World Which works better in Supes II: Jor-El or Lara?

[Kevin Roegele]

The Lester version gives us Superman talking to his mother and her warning him not to give up his powers. The Donner version gives us Jor-El doing the same.

Which is better?

For me, the best way to do it is thus; the scene with Lara is used, because it makes sense for her to talk to him about love. Supes is also clearly on a high and not thinking completely straight in this scene. In the one with Jor-El, he's summoning up the courage to tell his father he wants to disobey him. The scenes have different dynamics, but I think the one with Lara is better. She seems like an all-knowing, ethereal goddess. Susannah York is fantastic, clearly full of love for her son but also stern and vaguely scary. Her warnings carry far more impact than Jor-El's.

But then when Clark trudges back to the Fortress to get his powers back, use the Jor-El scenes. It has a feeling of, even though he's done wrong in his mother's eyes, his father will still help him out.

 

[buggs0268]

Donner's verion is supreme over Lester's version.

 

[Pappa Munchi]

Brando was excellent.
"The son becomes the father, and the father becomes the son".
That was a powerful scene.

 

[dude stannis]

The Lester version gives us Superman talking to his mother and her warning him not to give up his powers. The Donner version gives us Jor-El doing the same.

Which is better?

For me, the best way to do it is thus; the scene with Lara is used, because it makes sense for her to talk to him about love. Supes is also clearly on a high and not thinking completely straight in this scene. In the one with Jor-El, he's summoning up the courage to tell his father he wants to disobey him. The scenes have different dynamics, but I think the one with Lara is better. She seems like an all-knowing, ethereal goddess. Susannah York is fantastic, clearly full of love for her son but also stern and vaguely scary. Her warnings carry far more impact than Jor-El's.

But then when Clark trudges back to the Fortress to get his powers back, use the Jor-El scenes. It has a feeling of, even though he's done wrong in his mother's eyes, his father will still help him out.

That works so much better. Clark asking Marlon Brando about love came off awkward. So did the tree poem for that matter.

 

[Super Kal]

honestly, I'd like to see a combination of the two...

 

[Showtime]

honestly, I'd like to see a combination of the two...

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=35Z4NuyF2zc

 

[cryptic name]

i like the brando scenes better. it completes the arc set up in the first one.

 

[KnightBat]

I have to agree with Kevin.

 

[Catman]

The Lester version gives us Superman talking to his mother and her warning him not to give up his powers. The Donner version gives us Jor-El doing the same.

Which is better?

For me, the best way to do it is thus; the scene with Lara is used, because it makes sense for her to talk to him about love. Supes is also clearly on a high and not thinking completely straight in this scene. In the one with Jor-El, he's summoning up the courage to tell his father he wants to disobey him. The scenes have different dynamics, but I think the one with Lara is better. She seems like an all-knowing, ethereal goddess. Susannah York is fantastic, clearly full of love for her son but also stern and vaguely scary. Her warnings carry far more impact than Jor-El's.

But then when Clark trudges back to the Fortress to get his powers back, use the Jor-El scenes. It has a feeling of, even though he's done wrong in his mother's eyes, his father will still help him out.

I think a combination of the two would have worked best. I always disliked how the mother was ignored. However, since we're comparing movies I'll go with the Donner version. It was simply better scripted, acted, and shot. In the Lester version they just threw in Lara at the last moment, so its full potential wasn't there.

Also, let's not forget that Donner Cut is still not complete. They just tried their best to show what it would have looked like. Even Donner admitted that had he not be fired he would have re-shot a lot of things. So, we don't know how the final product would have looked like.

 

[OzzMosiz]

One bit in Lesters version I prefered is when Supes flys to the daily planet window and says "General, would you care to step outside" - much better than Donners - thats about it!

 

[captain_jimbo]

This is a tricky one, overall Donner's is far better than Lester's IMO, but I do like both versions, the one with Jor-El and the one with Lara. I think it's just great that we now have both.

 

[Spider-Fan]

Jor-El's scenes not only work better, they make more sense. Jor-El was doing this in secret. Having other members of the Kryptonian Council in the crystals makes no sense, cause they would never help him. Donner, in S:TM set up Jor-El as his source of Kryptonian knowledge. Also, Brando's scenes in the Donner Cut are very emotionally powerful. Vastly superior to Lara, or other Kryptonians, as in Lester's movie.

My only problems with the Donner Cut are that they never filmed the scene where Lois finds out he is Superman (though the screen tests are spliced well considering that), and that he never got to change the ending, so we have 2 Superman movies ending with him turning back time (however it is handled better in the Donner Superman II than in S:TM). Otherwise, I love it.