I understand why they wanted to do this but it's so badly flawed that it's really only for completists.
Perhaps the tone is better without the seemingly discordant slapstick moments Lester put in the battle in NY. Perhaps. I do recall the first time I saw this, long ago even as a kid, that those slapstick moments seemed out of place. It's silly stuff, like someone talking on a phone booth that's knocked over, people in a KFC completely unaware of the mass battle occurring just outside. Some of that is lame. However, the first film did have a lot of quirky humor too. And considering one of the three villains is ash idiot, it's obvious some kind of goofy humor was intended.
But having the same turn back time ending as the original film is just ridiculous.
I get that Donner got screwed by the Salkinds and had a legitimate beef with the Lester cut, but that doesn't mean this was worth doing. And it seems like they excised needed Lester material out of spite or whatever inappropriate motivation considering the film does need to make sense.
There are great examples of director's cuts that improve films years later. Star Trek: The Motion Picture is the best example I know, where 20 years later a new cut was released that greatly improved the film. However, this was because in the original, they ran out of time and the theatrical cut simply wasn't compete. For the DC, they were able to fix certain effects, give it a proper sound mix and tighten the editing. (The theatrical release was notoriously edited so down to the wire that the film print taken to the premiere was still wet.)
But while Star Trek had production problems, it primarily had to do with an fx house being unable to deliver. Having two different directors with very different styles is quite a different issue.
And the end of the day, there IS NO Donner Superman II. It was never fully filmed and by doing things like using screen tests for footage, they're basically duct taping this thing together.
Again, fine for completists and the like, but if you want a solid coherent movie, the Lester cut is the one.
Perhaps the tone is better without the seemingly discordant slapstick moments Lester put in the battle in NY. Perhaps. I do recall the first time I saw this, long ago even as a kid, that those slapstick moments seemed out of place. It's silly stuff, like someone talking on a phone booth that's knocked over, people in a KFC completely unaware of the mass battle occurring just outside. Some of that is lame. However, the first film did have a lot of quirky humor too. And considering one of the three villains is ash idiot, it's obvious some kind of goofy humor was intended.
But having the same turn back time ending as the original film is just ridiculous.
I get that Donner got screwed by the Salkinds and had a legitimate beef with the Lester cut, but that doesn't mean this was worth doing. And it seems like they excised needed Lester material out of spite or whatever inappropriate motivation considering the film does need to make sense.
There are great examples of director's cuts that improve films years later. Star Trek: The Motion Picture is the best example I know, where 20 years later a new cut was released that greatly improved the film. However, this was because in the original, they ran out of time and the theatrical cut simply wasn't compete. For the DC, they were able to fix certain effects, give it a proper sound mix and tighten the editing. (The theatrical release was notoriously edited so down to the wire that the film print taken to the premiere was still wet.)
But while Star Trek had production problems, it primarily had to do with an fx house being unable to deliver. Having two different directors with very different styles is quite a different issue.
And the end of the day, there IS NO Donner Superman II. It was never fully filmed and by doing things like using screen tests for footage, they're basically duct taping this thing together.
Again, fine for completists and the like, but if you want a solid coherent movie, the Lester cut is the one.