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138 Comments
- jer.williams, on 07/09/2009, -0/+52They need a web host that vastly improves upon the original.
- Novamaster0, on 07/09/2009, -6/+35down at 57 diggs?
Barely functioning so here's the copy-pasta;
Everybody knows movie studios exist only to make a profit. Unfortunately, directorial creativity is often times not in line with what a studio sees as a big money maker and since studios, more often than not, have say in the final cut of the movie, a lot of ingenuity gets scrapped in favor of playing it safe. Fortunately for us we live in an era where home video formats are prominent enough to enable more than one release of a movie. Granted, most of the unrated or director’s cuts released are quick money grabs adding in only a few extra scenes most of which don’t help the movie or make it differ much from the original release. But once in a while a director’s cut is released that was given proper time and attention, falls more in line with what the director had originally intended and warrants a second chance.
Daredevil
daredevilWith misguided direction, an inane script and the bloated inclusion of Elektra the theatrical release of ‘Daredevil’ was lackluster at best. Fortunately for us, a lot of these faults were rectified with the director’s cut which tacks on another 30 minutes onto the running time.
The first thing to notice is this cut’s loyalty to Frank Miller’s comic. The origin story is much more fleshed out and a better sense of the relationship between Matt and his father is shown. We also see a lot of little back stories that were glossed over in the original cut. The struggles Matt has in dealing with his Catholic upbringing along with a clearer depiction of his abilities and the psychological toils that come with having super-senses.
The fighting, especially at the end with Bulls-Eye and Kingpin is a lot bloodier and more intense, which fits in with the overall mood of the cut which in turn has been bumped up to an R-rating. Elektra wasn’t a terrible character, but her inclusion did detract from Daredevil’s story in the original and has been stripped down for this cut. This allows the story to be more dark origin and less romantic action.
Troy
troydcut
At 2 hours and 45 minutes the original cut of ‘Troy’ dragged on far longer than it needed to. The director’s cut adds 30 minutes of footage, standing at 3 hours and 15 minutes,and ends up feeling shorter than its lighter counterpart. The director’s cut, which Warner Home Video reportedly invested more than $1 million into, contains “over 1,000 cuts” in it.
Among one of the many improvements in the new cut is the violence. Rather than nicks and cuts we get gashes and decapitations. Babies are thrown from ledges and women are raped in the street. None of which is superfluous but justified as a result of the brutality of war. The love scenes are more fully fleshed out, literally, but is done out of the need to deepen relationships which as a whole throughout the movie are much more developed than in the original. Even the musical score, which initially sounded generic and cartoonish gets completely revamped with a new mix that is more emotional and better suited to fit the undertones of the movie. One of the best additions to director’s cut however is the extended sacking of Troy sequence, which felt glossed over in the original cut.
No matter how much recutting and reediting you do it’s still hard to change certain things; among them is the script. The film still has trouble standing up to Homer’s original tale, but this director’s cut does a much better job of communicating this dramatic tale than the theatrical release ever did.
Alien 3
While this “assembly cut” of ‘Alien 3′ isn’t exactly a director’s cut, it’s the closest thing we’re going to get. alien3Due to the insurmountable amount of annoyance and frustration David Fincher had to overcome in dealing with 20th Century Fox it comes as no surprise that he refused to create a director’s cut for the Alien Quadrilogy box set released in 2003. What we are left with is an early cut made for test screenings in late 1992.
Nearly 3/4 of the scenes in the assembly cut contain footage not found in the theatrical release. One of the key differences between the cuts is the use of an ox rather than a dog as the alien host. From there we get a variety of new shots such as Clemens discovering the EEV that Ripley landed in on the beach, the discovery of a dead facehugger which is visually different from those previously seen and the innmates preparing to fight the alien. A lot of plot holes are filled in such as the innmates successfully capturing the alien only to have the psychotic alien worshipping Golic set it free again.
Like ‘Troy’ the film unfortunately still suffers from script troubles, however this assembly cut has allowed Alien 3 to rise from the shame of the Alien series to a worthy addition.
Kingdom of Heaven
Apparently 20th Century Fox doesn’t have much faith in the directors they hire as this is the third movie on this list they’ve meddled with. Ridley Scott’s epic examination of religious conflict originally ran 3 hours and 15 minutes. 2007-09-kingdom-of-heaven-dThe studio execs at Fox balked at this run time claiming that “modern” audiences wouldn’t want to watch a movie over 3 hours and ordered Scott to reduce the run time to 2 hours and 25 minutes. Which in turn ended up neutering any sort of character development and left us with what could be best called a misplaced action movie. Fortunately Fox Home Entertainment decided to release the director’s cut of the movie as Scott originally envisioned it.
The overall intelligence of the film is increased with additions to the film including, but not limited to, the revelation that the tormenting priest who Balian kills at the beginning is actually his half-brother, Balian’s combat experience is explained in more detail, and there’s much more blood, gore and violence to go along with the historical accuracy of the battles. And while all the characters are fleshed out more fully it is Eva Green’s Sybilla who benefits the most from this cut with having her character’s role increased significantly. - Yage2006, on 07/09/2009, -0/+28Blade runner final cut was indeed the best one of the many many versions out there.
- anexanhume, on 07/09/2009, -5/+31Actually, I prefer the theatrical cut. The book excerpts actually explained the story too much, and I think it's a much more awesome and rewarding experience without them. Luckily, the Blu Ray I picked up has both.
- kingp, on 07/09/2009, -1/+27Kill it with DIGG!
- EastCoastGnar, on 07/09/2009, -1/+25The Kingdom of Heaven picked is backed for sure. Movie was so much better, even if it was even longer.
- MLGLies, on 07/09/2009, -0/+23Having seen the Watchmen Directors Cut, I can tell you it is exceptional and will join this list upon its release.
- j3ff86, on 07/09/2009, -3/+25No Lord of the Rings?
- walruspanzer, on 07/09/2009, -6/+27Blade Runner?
- directedition, on 07/09/2009, -0/+21The Abyss - COMPLETELY changed the meaning of the film. Absolutely the biggest improvement a 'special edition' ever had.
Now would someone PLEASE release it on bluray! For the love of god, all the DVDs are mastered in 4:3 with 2.35:1 letterboxing. It looks horrendous on an HDTV. Thank god for VLC's crop feature, even though it also crops off subtitling. - InfinitySnatch, on 07/09/2009, -0/+18Dark City. Although except for the opening voice-over spoilers, there was nothing wrong with the movie in the first place.
- ChiaGod, on 07/09/2009, -0/+16Sadly, the movie that most needs it (David Lynch's Dune) is absent. Lynch's cut would have run 3 hours vs the 2hours and 17 minutes which ended up in Theaters (and which was very confusing to anybody who had not read the book, since many important details and events were glossed over or outright ommited).
- Raptor007, on 07/09/2009, -2/+17Lord of the Rings should definitely be here. All the additional content in extended editions fits in seamlessly with the movies, and covers important part of the story that had to be stripped out for the theatrical releases (or else everyone in the theater would have peed themselves).
- SchrodingersCar, on 07/09/2009, -0/+14Brazil.
- pixelatedsoul, on 07/09/2009, -0/+14Even though Terminator 2 was excellent, I just recently saw the Director's cut for the first time and was blown away. It filled in plot holes I didn't even know were there.
Oh and I totally agree with the comments about The Abyss. Apparently James Cameron makes good movies. - Novamaster0, on 07/09/2009, -1/+12Can't get page 2 sorry.
- Cogie, on 07/09/2009, -0/+9http://rorr.im/digg.com/movies/7_director_s_cuts_t ...
- philb0t5000, on 07/09/2009, -0/+9Glad they did not include Lord of the Rings. A lot of people see them as directors cut, but they are really just extended editions. Peter Jackson sees the original theater versions as his cut.
- RogerStrong, on 07/09/2009, -1/+10Doesn't count.
Both the theatrical and extended releases WERE director's cuts. It wasn't a case of the director finally being able to go back and finish the job. One cut was for the theatre - where time was at a premium - and one was for DVD.
While the theatrical cut was released on DVD, that was a money-grab. Both DVD versions were planned and announced from the beginning, knowing that many who bought the first set would also buy the extended set when it came out.
I call it Blade Runner syndrome. They keep coming out with new editions for people to buy. The latest "Director's Cut - where he got to finish it", replaces the "Director's Cut - where he got to finish it" that came out on tape ten years earlier. This after the Special Edition cut and the original cut.
The "Director's Cut - where he got to finish it" DVD release of Star Trek:The Motion Picture is a vast improvement over the theatrical and TV releases. But it's the awful theatrical version that just came out on Blu-Ray. It's no mistake - they'll release the Director's cut later, and no doubt more versions after that. - ChiaGod, on 07/09/2009, -0/+9I know what you're saying, I was pissed when I first played my Abyss DVD on my new wide screen TV (same with Stargate). WTF! Of all the movies that should have been anamorphic!
For those who haven't experienced it yet, watching a widescreen DVD that isn't Anamorphic (or labeled as "Enhanced for Widescreen TVs") on a modern TV is almost like watching VHS again. It cuts the effective horizontal resolution from 480 lines down to 346 or 360 for widescreen movies (1.85 for theater releases, 1.77 for TV releases) or 270 lines if it's a cinemascope ( 2.35 aspect ratio) movie.
Which means that 25% to 44% of each frame of storage on the DVD is just storing black bars. In other words, a HUGE waste. - PhillyMJS, on 07/09/2009, -0/+7The director's cut of Waterworld is actually pretty good. It is run from time to time on the channel formerly known as SciFi. Some quick googling shows that it has apparently also been available on DVD since November or so.
- ZzFDKzZ, on 07/09/2009, -0/+7Daredevil's DC was great made it feel like a completely different movie.
- weazal, on 07/10/2009, -0/+7There's a 2nd page to the article
- kyle212, on 07/09/2009, -1/+8Superman II
superman2In 1977, director Richard Donner planned on shooting his epic Superman adaptation in two parts. Production got backed up and Donner was forced to postpone finishing photography on ‘Superman II’ in order to get ‘Superman’ into theaters. After ‘Superman’ was released it was assumed that Donner would go back to finishing photography on the sequel, however a series of unfortunate events led to Donner’s replacement as director. One of these events was the excising of Marlon Brando from the sequel. The producers, Alexander and Ilya Salkind, felt that paying Brando 11.75% of the gross U.S. box office earnings was not in their favor.
The tensions between Donner and the producers were already high during the initial filming but Donner’s reluctance to concede to their demands pushed matters over the edge. On March 15th, 1979 the Salkinds replaced Donner with Richard Lester who had served as a go-between for Donner and the Salkinds during the first ‘Superman’ shoot. Lester had to have 51% of his own footage in ‘Superman II’ for him to get credit as a director and from this stipulation a majority of the film was re-written and re-shot with the end result being a hybrid of both Donner and Lester’s footage.
As a result of fan pressure late 2005 Richard Donner began work on his restoration of ‘Superman II’. Released in 2006, the new cut contained approximately 83% of Donner’s footage. Among the wealth of new material was the reinsertion of the scenes featuring Marlo Brando as Jor-El condemning General Zod and his minions to the Phantom Zone along with the nuclear explosion that breaks the Kryptonian villians out of the Phantom Zone, extended scenes of Zod terrorizing the White House and Lois firing a gun on Clark to prove he is Superman. Fortunately the scene were Superman throws his “S” at Non is absent from this cut.
Payback
paybackBased on the novel The Hunter, ‘Payback’ shares the same source material as the 1967 noir-classic ‘Point Blank’. In 1999, the theatrical release of ‘Payback’ was not the version first time director Brian Helgeland had in mind. Initially deemed too dark for the mainstream, the film went through rewrites and 10 days of reshooting under uncredited director Paul Abascal’s eye. The idea was to make Porter’s character more relatable and human, remove the notions of spousal abuse and beef up the third act. Among the changes to the theatrical cut were a new voice-over for the opening scene along with Kris Kristofferson taking over as the new villian.
Helgeland’s original vision was able to see the light of day with the release of ‘Straight Up: The Director’s Cut’ in 2007. The new cut features a female villian who is never seen rather than Kristofferson, the torture scene with Bronson (Kristofferson) is not present, the opening scene voice-over has been removed and the blue tint present throughout the entire film is replaced with hyper-saturation. Helgeland’s cut also features an entirely new, if not ambiguous, ending.
Blade Runner
bladerunnerThe granddaddy of recuts had a tough time finding his true form with five different versions seeing the light of day. ‘Blade Runner’ follows the same pattern of studio intervention as the rest of the movies on this list with director Ridley Scott having to battle unnecessary changes and additions to his adaptation of Philip K. Dick’s source material.
Workprint Version
Initially shown to audiences in Denver and Dallas in March of 1982 the workprint version garnered negative responses and was the catalyst to the studio’s modification of the film that lead to the eventual theatrical cut of the movie. This cut featured no voice-over, “unicorn vision” or “happy ending”. There is no opening crawl but rather a static screen of text with the definition of “replicant”.
U.S. Theatrical Release
Released in 1982, the American release of ‘Blade Runner’ featured the infamous voice-over narration and “happy ending” that consisted of left over aerial shots from Stanley Kubrick’s ‘The Shining’.
International Release (”Criterion Edition”)
The international cut is very similar to the U.S. theatrical release but contains more violent footage. When Batty confronts Tyrell he pokes his eyes out in addition to crushing his skull. The fight between Pris and Deckard was altered and in the final fight between Batty and Deckard, Batty intentionally pushes a nail through his hand.
Director’s Cut
In 1990, Warner Bros. showed the workprint version of the film to audiences in Los Angeles and San Francisco under the guise of it being a “director’s cut”. Scott publicly refuted this cut, citing rough editing and an incomplete score.
Following the workprint screening debacle and coinciding with the upcoming 10th anniversary of ‘Blade Runner’ Warner Bros. decided to let Scott make his director’s cut in 1992. The cut features the removal of the voice-overs as well as the “happy ending” and the re-insertion of the unicorn dream sequence. This version however did not include much of the violence present in the international version.
Unfortunately due to time constraints and his obligations to ‘Thelma & Louis’ Scott was still unsatisfied with the end result.
The Final Cut
In 2007, only 25 years after the original was released, Ridley Scott’s original vision of ‘Blade Runner’ had come to fruition. The cut was screened in theaters across the U.S. and was part of the multi-disc box set released in 2007.
Among the many small changes are the removal of the cables used to lift the police spinner, altering the color timing to give the film a more greenish tint and dialogue additions and changes. The removal of voice-over narration and happy ending mirrors that of the director’s cut. Larger changes include restoration of the full-length unicorn dream sequence with Deckard shown to be awake rather than asleep, reinsertion of the violent scenes present in the international version, superimposition of Joanna Cassidy’s face over the stunt double during Deckard’s pursuit of Zhora and the dove at the end flying up to a dark sky rather than a blue one.
Honorable Mentions
themistThe Mist
Frank Darabont’s adaptation of Stephen King’s novella is already a great horror/suspense movie that features one of the best endings in recent cinema. Originally Darabont wanted the film to be printed in black and white, however the studio didn’t feel that it would appeal to mass audience. The Two-Disc Collector’s Edition of the film features a copy of the film in black and white as originally intended. The absence of color adds a lot to the film, especially to the CGI which looks much, much better.
The Phantom Edit
While we can’t go back in time to stop George Lucas from creating the travesty that was Episode I, we can at least edit out the unbearable parts. Created by “The Phantom Editor”, a.k.a. Mike J. Nichols, the edit comes in 20 minutes shorter than the original but oh what a difference it makes. Unnecessary exposition and redundancy, most of Jar Jar’s scene and Anakin’s “yippie” and “oops” dialogues have either been completely removed or heavily edited. It’s certainly worth a look if you’re looking for a way to breathe life into the new trilogy.
Léon
With approximately 23 minutes of additional footage, the bulk of which appears in the second act focusing on the developing relationship between Mathilda and Léon, the director’s cut of ‘Léon’ doesn’t dramatically change the quality of the movie but does add a lot to it. Among the new footage is Mathilda trying to get Léon to admit he loves her by playing Russian roulette, Mathilda openly asking Léon to be her first lover and Léon teaching Mathilda the “ring trick” which involves breaking the chain after people open their doors. - CivicTV, on 08/14/2009, -0/+7But have you ever seen DUNE on weed?
- inactive, on 07/09/2009, -0/+6"I've seen things you people wouldnt believe.."
- Shawn4168, on 07/09/2009, -0/+6According to Wikipedia, the theatrical releases were actually Peter Jackson's preferred version. I don't understand why, the extended editions were superior in every regard.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Lord_of_the_Rings ... - DarthVolta, on 07/09/2009, -1/+7If you ask me, they needed a screenplay that didn't rely on whispered internal-monologue - it works in the book, but it just translates into pure cheesiness and camp on film.
- GorfTron, on 07/09/2009, -0/+6I don't think LOTR was vastly improved. Just more of the same great movie. I think the same of the directors cut of Aliens.
- danevahey, on 07/09/2009, -1/+7Solid article. Kingdom of Heaven and Troy I had high hopes for and was greatly disappointed. I thought Payback was pretty good with original cut, will definitely go out and watch the new version.
- Decimit, on 07/10/2009, -0/+5It is a pretty overwhelming consensus that the theatrical version is better than the directors cut of Donnie Darko and the movie overall is very highly praised. Some may have a different opinion, but it's definitely not a flop or anything.
- exspasticcomics, on 07/09/2009, -0/+599% of all directors cuts are better than the original. in fact- the only one that comes to mind where the directors cut was worse than the original was 'payback'
- kinerry, on 07/10/2009, -0/+5wrong, it's one of the few movies made much worse with the directors cut
- Decimit, on 07/10/2009, -0/+5The problem is with the word "only". You can make a quality film that is true to the original vision and still make a profit. Sacrificing quality for an attempt at quick profit goes against the art that many people feel film should be treated as.
- NeoPlatonist, on 07/09/2009, -0/+5I always preferred the Dune Miniseries. It was pretty faithful to the book, had good acting, and, at almost four and half hours long, had enough time to really develop the story.
- DrZmobie, on 07/09/2009, -1/+6So I heard you like Blade Runner?
- stinklez, on 07/09/2009, -0/+5i've heard this numerous times. Perhaps ill give it a look.
- pathouston22, on 07/09/2009, -4/+9"Everybody knows movie studios exist only to make a profit."
No *****! I thought they were there just to spend millions of dollars on a film for you to enjoy and get nothing in return? - Napiertt, on 07/09/2009, -0/+4The movie was a MAJOR disappointment. I'll try to get my hands on the DC. Although nothing can change the fact the Affleck was horribly miscast.
- Syric, on 07/09/2009, -0/+4I hope so. As a Watchmen...fanboy...I enjoyed the theatrical version of the movie. But objectively speaking, I know it definitely could have used much improvement.
- CivicTV, on 08/14/2009, -0/+4Wow Ridley Scott is on there twice . . .
- xerodustrial, on 07/09/2009, -0/+4Dugg ONLY for Blade Runner.
The Theatrical Cut had a ***** terrible ending, but the Director's Cut is easily one of the best science fiction movies ever made. - realchris, on 07/09/2009, -0/+4Site is down but hopefully Once Upon a Time in America is on there.
- Chalks777, on 07/10/2009, -0/+4dugg for "channel formerly known as SciFi"
This is now how I will refer to that channel. - PhillyMJS, on 07/09/2009, -1/+5Great flick. Seth Green steals every scene he's in.
- RogerStrong, on 07/09/2009, -0/+4I'd add two movies:
- Star Trek: The Motion Picture
The theatrical release was rushed into the theaters without the heavy editing it needed, and without some of the special effects.
The network TV and home video version was even worse - it ADDED 11 minutes of film that the director never wanted included, because the scenes were incomplete.
But the 2001 Director's Cut on DVD finally got the re-edit it needed. Scenes don't drag on as much. The special effects were finished, including those on the scenes shown on TV. The sounds are more intense - which provoked the MPAA to change the rating from "G" to "PG".
It's an amazingly better movie.
Alas, the 2009 Blu-Ray version is the original theatrical release. No doubt they'll try to sell it to you a second time with the Director's Cut.
A similar movie is:
The Abyss
The special edition DVD put in a bunch of scenes near the ending - not finished for the theatrical release - that explained everything. That and a few scenes added within the movie made it far better than the theatrical release. - Ianki, on 07/10/2009, -0/+4I think Touch of Evil is perhaps the greatest "director cut" story in the fact that the directors cut was put together after orsen wells had already died. Posthumous restoration isn't uncommon these days, but to reconstruct a movie based on existing notes that wells had left behind listing specific edits he wanted to make to create the film he started out to film instead of the film that the studio pressured him to finish with, it's really an amazing thing.
Also, Brazil needs to have some sort of recognition here. For years, international audiences were the only ones to have seen the full story, with tight studio control restricting the american release, and an myopic television distributor that single-handedly ruined the entire movie, the directors cut remains the only definitive cut. - Roykirk, on 07/09/2009, -0/+4Absolutely. When I think of Director's Cuts that take a good movie and make it great, the Abyss is the one. The longer cut of the Abyss turns some of the weird, E.T.-ish sentimentality that surround the aliens and gives them a purpose, and a bit of bad-assery. Even the additions that have nothing to do with the aliens make for a better film all-around, with all the characters feeling less cookie-cutter and more real.
I can't read the whole of the article because the site is dead now, but if they didn't include the Abyss, the article isn't worth the bits and bandwidth used. - gropo, on 07/09/2009, -0/+4Agree and commented under the article to that effect. Was absolutely expecting to see it on the list.
- TheBadWolf, on 07/09/2009, -0/+3I never saw the original Daredevil, but I really liked the Director's Cut. I always felt like there was something wrong with me.
Hated the Donnie Darko Director's Cut. They explained way too much and the change in music made it feel like a different movie.
Dark City was definitely a good one, though.
EDIT: Oh god, I can't believe I forgot Advent Children Complete! Ten times better than the original. They actually explain geostigma, explain Denzel's existence, make Denzel a compelling character, add some great action scenes, add scenes with Tseng and Elena. Best alternate edition of a movie I've ever seen. -
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