The Reel Rejects - SUPERMAN II: THE RICHARD DONNER CUT (1980) MOVIE REVIEW!! First Time Watching!!

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Starting point is 00:01:00 Thank you to Hewle for sponsoring this video. More on them in just a bit. Tara, I think I have said everything. I don't know what day of the week this is coming out. So what day of the week? I believe it's going to be Tuesdays, even though that is. Well, this isn't historical film. So historical Tuesday.

Starting point is 00:01:23 Yeah, let's freaking go. On Amazon Prim, let's get it going. Superman 2, the Richard Donner Cut, commence. that was fun boy can't believe it's been 19 years since i last saw that one yeah anyways guys that was superman to the richard donner cut and yeah we hope you guys enjoyed it if you were able to watch it on youtube it's because the fine folks over at praper are doing such an incredible job over there editing down highlights so we appreciate all their hard work also if you are listening on Apple or Spotify, make sure you give us five-star ratings.

Starting point is 00:02:03 We would appreciate it. Tara, how are you feeling? I feel good. I do. I really, I like this movie. And I really liked being able to see Superman with a side of humanity for a while in the movie, even though it ticked me off. But that was a really fun way to get him and Lois' relationship going,

Starting point is 00:02:29 sort of from like zero to 60 where now they can be in each other's presence know exactly who they are. But how smart is it that we still get to keep that, that naive part of it because he turned the whole time back. And now she doesn't know. And I love that. But she did get her moment. She's just not going to remember it. Yeah. Some good points. I feel great. I really like this cut a lot. Again, it's been a while since I've seen the regular cut. which I like that cut a lot, too. It definitely leans more on the comedic bits and slap humor and all that, which I thought was very genuine and organic in terms of the humor in this film,

Starting point is 00:03:09 which I thought Genex. This one leans more on it? No, the Richard Lester one definitely leans more on the slapstick humor. And I think this one's a little, I mean, they're both pretty serious, but this one's definitely a little more serious taking. This one gets to the point a little bit quicker, in my opinion. But, yeah, I really like this cut a lot again. And it's, it's about, I feel like it's about 80% was completed before they fired Richard Donner, which again, I feel was such a mistake.

Starting point is 00:03:37 And I really wish we could have seen his intended film because I really feel like that ending with going around the world. Like that didn't feel like what was intended to be there because it just felt like a complete copy. And I don't like that they erased all the incredible stuff that we had just witnessed. I don't, I still, I remember having seen it the first time. I'm not caring for that ending. And again, but I'm not judging it because I know that's, that's not what Richard Donner originally intended. He only got to, as I just mentioned, only got to do about 80% of the film.

Starting point is 00:04:08 So why was he fired? I let us know in the comment, but we might get to that in the trivia. I'm going to, because I'm going to specifically when I go to IMDB, I'm going to type in Richard Donner cut. So maybe, or I'll just type it on Google, but I don't know if it had to do with maybe them showing the recap or something. I don't remember. I'm not going to speculate.

Starting point is 00:04:26 You let us know, but we'll try. trying that up as well, but regardless of whatever the fact, in my opinion, mistake, but I think he's a fantastic director. He really understands Superman, the humanity, the compassion in Superman. I got to tell you, I love the way Lois outsmarts Superman in this film. I love how active she is, but again, in going into that, I know we talked about, like, is Superman going to feel blanks or bullets? You can get into the, you know, the, the minutia's and the nuances of that like maybe he might feel the difference if a bullet you know if he feels that or if it's a blank maybe maybe not but either way I love seeing lowest outsmarting Clark or Superman in that

Starting point is 00:05:08 moment and the way it's done it's just brilliant because like at first Clark outsmarted heard when she tried jumping out the building that was a brilliant way for Clark to like oh my God what's Clark going to do here like because you can't really deny like what is right in front of him with when she drew the the hat and the glasses on the newspaper it's hard to deny that it looks just like him, even as Clark can't, as Superman. So that was a very smart way for Clark to get out of it. But now when she shoots him with a blank and he has no idea, and then

Starting point is 00:05:35 she says, with a blank, gotcha. And then he pulls off the thing. I just thought that was such a great reveal. It is different in the Richard Lester cut. I remember exactly what happens. I did not, I'm not going to tell you how that happens in case we ever do get around to watching that. I will tell you I was not crazy about the reveal

Starting point is 00:05:51 and the way it's done in that. I think this way is so much better personally and how she she outsmarts him. Mm-hmm. I'll leave it at that. The reveal with the gun? No, no, no. It's totally different.

Starting point is 00:06:03 Oh, okay. Totally different. I'm not even going to say what it is. Oh, okay. Yeah, I was like, what are you talking about? Okay. And in case Tara does read the comments, please don't mention it in there. I'm not going to.

Starting point is 00:06:12 Okay. Then I guess you can mention in there if Tara's not. Yeah, yeah. I'm not going to. I'll just say, I'll just say how lowest figures out that Clark is Superman in the in the Richard Lester cut, the theatrical cut. Mm-hmm. The theatrical cut.

Starting point is 00:06:24 Let's just call it the theatrical cut. How she figures out is completely different than this. Oh, completely different. Okay. And I like that it was the way it's done here. In my opinion is so much smarter and better. My opinion. I love the human emotion in this to sacrifice for Lois.

Starting point is 00:06:42 Again, it's not the right decision, but again, it shows that even though that Superman is a god with these godly powers. And he made the wrong decision. I'm not going to defend his decision. It was wrong. but he made it out of love and again it shows that he's human because what do we humans do we make mistakes all the time right so i like seeing the humanity in superman like yes he's got compassion and he saves people with these godly powers which we love and we can relate to but also it shows like sometimes he can make error in judgment and also too he did it for a noble cause which is something i can't appreciate even though again wrong decision he did it for love i will say this though

Starting point is 00:07:19 I do love, I actually just, I haven't really watched the show. I only got like 10 or 11 episodes in before I kind of just stopped because there was only one season out. And I wanted to wait till it finally completed, which is now is the show Superman and Lois, or the adventures of Superman and Lois, whatever it's called. I just literally restarted it last night. And the first two episodes, freaking amazing. That show really explores the relationship of doing Superman and Lois, like getting married, having children and all that. And I think it's so brilliantly done, at least the first couple episodes. And I would have loved to see how they explore that here. Obviously, we saw that they didn't because he reverses everything. But I think that's an interesting thing to go off of because I know it's going to be difficult. But I think I love that's something I do love in that show that they explore. I love when Lex Luthor, how he talks down to everyone, whether it's Ms. Tesmock or whether it's Otis, whoever it is. He's the greatest criminal mind ever. but you can just see the fear and panic whenever he's talking to Superman or whether he's talking

Starting point is 00:08:24 with the other three Kryptonians, whether it's General Zod, whether it's Ursa, even though he's got kind of a sexual appeal towards her or non. I like the contrast of that. It's actually rather fascinating because these four beings pose a physical threat to him and everyone else in the rest of the world, whether it be a physical, they can pose a physical threat, but no one poses an intellectual threat to him. So he looks down on them, whereas these four, he does not look down on them. I mean, look, he kind of does look down on them intellectually again, but he knows that they could all rip him apart in one second. But again, I think Gene Hackman, he's got this wonderful power to him that you can just tell from emoting and his facial expression and his reactions, like how he looks down

Starting point is 00:09:09 on normal, regular people. And he kind of, in a way, bows down to these people, but almost like is impressed by them as well. I think that that. interesting the way he does that. I also will say this. I think it was interesting as well seeing how Lois outsmarted Superman and that was kind of a foreshadowing for Superman outsmarting the kryptonians and outsmarting Lex Luther later on in the film. So I like that we got that and also too who outsmarted Superman in the first movie Lex Luther. So I like that Superman got some payback in this movie because he outsmarted him with the kryptonite in the lead box or whatever it was. And now Superman got to outsmart him knowing, hey, this guy's got, he's, what did he say, mind over muscle in the

Starting point is 00:09:50 first movie? And now Superman knows, hey, this guy's a, he's really intelligent, he's a snake. I got to outsmart this guy if I'm going to beat him. I'm not going to beat him with my, with my, I mean, I'm not going to, you know, delete this guy anyways because that's not who I am. I got to outsmart this dude. So let me just say, like, you got to get these guys in here. I love that Superman has that intellect. He's not just a physical, like, physical being with compassion. He's got that intellect, too. And that's another part of his muscle that he's gotten. I appreciated that in this film so much. Yeah, I think so, too. I like the fact that each of the main character specifically do have a type of intelligence that gets them pretty far through this film.

Starting point is 00:10:31 I like specifically, because back in the day, like, women characters weren't really given. They tend to ask a lot of questions. They're not really as smart as the other characters. but in the scene with the gun where she reveals that it's a blank it's like uh yeah i i got one on you to basically she is a step ahead of you and she that's another it's sort of just laying down another card of like lowest lane is very good at her job right and so even though she she jumps out a window she's like what maybe you're not superman she still believes in her gut and her instincts you know, it takes her a second. And I like the way that she proved that to him. My favorite part, though, was, I mean, what they do a really good job of in this movie is

Starting point is 00:11:24 towards the end where you think, okay, we've got three really tough villains. How is our one Superman going to get rid of them when they ideally have the same powers as him and there's three of them, right? So you're kind of struggling with the fact that like maybe he do it. Maybe his dad gave him extra powers, but like, no, we didn't see that. So I love that he leads them back to his home. And then I knew at some point, I was like, well, we got to get them in there to slip, you know, get rid of their powers. But I love that he is so smart, ideally, to do it and push it outward outside of him. But also that he's like strong enough to do it. Like, how smart is that they're like cool and it doesn't it doesn't affect the human so it's like there there was no

Starting point is 00:12:15 issue there so in him taking care of those three villains he's not hurting any like american lives um and he's also not hurting lois or lex luther um so i like um and yeah like what you said about lex luther i mean he he does a really good job being a character that's like i'm the greatest criminal mastermind how do you not know me and then versus when Superman is like I knew you were going to be a snake and turn on me and he's like what what well uh let me let me just come down here you know i i i helped you i can be i could be oh good good i could be a good i could be a good help it's it's that playing back and forth which um adds a lot to that character specifically but also a lot of comedy because we lost his little sidekick kind of earlier in prison, right?

Starting point is 00:13:06 Otis, yeah. Yeah, and he was a lot of fun. But obviously, if you just give Gary this green time, that's really the part that shines, which I really love. But I think really where the heart of the movie is is where Lois knows that she has to give up what would be the love of her life, right? And kisses him really for the first end. last time um knowing full well that for the sake of the world she has to give him up and so does he

Starting point is 00:13:42 um and it's bittersweet because you go well she had it for a moment but to have to experience true love right in that for first time for him and maybe also for her and then have to give it up literally within like a matter of hours that has to be tough Yeah. That has to be really difficult to sort of wrap your mind around, but that's what makes them both where they're very similar. For sure. They're going to put the world and other things ahead of them. Well, hello again, Hewle, H-U-E-L, today's video sponsor. Lately, I've been loving talking about Hewle because I've used it as an excuse to give you guys updates on my fitness journey back in January of this year. I was 218 pounds. Last time I weighed myself, I'm down to 179,

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Starting point is 00:16:16 Try Huel today for complete nutrition bottled. Absolutely. You make some incredible points. And first of all, I just want to say you made some incredible predictions on this one. You were spot on so many times. So I want to give you your validation, Tara. Not that you were asking for it, but you deserve it. I will say in regards to Superman realizing, hey, I've got to battle three Kryptonians here.

Starting point is 00:16:38 And he was trying for a little bit and realizing, hey, we're causing a lot of mayhem and destruction. It's not going very well. So let's just get out of here. Like, again, that's showing the compassionate side because he sees that he doesn't want anyone to get hurt. So that's, again, the humanity coming out of Clark and of Superman. So I agree with you there. That's a very astute point, I think. And in regards to Lois, I think it was really, again, it was sad that she had to sacrifice her love, but understandable.

Starting point is 00:17:08 And again, that's something he did originally for her. So she was willing to do it for him. Again, a nice foreshadowing there in terms of like he, she outsmarted him earlier. Or he outsmarted her earlier in the film. Now she outsmarted him to reveal his identify. So they are like very comparable in those two aspects. Also, I have a few. And again, like we mentioned a few other times.

Starting point is 00:17:29 this what i don't think this was the intended ending because again was only 80% of the film was done so like we got a slap an ending here because this wasn't even richard donner's full film but i got a feeling if this since this was the ending we got that he's spinning the the world and getting rid of uh you know everything that had happened the last few days or whatever so that lois doesn't have to live with knowing every day of what she's lost as well i mean because he's going to remember so he's got to live with it either way but i feel like he was doing that to protect lois yeah and maybe also the last of all the people that the kryptonians have killed in the last few days too i guess those people get to are now get to live again so he's kind of saving them as well but i think it was also you know

Starting point is 00:18:09 mainly in due to lowest but i don't know it's just the way i interpreted it i don't know how you interpreted that that whole thing i mean the the the amount of i guess you know the destruction that happened that too it would take you know months if not years to probably rebuild it so all and all with that maybe of course it would be people people's lives, but then I also think like, yeah, that was quite a disaster. You better clean it up. So, yeah, that made sense. There was the one little like plot hole was the fact when they were at the diner.

Starting point is 00:18:42 He's like, well, it took me a lot of time to clean this place up. And you're like, well, if they would have reversed time, that would have never happened. That was confusing to me. But I think it was just sort of a, if we had, if they had lost that line, right, it still would have been like, oh, we, we know who that jerk hole faces, right? The jerk guy, he always comes in. The lady complained about him. So I think it probably would have been smarter from a standpoint of a producer, editor,

Starting point is 00:19:12 anybody. Just cut that one line. Just if you got rid of the one line from the guy. Absolutely. We'd be all right. But maybe they didn't get enough coverage. Yeah. The thing is they had coverage of the, the mean guy, right, from his profile.

Starting point is 00:19:27 and that the owner guy is in his shot pretty much the whole time so maybe that's why we couldn't cut it yeah i don't know no that's a fair point would have made more sense though if they could have gotten rid of it yeah no for sure and obviously it makes sense that superman remembers him i got everything i already got everything up and okay just look i'm just going to look up why did richard donner get fired i looked that up as well okay let's go what it says on google the a i overview richard donner was replaced on superman too due to escalating tensions with the producers, particularly Alexander Salkind and Pierre Spangler. According to Slash Film, Donner had already shot the majority of the film around 75%, so I was wrong, I said 80, but Collider reports that a combination of filming interruptions to make the release date of the first film and the subsequent disagreements with the producers led him to being replaced by Richard Lester to complete the remaining scenes. Wow. It's interesting, I'm not, again, I'm not saying any of this is wrong.

Starting point is 00:20:23 This is probably all correct. But after you get the massive success. of the first film do you just go you know what superman sells itself get rid of the director it's interesting well they that's high contention yeah that is so fascinating okay so let's go to really quick terra um okay so for superman to the richard donner cut we don't have critics because it wasn't released in theaters we just have the audience score oh okay um so what was the audience score out of a hundred i'm thinking um i'm i'm i'm thinking 84 87 i was real close you were very close cool i won't tell you the the second one in case we do uh the the theatrical cut in case we

Starting point is 00:21:15 ever do do with that one so yeah because i've never seen that so i don't know box office worldwide this is the theatrical cut because again the richard donner cut was not released worldwide so uh so So it was just released on DVD, Blu-ray, or whatever. So we'll just go with the theatrical cut worldwide. What do you think? What was a budget? Do we know? Oh, I can just give me 10 seconds.

Starting point is 00:21:38 I will get that for you. Do you want to guess that? Well, I'm not sure how much they use from this. So let me think, okay, I'm going to assume they got like, what was the first one? I think I forgot. Let's just assume they got, uh,

Starting point is 00:21:56 150. million. Fifty four million dollars. Fifty four million was the budget. So I would hope that it made at least a hundred and eight mill. Two hundred and sixteen million three hundred and eighty five thousand seven hundred and six dollars. Okay good. So they did it. They tripled it. That's fantastic. And I got to imagine marketing back then was not as expensive as it is today. It was still probably expensive, but yeah. That's great. Okay. So trivia for Superman to the Richard Don. honor cut. At around the one hour and 45 minute mark, the actress playing Lois Lane using the typewriter during the end scene is not Margo Kidder. The ending that was written but never filmed

Starting point is 00:22:38 had Lois Lane die at the fortress of solitude, which in turn caused Superman to reverse time. The typewriter scene was shot in 2006 specifically for the restoration and had an uncredited actress stand in for Lois. Yeah, because I was looking at that lady just going, why are we doing a push in on this like random ass girl doing a typewriter. I was like, oh, it's just sort of a montage that we're seeing like that people are still, there's, there's, even though if Lois is not, it's like, I'm going to protect you. Don't worry. I'm not going to write about it that maybe there's other people who are still going to write about Superman, right? That's what I thought that intention was. But the fact that she died and that's right. What? That would have been so dark

Starting point is 00:23:21 if they went that route. Damn. All right. At around the 16 minute mark, the actor playing Clark Kent yelling out to Lois Lane after she jumps out of the Daily Planet is not Christopher Reeve.

Starting point is 00:23:32 An uncredited actor was brought in to film the shot for the DVD release. I knew it. I didn't say during the reaction. I was like, in my head, it was like that doesn't look like Christopher Reeve or sound like Christopher Reeve. I knew something was off there.

Starting point is 00:23:43 Interesting. After he blew, you know, when she jumped off the building, he was up there. He was up there. Uh-huh. I knew. I had a feeling on that one.

Starting point is 00:23:50 At around the one hour and 14 minute mark, the green crystal Clark picks up in the Fortress of Solitude is a prop from Superman Returns. A shot of Michael Thou's hand was used for Clark picking up the green crystal. Oh, cool. According to editor Michael Thouh, who I just mentioned,

Starting point is 00:24:07 the film contains about 200 new visual effects in addition to what was already there. Oh. I did some work on this movie. Yeah, he did. Good job. Most of the new scenes in this cut were shot during the production of Superman, 1978. They had to be rewritten and reshot by Richard Lester

Starting point is 00:24:23 because under director's guild's rules, he had to direct more than half the film to be credited. One exception to this is the new alternate scene where Lois discovers Clark's true identity by shooting him. Richard Donner was never able to shoot this scene during principle of photography. The take now used in this cut was used as a screen test for Christopher Revan Margo Carey.

Starting point is 00:24:43 We talked about it because his air and glasses kept changing during the scene. Right. Makes sense. Wow, that's fun. The ending scene in which, which Superman reverses time was the original intended ending for this movie. I was wrong. Okay. That was the original intended ended. Never mind.

Starting point is 00:24:59 Well, because she died. Yeah. Well, I didn't know that was, I had no idea that's what was going to happen. So, but during production of Superman 1978, it was decided to use the ending for the first film instead. Richard Donner and Tom Minkowitz planned to eventually create a new ending, but Donner was fired during production. When restoring this version, Donner was going to use the theatrical version's ending so that it would not have the same ending as the first film. But Mankovitz never liked the changed ending in which I will not say that. I would just leave it there in case we see the second theater. One major sequence that had to be omitted from the film was villains conquer the world sequence which depicted Zod, Ursa, Non-destroying National Monuments and Landmarks

Starting point is 00:25:40 Across the Globe. Yep, yep, yep. I just don't want to spoil anything. Okay. At around the one hour and 40 minute mark and shooting an emotional scene near the end of the film where Lois sheds tears while having a conversation with Superman on the roof of her apartment, Margo Kidder refused to have anything help her to cry. And sure enough, she was able to do it on her own. Yeah, she was sobbing. She's a great actress. Wow, Richard Donner's final project before his passing in 2021 was this. Aw, it's a good way to go out. You're like I did it. yeah um i think that is it um yeah john wharton and john ratsenberger from cheers also appeared together in star wars episode five the empire strikes back cool all right cool stuff love it anyways terer any final thoughts no fun times yeah love me some superman i really like this cut i don't know if we're going to do the theatrical cut maybe we'll see i don't know if we're going to continue this series that is a Greg and John decision.

Starting point is 00:26:42 We shall see. I know we will. I don't think we'll do the theatrical, but I think we'll move on to three, whatever three is. Okay, so be on the lookout for Superman 3. That is the film that followed the, obviously theatrical version of Superman 2

Starting point is 00:26:55 that came out in 1983. So don't forget to ring that notification bell. So you are notified when that video drops. Sorry, I saw your thunder there. Wear your shirt next time and you get to do that. Anyways, guys, if you stayed with us this long, seriously we really appreciate you we hope you enjoyed the reaction make sure you uh as i mentioned hit that notification that way you're notified when superman three is dropped as well as all the

Starting point is 00:27:17 rest of the other videos that we drop for you take care fly safely brian parry my friend when i look up oh you know i see flying in the sky it's a bird it's a plane no it's it's it's Brian Perry, White. And as I'm reaching up, I'm seeing hope in the sky. And it's coming closer and closer. Give me the hope. And that fall, oh, it's not flying. That's a little too much hope.

Starting point is 00:27:50 He is falling. Oh, no. Oh, no. I'm actively losing hope now. Oh, no. Oh, he's falling right toward me. Oh, God. I have reached a state of hopelessness.

Starting point is 00:27:59 If I move to the left, I might have just enough to, and I have. I've done it. Oh. You moved to the left, but not enough, and you got crushed. But not enough. That's it. I am now, I'm now, but I still exist, though. You are alive as a smear on, you know, the super suit of Brian Perry.

Starting point is 00:28:20 I'm like the ending of the substance now, thanks to Brian Perry. Yeah. Just a little face on the ground. And everybody gets to carry a piece of you in their hearts and on their clothes and face and eyes. But why did Brian jump? why did Brian jump it was a it was in the plants and the wind it's in the

Starting point is 00:28:39 place that you know and no one knows what's causing it why are you ironed my lemon drink you pick that I did I did with whom

Starting point is 00:28:50 what what? No

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The Reel Rejects - SUPERMAN II: THE RICHARD DONNER CUT (1980) MOVIE REVIEW!! First Time Watching!!

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