Exactly!

Originally posted by: booah
Salvaging the Kent/Superman fight from Supes III is key, because that is one of the few salvagable scenes of that flick. Without having watched the deleted IV stuff, I think that's an underrated movie. Flawed (the Nuclear Man stuff is laughable), but underrated, and still possessing the spirit and heart of the Reeve films. If combined with III, it could work as part 3 of a "Reeve Trilogy."

Originally posted by: Batman Beyond
I mean, SR is clearly a sequel to those two films (any cut).

Uh, no it's not. It's far from a "sequel." It may be "inspired by", and "stolen from", but it's more of a remake/companion than anything. Aside from saying he was gone for x amount of years, it doesn't continue the stories of I and II, it just replicates elements from them and sets it in present day. It rehashes some origin story from I, and recycles the "man vs. superman" theme of II. It's all been done. It could've been more inspired by the old flicks without just redoing a lot of it.

Originally posted by: Commander Courage
You make valid arguments against Superman Returns, but at the end of the day I still think we got a quality movie. Singer being such a Donner fan is a wonderful thing, although I'll admit he takes things a bit overboard at times. When promoting the sequel as "Wrath of Khan"-esque I can only hope he doesn't plan on using Zod yet again. That definitely would be crossing the line. So yes, more orginality on Singer and his writers' parts is in order, but I think SR accomplished what it set out to do: update the Reeve Superman franchise and bring it into modern times. Now that's been done, and I don't see why SR2 can't be one of the best Superhero films of all time.

Yeah, it was decent enough overall, and not embarassing (like Batman & Robin or something). It just left a lot to be desired. I hope Singer does go more all-out with story in a follow-up. It has the potential to be great stuff.

Thanks for supporting my SUPERMAN III idea.

My main idea is, as SUPERMAN II: THE DONNER CUT follows immediately from SUPERMAN THE MOVIE, a re-edited SUPERMAN IV (because, like you said, IV had the heart of the first Supes movie, still) could follow from II almost immediately. If handled professionaly, IV could be the continuance of the story told in I and II. Not just a sequel re-modified. But a movie modified to be a continuance.

Superman's stance towards nuclear weapons and all could very well follow his need to help the people he recklessly abandoned when he was with Lois. His guilt over not protecting them could be the main motive of doing what he does in the story. That angle can play in the film.

One idea for an opening is, have a recap of the previous movie -not STM, just Donner's Cut-, and have then Superman deliver the american flag to the white house and him saying "I won't let you down again" or something (its been awhile, sorry for not remembering), then the new titles. The thing is, this line could be the prelude to what Superman promises to do and what the re-edited story can hold on to. I have other ideas, too. Want to expand them? Please tell, cause if you're not interested, I won't delve into it much more.

Now, on SUPERMAN II....I'm in favor of a re-edit that follows the Donner Cut, but with Lester elements thrown here and there. Except for the Eiffer Tower sequence, which I think could work for a modified SUPERMAN IV-III, the rest of the film could use some good, mind GOOD, scenes from the Lester cut. So yeah, I'm in favor of that.

As for the ending, either the amnesia kiss re-instated -it HAS been the film's official ending for over 25 years, whatever way you look at it- or nothing at all. But definetely no spinning the world around again. That seemed just out of place in the movie. Plus, the bully scene doesn't work nearly as well with the spinning around.

However, if the amnesia kiss is left out of II, it should be re-instated in my aformentioned SUPERMAN IV-III. That way, it can always lead to SUPERMAN RETURNS, nicely.

I stand by my opinion that, if any re-edit doesn't even try to help SR be aknowledged, why bother? Singer himself was in a tight spot, because he didn't know if he was going to follow Lester's cut, or Donner's cut. He used Brando, but by the time he did, Donner's cut was already commisioned. So Singer worked the story around to be as loose as possible, to allow both II's to have happened, somehow. Really, if the Donner cut had happened before or at the early production of SR, Singer would've been more clear about how it follows the previous Reeve flicks.

And I like SR, by the way. I found it wonderful. But STM and the Donner Cut of SII are better. 'Nuff said.