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Lois Shoots Clark by Mike-oh

Lois has finally had enough of Clark Kent's snivelling and decides to fill him full of lead.

Richard Donner's Superman II. You hear all the time about movies in development where they switch directors or screenwriters, or even the lead actor. Hugo Weaving was not the first actor to wear the Guy Fawkes mask when production started on V for Vendetta. But somewhere along the way, the producers or the director decided to have Hugo take over. Some scenes had to be shot over. But I can only assume some scenes were kept with Hugo's predecessor. It's a fair assumption that these scenes wouldn't amount to anything substantial so it's very unimportant. As a matter of fact, I've always assumed that these changes that were made to movies in midstream were always just nuances to the end product. With regards to Superman II, nothing could be furthr from the truth.

It's really shocking when you watch the Richard Donner version because it is substantially different from the version that played in theaters 26 years ago. In case you don't know, Richard Donner, the director of Superman, The Movie (aka. Superman I), shot both movies, Superman I and Superman II, at the same time. Both movies were two parts of the same story. After shooting, Donner edited Superman I but before he could edit Superman II he was fired. Richard Lester was hired to take over the directing. Lester shot all new scenes, changed the script, and even changed the ending.

Back in 1980, the Internet wasn't being used as a complaint department for movie fans as it is today. We didn't really know what was going on with the movie. And when it came out, we were just stumped by stupid touches like the amnesia kiss and the giant cellophane "S" that Superman peals off his chest to capture the bad guys. But there was enough Superman goodness for us to embrace the movie. We didn't know that we owed that goodness to Richard Donner. Donner's absence was even more evident when Superman III and Superman IV flopped on movie screens like cow poo.

We had no idea that Superman II was going to be so great. And that these two stories would tie into each other so seamlessly. Until now. An editor by the name of Michael Thau decided to amass all of the original footage shot by Richard Donner along with all of the storyborads, the original script and all of the notes and tools used by Donner's crew during original production. And by going through a painstaking process that involved Richard Donners input, Thau has been able to effectively recreate and produce the film that Donner might have produced had the Salkinds given him the opportunity back in the day.

What we have now is called Superman II, The Richard Donner Cut. This movie has Lois Lane scribbling over a photo of Superman and discovering his secret identity as Clark Kent. Then she goes and throws herself out of the window of the Daily Planet right in front of Clark in an attempt to force him to reveal himself as Superman. Later, at Niagra Falls, she doesn't throw herself in the river. Instead, she pulls a gun on Clark Kent in their hotel room (the Honeymoon Suite) and shoots him, forcing him to come clean with his secret.

You also see a lot more dialogue between Lex Luthor (Gene Hackman) and his cronies but nothing substantial. Just jokes. Plus, it's a real treasure just to see Christopher Reeve back as Superman. And not just as Superman, but as Superman doing stuff you have never seen before.

And then there's Marlon Brando. Lots of Brando. The movie begins with a basic replay of the scene where Jor-El banishes Zod and company to the Negative Zone. But Brando's real impact on this film can be felt in the scenes that take place in Superman's Fortress of Solitude. Here, Jor-El actually becomes physical enough to embrace his son one last time. It's an amazingly emotional scene. It's absence in the original production just means that they basically ripped the heart out of this movie.

There are other major differences as well. You should watch the movie for yourself to see. And you won't have to watch the original Superman II beforehand in order to spot the changes. The difference is really that substantial.

Of course, regardless of the numerous improvements made to the film, there are still elements that don't sit right. I really liked the scene where Superman saved Lois Lane in the Eiffel Tower. That's been cut from Donner's version, presumably becasue it was produced by Lester. But that doesn't matter to me. I always thought that it was a classic portrayal of Superman-style heroics.

And there's this bit about Superman flying around the world backwards to turn back time. It was that kind of convenient solution that frustrated comic book readers with some of the glop that was being written back in the sixties and seventies. And I always thought that it was beneath Donner to use such a device.

Plus, ther are a hundred little production quibbles like how fake it looks when Superman picks up the de-powered Zod and Zod is swinging back and forth on the cable that is obviously doing the real hoisting. Of course, this falls in the department of "never being satisfied." It's not like they don't have the technology to completely create and edit anything you can imagine. It's just expensive. And I'm sure too expensive for a project that went straight to DVD and would only be watched by an audience of truly diehard Superman fans.

As a diehard Superman fan, I think I'll just say thank you now and save the complaining for the lack of extra features on the Superman Returns DVD.

So, what do you think? Agree? Disagree? Give us your feedback.