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Even in its "cobbled together" state, I still prefer Donner's cut.
I love the scenes in Donner's cut with Jor-El. Those are the stand out moments for me.
Having Jor-El in the movie, explaining about the villains, and "sacrificing" himself to restore Kal's powers is a lot more dramatic and satisfying than having Lara provide the extrapolation.
The original premise of the missile from the first movie shattering the Phantom Zone is a lot better than the Paris hydrogen bomb, too.
Lois firing the blank at Clark is better than him clumsily tripping into the fire, IMHO.
Bear in mind that a lot of the deleted footage which was seen in the network TV broadcast and which is now on the internet is actually deleted Lester footage, not Donner's.
Anyhow, Superman II is still one of my favourite movies, in both its incarnations.
I like both, but the Donner cut is the way the film SHOULD have been. I miss a few Lester things (the "General, care to step outside line" for one), but Lester's campy tone really undercut the severity of the situation. A little humor here in there is okay, but a lot of the battle in Metropolis is full of just silly sight gags. Only Reeve's sincere performance saves it from being a total farce.
The fact that Reeve and Brando actually share a scene is phenomenal. And that whole bit with Jor-El just makes so much more sense. The opening with Lois trying to prove Clark is Superman works so much better, the blank gun, all of that.
My only gripe is that the "turn back time" ending was still used. I know that was the original ending for 2, but since it was used for 1, I wish they could have come up with something different. I know they really didn't have any kind of budget for such things, but maybe Lester's amensia kiss should have been left in. After all there is still some Lester in the Donner cut.
General Zod kills what kid? I like seeing Zod getting amused by our Machine gun in the white house. Chilling.
The original always struck me as a "Pink Bear Rug " part and a good part. Like to not see the pink , I would like to do a fan edit someday of both I and II in a single film.
At least in Donner Superman and Lois didnt kill th powerless Phantom Zone villians.
I wish the scenes with Lex luthors "Babies" should have been in the first movie.
I used to think the best part of Superman 3 was the Junk Yard fight, But Clark Kent's finest scene was in the bowling alley. Best scene by reeves period personally.
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