale sequence. Perry White’s toothpaste starts travelling back in time well before Superman even creates the time warp. (Does the Donner Cut play that way, I don’t remember the details.)

The opening dedication to Geoffrey Unsworth is appended with Christopher Reeve and Richard Donner. This is fine, but the white name captions then change to one white, one blue, one red. Perhaps this is intended as some kind of subtle reference to the Stars and Stripes, but unfortunately it looks exactly like the flag of Russia!
(If the colours are a nod to the good ol’ US of A, then the later removal of the line about “the American Way” seems even more strange than it already does. He grew up in Smallville, so expressing himself that way plays fine IMO.)


The edit is dealing with varying sources so some inconsistency is to be expected. I do recall one clear error in the sound mix though; there is a line from Jor-El to the council (“You cannot ignore these facts”) which appears over a close-up of Jor-El not even speaking. The power of super-ventriloquism! In the later stages of the movie, there are a couple of instances of loud clicks on the soundtrack too (I remember that some are in the end credits sequence).

All in all, a worthwhile viewing, and we can only imagine how “Superman The Movie” would have been received in 1978 as a 4 hour film.