 |
| Richard Lester / Richard Donner |
|
| Christopher Reeve, Margot Kidder, Gene
Hackman, Terence Stamp, Sarah Douglas, Jack O'Halloran, Susannah York,
Ned Beatty, Jackie Cooper |
|
 |
Anamorphic
widescreen |
|
Dolby Digital
5.1 |
 |
DTS |
|
|
Trailer(s) |
|
Featurette(s) |
|
Documentary |
|
Audio commentary
|
|
Deleted scenes
|
|
Concept art
/ storyboards |
|
|
|
|
Lex
Luthor (Gene Hackman): He is but one, while you are three!
[Non growls menacingly.]
Four, if you count him twice.
Superman
gives up his powers to have a relationship with Lois Lane, while at
the same time three super-criminals from Krypton come to wreak havoc
on Earth.
 Originally
intended as an integral continuation of the story started in the
first film, this sequel has an incredibly complicated, messy production
history, but still does emerge finally with several advantages over
the first episode. For one thing, the viewer can be plunged straight
into the action as there is no need for an hour-long introduction
sequence that explains where Superman and several other key characters
came from. This allows for much more room to elaborate on the relationship
between Superman/Clark and Lois Lane, and also puts the story's
focus on a fairly clear, easy-to-follow string of narrative events.
Richard Lester, who took over and (re)shot most of the footage when
Richard Donner was unceremoniously fired by the producers, had a lighter touch than Donner, with frequent lapses into outright silliness. The sequel in any
case has more funny moments than the first film, and the action set
pieces might not have as huge a scale, but most are better incorporated
into the general flow of the story than those in the first film. The
fact alone that the villains in this episode seem truly threatening
(even though their behavior was toned down to secure
a PG-rating), makes the story as a whole much more exciting, and there
is also at least a semblance of character development in the characters
of Superman and Lois.
There is even more room for those elements in the new cut put together to restore Richard Donner's vision of the sequel. Although it has a patchwork quality due to the fact that some scenes existed only in screentest form, the film has a far more serious tone than the Lester version, and is therefore far more consistent with the first film. It benefits enormously from the reinstation of Marlon Brando's footage, all of which was excised from the sequel for financial reasons. It does however suffer from a downright silly repeat of the original film's notorious climax. |
|
 |
 |
|
|
First released as a single-disc release with meager audio and no extras, Superman II has now been released on DVD in two versions: a two-disc version of the theatrical cut, and a single-disc release of the newly created Richard Donner version of the film. These two releases are available separately for Region 1, and have been combined into a single three-disc set for Region 2.
The
anamorphic widescreen image is framed at an aspect ratio of approx.
2.35:1. Image quality in this release has improved radically when compared to the previous release: the image is crisper, cleaner, and colors and details are much better defined. The Richard Donner cut, which is made up of a patchwork of elements, is more uneven in appearance than the theatrical version, but it also maintains a pleasant appearance throughout.
The soundtrack has successfully been upgraded to a full Dolby Digital 5.1 mix for both versions of the film. The audio mix is powerful and enveloping, and similar in tone and spirit to the new 5.1 mixes that grace the first film on DVD.
 As with Superman: The Movie, the theatrical cut of the film carries an audio commentary track from producers Ilya Salkind and Pierre Spengler offering their perspective on the challenges of this ground-breaking sequel. Also on the first disc is a single deleted scene. The second disc is devoted to supplements supplemental material; but since the sequel's production history has already been covered sufficiently by the documentaries on the first film's DVD release, the main inclusions here are vintage featurettes 'The Making of Superman II' and 'Superman: 50th Anniversary'. The most exciting inclusion here once again is the eight remaining Superman cartoons produced in the early 1940s by the Fleischer brothers. As those on the four-disc DVD set of the first movie, they have been meticulously restored, making these releases the definitive version of these classic cartoons. A fifteen-minute featurette gives valuable historical context on the Fleischer cartoons and their influence on the Superman mythos.
The third disc holds the long-awaited Richard Donner cut of the film, created after years of online campaigning by Superman fans desperate to see the scenes shot by original director Richard Donner before he was fired and replaced by Richard Lester, who - according to many fans - squandered the sequel's vast potential by making Superman II a more jokey, kid-friendly film. The disc includes a short introduction from Richard Donner, still resentful about his experience on the film, but clearly pleased to finally be able to see a version modeled after his own design for the film. A short featurette reveals how this version was put together, and further deleted scenes that didn't make the final Donner cut are also available on the disc.
Dan
Hassler-Forest
Reviewed: December 19, 2006
Click
here for IMDB info on Superman
II .
Click here
to return to the front page.
|
|
| |
