This review may contain spoilers. I can handle the truth.

Watched this back to back with the first film and what a great experience it was. My only complaint (and it's a minor one) is the choppy editing towards the middle of the film. The addition of alternate footage is obvious in places, but it doesn't matter because of the vast improvements to the story. I particularly enjoy the new way Lois proves Clark is Superman despite the fact it's a screen test. Several moments played just for laughs (that don't work) are removed, the story is streamlined, and it's made more believable and powerful. Better than the theatrical cut in every way.

Having seen and loved Richard Donner’s original take on the Superman story, I desperately longed for another movie that could match it in scope and tone. I saw that the second Superman film was directed by some other guy, and had little interest. Then, by some happy accident, as I was surfing through DVD.com, I came across this version. It’s everything I could’ve asked for— a continuation of the first in the same goofy all-American spirit, featuring a more fleshed-out romance and some really funny moments. I’m sure I’ll seek out the theatrical release eventually, but I’m not sure it could compare to this. Even in its obvious incompleteness (due to Donner’s original project being taken over by the new director), Richard Donner’s Superman II soars above and beyond most of the superhero movies I’ve seen all my life.

Still a deus ex machina ending, but a major improvement nonetheless.

While the version we are given isn't much better that the theatrical version you can tell that Donner's original idea would've been quite different and much better, Too bad we'll never see it.

a must-have for fans of the 1978 film, the added footage of the late Marlon Brando bring the actor's gravitas back to life, delivering some of the most poignant and powerful moments of the Donner Superman films.

I won't go into the specifics of why this exists and how this differs from the original theatrical version as you can look that up elsewhere, but this Richard Donner cut is in some ways better and in some ways not. Perhaps it's because of nostalgia for the Richard Lester version as that's the one I - and most likely you - grew up with or perhaps because it does feel a little cobbled together in places but this version, whilst still great fun, doesn't quite have the same warmth about it. However, I do advise you check it out if you're a fan of the first film as it does give you alternate takes on how they link together.

Not the Superman II I grew up with so I don't have the nostalgia for it but it is arguably the better of the two cuts, mainly as it dispenses with most of the sillier aspects of the theatrical version.

"The Kryptonian prophecy will at last be fulfilled: the Son becomes the Father, and the Father becomes the Son. Farewell forever, Kal-El. Remember me, my son."

In 1976, producers Alexander and Ilya Salkind hired Richard Donner, who had just completed THE OMEN, to direct two films about Superman simultaneously. Donner was replaced during production by director Richard Lester (A HARD DAY’S NIGHT), who reshot a lot of Donner’s SUPERMAN II footage and ultimately took solo screen credit. When director Bryan Singer’s SUPERMAN RETURNS was released in 2006, Warner Brothers allowed Donner and his writing partner Tom Mankiewicz (THE SPY WHO LOVED ME) to piece together a so-called “Richard Donner cut” using footage cut from Lester’s SUPERMAN II, including Marlon Brando’s scenes and other scenes originally cut from SUPERMAN II, but reinserted for its television broadcast. Because the Donner cut is cobbled together from multiple sources, including Christopher Reeve’s and Margot Kidder’s screen tests (!), with unfinished visual effects, it isn’t fair to judge it as a film. Rather, let’s look at it as an interesting curiosity.

Superman II - The Richard Donner Cut REDUX - Fan Edit

Zod, this film is amazing.