The Official Director's Cuts of Comicbook Movies Appreciation Thread

[NewEnglandGothic]

A lot of folks generally enjoy these kinds of alternate versions of movies compared to the theatrical ones.

 

For example, a lot of people feel the Superman II: The Richard Donner Cut was the definitive version of that movie or proclaim Daredevil's extended cut (an additional 30 minutes), way better than the one that played better in theaters.

 

I wanted to open a discussion on your favorite cuts of these.

 

What movies benifitted from additional footage added? What ones did you hardly notice anything? What ones needed their deleted scenes added to make a better movie?

 

[NewEnglandGothic]

I wanted to start with a movie that needed it.

 

2005's Fantastic Four.

 

In 2007, they released an Extended Addition (mainly to promote Rise of the Silver Surfer) with 20 minutes added that made the production feel a little less choppy.

 

Ben Grimm and Alicia Master's relationship was better explained and expanded upon, Victor von Doom's Punisher-like behind the scenes deconstruction of the Fantastic Four team helped the plot and Chris Evan's character was better fleshed out for his character arc of growing up. There was a little bit here and there of stuff that worked (some that didn't).

 

But, in the end the movie just felt better. (thumbs u

 

 

 

 

[NewEnglandGothic]

Superman IV: The Quest For Peace cut out over 45 minutes of scenes after a disastrous preview in California.

Apparently, Mark Pillow wasn't the first superpowered villain Lex created. The first one was a bumbling Bizarro-type goon (complete with a Keystone Cop theme) that engaged Superman in a wrestling match outside of a nightclub. In my opinion, it's so ridiculous, it starts to work.

There was more little stuff here and there too that could have been added that could have helped the movie's "rushed" tone.

Add on the deleted scenes that never made it to the 2006 DVD with Clark visiting the graves of his Earth parents, before he started the farm visit scene, that really would helped the impact of his farm-boy character arc.

I hope someday we can get "Special Edition" of a more fitting last performance of Christopher Reeves in the suit.

[NewEnglandGothic]

To this day, I don't kow what they added in the extra 13 minute Director's Cut of Ghost Rider.

I saw the movie in theaters in 2007 with my girlfriend and carefully watched it with her on DVD months later and nothing actually stood out like Mark Steven Johnson's Daredevil cut. :shrug:

What good is "never before seen footage" if you can't see it to begin with?

 

[Meeklo]

The Extended Cut of The Punisher was really good too. It felt weird that the person who ratted out Castle was still a loose end in the original cut.

[NewEnglandGothic]

The Extended Cut of The Punisher was really good too. It felt weird that the person who ratted out Castle was still a loose end in the original cut.

Yes, I was telling a boardie hom much better the seventeen minute "Extended Cut" was too the Theatrical Version. Why they chopped out the identity of that snitch character out is mindboggling. I'm not a big fan of motion comics, but the branching Kuwait opening scene was pretty well done considering the importance of a character's arc.

[NewEnglandGothic]

The Spider-Man 2.1 Extended Cut didn't really need the 8 minutes they added for that 2007 edition (used to promote Spider-Man 3).

The movie was pretty perfect the way it was.

But, the little extras to various scenes were noticable regardless.

[NewEnglandGothic]

I wanted to start with a movie that needed it.

 

2005's Fantastic Four.

 

In 2007, they released an Extended Addition (mainly to promote Rise of the Silver Surfer) with 20 minutes added that made the production feel a little less choppy.

 

Ben Grimm and Alicia Master's relationship was better explained and expanded upon, Victor von Doom's Punisher-like behind the scenes deconstruction of the Fantastic Four team helped the plot and Chris Evan's character was better fleshed out for his character arc of growing up. There was a little bit here and there of stuff that worked (some that didn't).

 

But, in the end the movie just felt better. (thumbs u

 

 

 

It's too bad we didn't get a Fantastic Four 3 with the original cast. You just know they could have tweaked those deleted scenes in The Power Cosmic Edition into a better movie. At a paltry 92 minutes, the sequel felt too choppy with scenes that really didn't go anywhere other then to into expensive second unit shots.

[NewEnglandGothic]

Cameron's Special Editions of Aliens and The Abyss were truly amazing. The Abyss includes the original ending with a giant tidal wave designed to wipe out humanity. Aliens adds in some intense action sequences with motion sensing auto-guns and some Newt back story.

T2's extended Edition was pretty good also. Was considering getting Avatar's director's cut yesterday, but passed for now.

 

Two more of my favorite extended cuts are The Good, the bad and the Ugly and Once upon a time in America.

Got that one at a yard sale yesterday for under $1 and watched it last night. WOW! Those added 18 minutes really made a difference to an already great movie. I'm actually watch the extras on it right now ("The Man Who Lost The Civil War").

 

 

These days many DC's or extended editions puts footage back that was cut for a good reason. Horror movies benefit though with added gore. The unrated version of Dawn of the Dead was great.

The CG enhanced added gore Predator Vs. Alien was really distracting for that Unrated Edition, yet the extended Friday The 13th reboot's extra violence really enhanced it. (thumbs u

[SkunkApe]

The Extended Cut of The Punisher was really good too. It felt weird that the person who ratted out Castle was still a loose end in the original cut.

 

 

I agree! I just saw this for the first time a couple of weeks ago.

[Bosco685]

The Extended Cut of The Punisher was really good too. It felt weird that the person who ratted out Castle was still a loose end in the original cut.

 

 

I agree! I just saw this for the first time a couple of weeks ago.

 

Is this the Thomas Jane movie? If so, I didn't know there was an Extended Cut of that film. Now that I would like to see.

[NewEnglandGothic]

The Extended Cut of The Punisher was really good too. It felt weird that the person who ratted out Castle was still a loose end in the original cut.

 

 

I agree! I just saw this for the first time a couple of weeks ago.

 

Is this the Thomas Jane movie? If so, I didn't know there was an Extended Cut of that film. Now that I would like to see.

OMG, how could have you not heard about this version.

It's not Kill Bill, Vol. 2, but it's pretty good.

You are aware there's a Hellboy Director's Cut too?

[NewEnglandGothic]

...needs a Thomas Jane commentary though.

[Bosco685]

The Extended Cut of The Punisher was really good too. It felt weird that the person who ratted out Castle was still a loose end in the original cut.

 

 

I agree! I just saw this for the first time a couple of weeks ago.

 

Is this the Thomas Jane movie? If so, I didn't know there was an Extended Cut of that film. Now that I would like to see.

OMG, how could have you not heard about this version.

It's not Kill Bill, Vol. 2, but it's pretty good.

You are aware there's a Hellboy Director's Cut too?

 

 

Wait - what? There is?

 

[Brian48]

A lot of folks generally enjoy these kinds of alternate versions of movies compared to the theatrical ones.

 

For example, a lot of people feel the Superman II: The Richard Donner Cut was the definitive version of that movie or proclaim Daredevil's extended cut (an additional 30 minutes), way better than the one that played better in theaters.

 

I wanted to open a discussion on your favorite cuts of these.

 

What movies benifitted from additional footage added? What ones did you hardly notice anything? What ones needed their deleted scenes added to make a better movie?

 

 

I have both cuts of the movies you mentioned above. DD is definitely better, but overall it was still a pretty bad movie. Just not as bad as before. Nothing you can do if the -script is bad at it's core. Some of the best bits were actually taken out of the theatrical release, like the scenes depicting Foggy as more than just a clown.

 

As far as the Superman II Donnor cut is concerned, I didn't think it made the movie much better than the theatrical cut, just different. Overall, neither version has aged that well. All the Donnor cut did was simply make it less plodding. Also, some of the restored scenes really stick out, but not in a good way. For example, there's this one footage with Supes talking to a hologram of his Dad. Reeves wasn't wearing the same muscle suit (or maybe no muscle suit at all) and really looked scrawny. Also, his hear was longer and didn't match the rest of the movie. I would have thought that it was just test footage if it wasn't included in the cut.

 

I'm somewhat interested in see the Director's Cut of Watchmen, but haven't been interested enough to buy the Blu-Ray for it.

[SilverAgeGuy]

I was going to say, how is it that nobody has mentioned the Director's Cut of Watchmen. A great movie, and even better in this cut.

[Bosco685]

I was going to say, how is it that nobody has mentioned the Director's Cut of Watchmen. A great movie, and even better in this cut.

 

I definitely love the Watchmen Director's Cut. An outstanding movie all around.