Superman II - 3 Disc Special Edition

Fans love nothing better than a lost masterpiece, whether it's Smile by the Beach Boys or the original cut of The Wicker Man that is currently residing under a motorway bridge somewhere. Superman II is hardly a 'masterpiece', but it certainly has an intruiging history, with director Richard Donner originally filming it at the same time as the first Superman movie, only for it to fall apart and for him to be replaced partway through by Richard Lester (director of Hard Day's Night), who reshaped the film in the way that he wanted it to be, which turned out to be rather different. Gone was the epic vision of Donner and instead there was a campy, jokier tone that didn't sit very well with the storyline or the scenes that had already been filmed by the original director, meaning that the end product was a bit of a mess. However, nothing stands between fanboys and what they want to see, so after years of petitioning Warner Bros to release the original Donner cut of Superman II, here it is. It's bundled in with the theatrical cut and a whole host of bonus features (including a hilariously racist 1940s Superman cartoon called Japoteurs), but what most people will want to see is the long-awaited new version. Was it worth all the fuss? In a word, yes. Superman II was in no way a bad film, but Donner's cut turns it from being merely serviceable to great, and it would certainly have been up there with the first Superman film. One thing worth noting straight away is that it is not a completed movie, because Donner didn't have time to finish filming what he wanted to before he was ditched, so some of Lester's film is used here, while one scene is taken from test footage of Christopher Reeve and Margot Kidder. However, while they do look noticeably different in that scene from the rest of the film, the quality of the footage is surprisingly good. The main difference between this cut and the Lester one is the presence of Marlon Brando, and 'presence' is the key word here. He was meant to appear in Superman II reprising his role as Superman's father Jor-El, but legal wrangling meant that he was replaced, and Donner restores him here, and his scenes are easily the best in the whole thing, bringing gravitas and real emotion when he is interacting with his son, bringing the best out of Reeve as well. One key scene was that cut without sensible replacement by Lester also helps fill a major void in the theatrical version. The other most obvious difference is that most of the campy humour of the Lester film is removed by Donner, and this is a blessed relief, meaning that the tone is much more consistent and the whole thing sits together much more logically. The Donner Cut might not be perfect because of its convoluted background, but it's a much better film than the Superman II we were originally given, and this DVD is well worth getting if only to watch that.

Blade Runner - The Director's Cut

Here's another film from the early 80s that has been released in various different versions. When Blade Runner came out in 1982, it was chopped and changed by the pesky meddly 'studio execs' (damn them) and wasn't what director Ridley Scott had intended it to be. So, in the early 90s, a Director's Cut was released, taking out the voiceover and the dodgy 'happy ending' and adding a hint that Rick Deckard might be a replicant after all. And here it is again, re-released on DVD just in time for Christmas, and what could be better at this time of year than a thoroughly depressing film where Harrison Ford stumbles around in the dark for an hour or two while Rutger Hauer mumbles bad poetry and makes animal noises? We're being slightly disingenuous here, because Blade Runner: The Director's Cut is a very good film, even if it is still more of a cult classic than a genuine classic. However, it's only going to get a 3-star review here. Why? Because this DVD is utterly pointless. Despite the title, Ridley Scott has only ever been marginally happier with this version of the film than the theatrical release, because he wasn't able to completely have control of what went into it. Next year his Definitive, Final, Promise I'll Never Touch It Again version will be coming out at the cinemas, and will be followed by a box-set of pretty much every different Blade Runner cut known to man. So, why would anyone possibly want to buy this, which comes with no special features and could well be rended superfluous in six months or so?