The real tragedy of this drama (coupled with Donner's decision to change the ending to "Superman: The Movie") wasn't losing the (admittedly better) versions of the same scenes as directed by Donner, but rather the fact that Superman's own character arc was undermined. It was so subtly underplayed in both final releases, that the protagonist of the story seems relatively empty. Puzo's story actually gave the character proper, fitting development that's easier to spot in Donner's cut.
I want to point out here that I have no interest in being a "fan-edit" critic and especially no desire to criticize fan-editors at what they do. I make horrible videos for reviews and I'm aware of how exhausting video editing can be (especially without the proper resources). I also recognize that no fan-editor is a film-maker and shouldn't be judged as such, but instead as contributors to a dedicated, niche community.
I need to preface the following review with this, because I may need to be critical toward the fan-edit itself, not on the grounds of the editor's work, but rather on its relation to the original film/material.
While the "Deja Vu Cut" is considered one of the best (if not THE best) "Superman II" fan-edit, it actually distances itself from most other edits' efforts of mixing the Lester and Donner cuts into one, "perfect" Superman II and instead opts for a more creative approach: cut the linear sequence of events in half and instead of replacing scenes from each cut, include almost all scenes in both versions.
It's a very interesting approach for two reasons, one negative and one positive. The negative reason is that inevitably the film feels disjointed and nonsensical, as it portrays roughly the exact same events taking place in a slightly different fashion (and in different sets) each time. It's literally like playing a film and it's almost shot-by-shot remake to spot the differences.
But therein lies the positive angle, as it makes this edit ideal for seeing what changed between the two cuts, what works and what doesn't in each film and in the larger "Superman II" story.
FanMix, the editor, generally mixes the two cuts instead of showing them separately in each of the two portions of the movie. Even so, most of the first portion focuses heavily on Donner's unfinished cut.
After the intro with Zod's banishment from Krypton, we are reminded of the first film, where Superman guides one of the two missiles Luthor had launched into space. The missile explodes and this is what in the original version frees the criminals from the Phantom Zone. The scene was shot, but sadly never went through post-processing, meaning the special effects weren't applied. The 2006 reconstruction team only had a few bucks to spend and thus resorted into CGing a low-poly, badly textured rocket on the film.
Following that, Lois has written her article recounting the events of the first movie and Clark walks into the Daily Planet. This is the first scene in Donner's version that Lois figures out his identity, by comparing Clark's posture to a similar picture of Superman in the paper. In the same scene, she jumps out of the building trying to coerce Clark to jump after her to save her. This is the scene that was replaced in Lester's version with her jumping into Niagara Falls.
The fan-edit moves to Lex's escape from prison via the hot-air-balloon with Mrs Teschmacker and their way North, to the Fortress of Solitude.
From there on a lot of the footage is actually from the released theatrical version of the film. For the scenes that are used in both cuts, FanMix chose for the most part to edit in-between them, showing half of them in the first part of the film and the other half in the second. This approach sets the context for the sequence of events in both halves of the edit and leaves room to repeat the scenes without repeating the exact same footage.
Lex's scene in the Fortress of Solitude is from Donner's cut. In the theatrical release, the information regarding Zod is relayed to Lex by nameless members of the Kryptonian council and Lara Zor-El (Kal-El's biological mother). This was done due to the fact that originally all this information was given by Jor-El himself and the Salkinds really didn't want to have to pay Marlon Brando again for re-shoots. This part of the movie, which is one of the few not repeated in the second half, actually has the original Marlon Brando footage.
The Niagara Falls scenes and the honeymooners subplot are almost identical in both versions (as most of it was shot by Donner). For the first part of the fan-edit are reserved the "clean Clark's glasses" moment, followed by that stupid-ass child falling into the Falls and Superman rescuing him. The scene is however cut short after Superman flies away, with the remainder reserved for the latter part of the edit.
What follows is one of the most interesting parts of the Donner cut: in a scene back at the honeymoon suite Clark chastises Lois for jumping off the window of the Planet and tries to convince her that he's not Superman. In the original script, there was no pink bear where he slipped and chose to give up his identity. Instead, Lois pulled a gun on him and went all "gangsta" on his ass. This scene is seen favorably from most, but to be honest I find it showcases the monumental stupidity that occasionally escapes the character's head.
For one, the man makes no attempt to wrestle the gun from her hands or at least run away (which would be perfectly in-character). He must have considered the possibility that she would shoot; this is a woman who, no more than a few days ago, threw herself off a building. Instead, he only takes a few steps back and gets shot at like an idiot.
Secondly, Lois is a little "out there", but she's not a sociopath; so she fires blanks just in case her hypothesis is wrong. She tricks Clark into admitting his double-identity. I've never bounced any bullets off of my skin, or being shot in general for that matter, but I'm pretty sure if a bullet hits you, you're going to fucking feel it. This is the same Clark Kent that caught a bullet in the first movie and went "HA! You missed". He could've easily faked his way out of this one.
Of course these are nitpicks within the context of the story. The real problem with this scene comes from the fact that it was never shot! The reconstruction team in '06 were lucky, though, as it was one of the scenes that Christopher Reeve and Margot Kidder auditioned for together, to test their on-screen chemistry. Footage of that still existed and it was added in the Donner version.
I find its inclusion in the actual film questionable, though. It's a great scene to watch and immensely interesting, but sadly it's also very jarring. The actors are in full, but cheap, audition-specific costumes and they look extremely different in comparison to how they look in either of the finished scenes. I'm really not sure how well it works in regards to a full, finished film.
Right after, Superman takes her to his Fortress of Solitude (which incidentally is also the opening sentence of my new book, 50 Frames of Grain) to have "the talk" and this is where the first portion of the edit starts falling apart, effectively messing up its flow and fast-forwarding to the conclusion of the first big act. Almost everything between dinner in the Fortress and the Metropolis fight is gone.
Actually, it occurs to me I haven't mentioned the villains much. This is because most of the Zod footage was already shot by Donner and ended up in the movie anyway, so there isn't much to say in detail. The Kryptonians really follow an edited-down version of the same path as the theatrical release: fucking up the Moon, fucking up Little American Town, fucking up the White House, meeting Lex Luthor and then fucking up Metropolis.
With the edit suddenly fast-forwarding, the story changes a little. In this first act, Superman never loses his powers. We don't know if he and Lois slept together, he just flies her back to her apartment and then the film moves to the Daily Planet, where the villains storm in. Superman challenges them outside, using an alternate line from the Donner cut ("General! Haven't you heard about the freedom of the press?") and then we get the Metropolis battle.
For those unfamiliar with the Donner cut, Donner's action sequence in Metropolis was different, but only barely with just one shot (where Superman punches Non to the Empire State Building) being the only truly memorable.
When the battle concludes, so does the first act of the fan-edit, using the Donner Cut ending: Superman, unable to deal with all three villains, turns time back. Yes, that scene.
See, the "flying around Earth/turning time back" scene was originally written for Superman II, not "Superman: The Movie". It'd be after the events of both films this would happen and it would conclude Superman's story-arc as well. That's why the scene is such a ridiculously disproportionate response and why its screwed up physics don't really matter. Superman's arc in the two films was a journey, in which the estranged son of another world grows more and more fond of humanity as a whole (shown first during Pa Kent's funeral) and wants to share feelings like love and acceptance with them (when he gives up his powers for Lois).
Because of that last decision in particular, the Kryptonian villains wreck the world and Superman intervenes far too late. It's because of his actions and his weakness that people die. As such, in the climax of the second film, he'd set the world back to the point before his decisions cost innocent lives. It was an arc about personal responsibility, about handling your abilities to the betterment of those around you and about growing up and becoming your own person-- having received the guideness of your parents, having made your own mistakes and becoming entirely independent.
That's where the line "The son becomes the father and the father, the son" they mentioned not-so-subtly in "Superman: Returns" hinted at.
Donner, however, decided to change the scene and shoehorn it into "Superman: The Movie" as a marketing trick, because he believed it would make a bigger impact that the risky (expensive to make, super-hero movies weren't common-place at the time) film needed.
Not that the scene makes much more sense that way, mind you. Even if the physics weren't all over the place, logic takes a hell of a hit. I believe this wasn't the case in Donner's cut, but in this fan-edit, this also makes the villains get trapped back in the Phantom Zone. How? Did he turn time back for the whole universe? What happened to the rockets? Why turn time back AFTER the events of the first movie?
And again, what happened to the rockets then, especially the one that freed the criminals in the first place?
Between all this drama, the character's development was undercut and underplayed throughout his two biggest cinematic releases to-date. It's a pity too, because it's an arc unique to Superman. Many other heroes can claim the "great power- great responsibility" shtick, but for them it's usually through an emotionally sombre lens; for Superman, it's the realization and real acceptance that some things are bigger than we are.
And so the first part of the fan-edit ends with everything going back in time, before the Kryptonians are released from the Phantom Zone, before Lois learns of Superman's secret and before innocent lives are lost because Clark was on a date.
In the next (and hopefully) final part of this installment, we'll look at the second act of FanMix's cut and perhaps see why Lester's version isn't as bad as we like making it out to be.
I want to point out here that I have no interest in being a "fan-edit" critic and especially no desire to criticize fan-editors at what they do. I make horrible videos for reviews and I'm aware of how exhausting video editing can be (especially without the proper resources). I also recognize that no fan-editor is a film-maker and shouldn't be judged as such, but instead as contributors to a dedicated, niche community.
I need to preface the following review with this, because I may need to be critical toward the fan-edit itself, not on the grounds of the editor's work, but rather on its relation to the original film/material.
While the "Deja Vu Cut" is considered one of the best (if not THE best) "Superman II" fan-edit, it actually distances itself from most other edits' efforts of mixing the Lester and Donner cuts into one, "perfect" Superman II and instead opts for a more creative approach: cut the linear sequence of events in half and instead of replacing scenes from each cut, include almost all scenes in both versions.
It's a very interesting approach for two reasons, one negative and one positive. The negative reason is that inevitably the film feels disjointed and nonsensical, as it portrays roughly the exact same events taking place in a slightly different fashion (and in different sets) each time. It's literally like playing a film and it's almost shot-by-shot remake to spot the differences.
But therein lies the positive angle, as it makes this edit ideal for seeing what changed between the two cuts, what works and what doesn't in each film and in the larger "Superman II" story.
FanMix, the editor, generally mixes the two cuts instead of showing them separately in each of the two portions of the movie. Even so, most of the first portion focuses heavily on Donner's unfinished cut.
After the intro with Zod's banishment from Krypton, we are reminded of the first film, where Superman guides one of the two missiles Luthor had launched into space. The missile explodes and this is what in the original version frees the criminals from the Phantom Zone. The scene was shot, but sadly never went through post-processing, meaning the special effects weren't applied. The 2006 reconstruction team only had a few bucks to spend and thus resorted into CGing a low-poly, badly textured rocket on the film.Following that, Lois has written her article recounting the events of the first movie and Clark walks into the Daily Planet. This is the first scene in Donner's version that Lois figures out his identity, by comparing Clark's posture to a similar picture of Superman in the paper. In the same scene, she jumps out of the building trying to coerce Clark to jump after her to save her. This is the scene that was replaced in Lester's version with her jumping into Niagara Falls.
The fan-edit moves to Lex's escape from prison via the hot-air-balloon with Mrs Teschmacker and their way North, to the Fortress of Solitude.
From there on a lot of the footage is actually from the released theatrical version of the film. For the scenes that are used in both cuts, FanMix chose for the most part to edit in-between them, showing half of them in the first part of the film and the other half in the second. This approach sets the context for the sequence of events in both halves of the edit and leaves room to repeat the scenes without repeating the exact same footage.
Lex's scene in the Fortress of Solitude is from Donner's cut. In the theatrical release, the information regarding Zod is relayed to Lex by nameless members of the Kryptonian council and Lara Zor-El (Kal-El's biological mother). This was done due to the fact that originally all this information was given by Jor-El himself and the Salkinds really didn't want to have to pay Marlon Brando again for re-shoots. This part of the movie, which is one of the few not repeated in the second half, actually has the original Marlon Brando footage.
The Niagara Falls scenes and the honeymooners subplot are almost identical in both versions (as most of it was shot by Donner). For the first part of the fan-edit are reserved the "clean Clark's glasses" moment, followed by that stupid-ass child falling into the Falls and Superman rescuing him. The scene is however cut short after Superman flies away, with the remainder reserved for the latter part of the edit.
What follows is one of the most interesting parts of the Donner cut: in a scene back at the honeymoon suite Clark chastises Lois for jumping off the window of the Planet and tries to convince her that he's not Superman. In the original script, there was no pink bear where he slipped and chose to give up his identity. Instead, Lois pulled a gun on him and went all "gangsta" on his ass. This scene is seen favorably from most, but to be honest I find it showcases the monumental stupidity that occasionally escapes the character's head.
For one, the man makes no attempt to wrestle the gun from her hands or at least run away (which would be perfectly in-character). He must have considered the possibility that she would shoot; this is a woman who, no more than a few days ago, threw herself off a building. Instead, he only takes a few steps back and gets shot at like an idiot.
Secondly, Lois is a little "out there", but she's not a sociopath; so she fires blanks just in case her hypothesis is wrong. She tricks Clark into admitting his double-identity. I've never bounced any bullets off of my skin, or being shot in general for that matter, but I'm pretty sure if a bullet hits you, you're going to fucking feel it. This is the same Clark Kent that caught a bullet in the first movie and went "HA! You missed". He could've easily faked his way out of this one.
Of course these are nitpicks within the context of the story. The real problem with this scene comes from the fact that it was never shot! The reconstruction team in '06 were lucky, though, as it was one of the scenes that Christopher Reeve and Margot Kidder auditioned for together, to test their on-screen chemistry. Footage of that still existed and it was added in the Donner version.
I find its inclusion in the actual film questionable, though. It's a great scene to watch and immensely interesting, but sadly it's also very jarring. The actors are in full, but cheap, audition-specific costumes and they look extremely different in comparison to how they look in either of the finished scenes. I'm really not sure how well it works in regards to a full, finished film.
Right after, Superman takes her to his Fortress of Solitude (which incidentally is also the opening sentence of my new book, 50 Frames of Grain) to have "the talk" and this is where the first portion of the edit starts falling apart, effectively messing up its flow and fast-forwarding to the conclusion of the first big act. Almost everything between dinner in the Fortress and the Metropolis fight is gone.
Actually, it occurs to me I haven't mentioned the villains much. This is because most of the Zod footage was already shot by Donner and ended up in the movie anyway, so there isn't much to say in detail. The Kryptonians really follow an edited-down version of the same path as the theatrical release: fucking up the Moon, fucking up Little American Town, fucking up the White House, meeting Lex Luthor and then fucking up Metropolis.With the edit suddenly fast-forwarding, the story changes a little. In this first act, Superman never loses his powers. We don't know if he and Lois slept together, he just flies her back to her apartment and then the film moves to the Daily Planet, where the villains storm in. Superman challenges them outside, using an alternate line from the Donner cut ("General! Haven't you heard about the freedom of the press?") and then we get the Metropolis battle.
For those unfamiliar with the Donner cut, Donner's action sequence in Metropolis was different, but only barely with just one shot (where Superman punches Non to the Empire State Building) being the only truly memorable.
When the battle concludes, so does the first act of the fan-edit, using the Donner Cut ending: Superman, unable to deal with all three villains, turns time back. Yes, that scene.
See, the "flying around Earth/turning time back" scene was originally written for Superman II, not "Superman: The Movie". It'd be after the events of both films this would happen and it would conclude Superman's story-arc as well. That's why the scene is such a ridiculously disproportionate response and why its screwed up physics don't really matter. Superman's arc in the two films was a journey, in which the estranged son of another world grows more and more fond of humanity as a whole (shown first during Pa Kent's funeral) and wants to share feelings like love and acceptance with them (when he gives up his powers for Lois).
Because of that last decision in particular, the Kryptonian villains wreck the world and Superman intervenes far too late. It's because of his actions and his weakness that people die. As such, in the climax of the second film, he'd set the world back to the point before his decisions cost innocent lives. It was an arc about personal responsibility, about handling your abilities to the betterment of those around you and about growing up and becoming your own person-- having received the guideness of your parents, having made your own mistakes and becoming entirely independent.
That's where the line "The son becomes the father and the father, the son" they mentioned not-so-subtly in "Superman: Returns" hinted at.
Donner, however, decided to change the scene and shoehorn it into "Superman: The Movie" as a marketing trick, because he believed it would make a bigger impact that the risky (expensive to make, super-hero movies weren't common-place at the time) film needed.
Not that the scene makes much more sense that way, mind you. Even if the physics weren't all over the place, logic takes a hell of a hit. I believe this wasn't the case in Donner's cut, but in this fan-edit, this also makes the villains get trapped back in the Phantom Zone. How? Did he turn time back for the whole universe? What happened to the rockets? Why turn time back AFTER the events of the first movie?And again, what happened to the rockets then, especially the one that freed the criminals in the first place?
Between all this drama, the character's development was undercut and underplayed throughout his two biggest cinematic releases to-date. It's a pity too, because it's an arc unique to Superman. Many other heroes can claim the "great power- great responsibility" shtick, but for them it's usually through an emotionally sombre lens; for Superman, it's the realization and real acceptance that some things are bigger than we are.
And so the first part of the fan-edit ends with everything going back in time, before the Kryptonians are released from the Phantom Zone, before Lois learns of Superman's secret and before innocent lives are lost because Clark was on a date.
In the next (and hopefully) final part of this installment, we'll look at the second act of FanMix's cut and perhaps see why Lester's version isn't as bad as we like making it out to be.
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