Does Superman Returns Need a Director’s Cut?

There’s an online campaign by the “nothing-better-to-do” crowd for Warner Bros to release a DVD of Bryan Singer’s original two hour and forty-five minute edit of “Superman Returns”.

So-called “director’s cuts” can be fun. For example, the 2006 Richard Donner director’s cut of Superman II is well worth the time since the original was seriously flawed. But, I don’t think a director’s cut of Superman Returns would make much difference.

In the case of Donner, the studio re-edited the films without their involvement. But, Bryan Singer wasn’t pressured by the studios to make the cuts. In an interview in 2006 he said:

“No one told me to do it, to make these cuts. I had no time restrictions. Nor pressure whatsoever. I just felt the movie doesn’t need this so I did something else instead…

The director’s cut. No this is the director’s cut. You just saw it. They don’t tell me what to cut. I’m not in a place in my career that anyone tells me that I have to cut anything or put anything in.”

– Superherohype

The proponents cite scenes like Clark Kent’s return to Krypton as proof that the movie deserves to be seen its entirety. Would the newly cut film explain why Superman would abandon Earth to learn about his past? Yeah, it probably would. But, would the director’s cut remove ludicrous scenes like Superman listening to the world from space or eliminate the storyline of Superman and Lois’ son? This is about as likely as Lucas cutting Jar-Jar Binks out of the next Super-Duper, Super-Special edition of Episode I.

The movie is what it is. While a whole host of websites support the petition, a director’s cut would be nothing more than a novelty for the average viewer. Watch the trailer below and see if it convinces you.

UPDATE: Rewrote the article so it doesn’t read like a monkey jumping up and down on a keyboard.