Saved: Kingdom of Heaven

Average adventure movie becomes pretty epic. Lot's of "huh?" moments now actually make sense now they have back story that fleshes out the characters and their motivations (e.g., how a blacksmith could suddenly master siege warfare).

Mutilated: Troy

Passable adaptation morphs into plodding mess; additional scenes add nothing, baffling revisions detract from the experience (e.g. the new music in the Hector vs. Achilles duel).

star wars

han shot first

I'm not sure I'd say saved (largely because Scott keeps going back to it and dicking around) but Bladerunner is the common call. The removal of the godawful voice over which managed to tag on the unnecessary happy ending and to piss all over Roy Batty's exit goes some way to improving things.

Apocalypse Now.

In the mutilated category yeah? That Redux thing was pointless. Apart from maybe the French Plantation sequence, its obvious why a lot of that stuff was cut in the first place.

Alexander - the story was just too epic to be told in a theatrical release but the final directors cut DVD is far more viewable even if it chews up 4-5 hours.

Thin Red Line

... which seems like a producer(s) enforced director's cut, as it was something like a 5+ hour epic cut down to 170-odd minutes. It also explains why there are so many 'cameos', such as minor appearances by Woody Harrelson, George Clooney and John Travolta - who were all to have slightly larger roles. Also cut was Billy Bob's complete voice over, all of Adrien Brody's speaking lines - a main character in the book, iirc - and full scenes from Mickey Rourke, Martin Sheen, Gary Oldman, Bill Pullman, Lucas Haas, Jason Patrick and Viggo Mortensen.

Yes, no one will go watch a six hour movie, but they could have done it as a mini series or in two parts for the big screen.

I imagine for those of you who hate it, a fuller - but split into two - version would fill in with more action and dialogue than the artsy still shots and voice overs people seemed to hate the last few times we've discussed this film on the bored.

I may have to try and find that

Star Trek: The Motion Picture - massively improved by the directors cut. Better effects, better timing, scenes re-added that better explain the storyline.

It's still slow paced, and very obviously is trying to be 2001 rather than Star Wars, but it goes from being a turkey to a fairly watchable bit of cinema

Alien 3 - the DC is very good, the original was absolutely ruined by the studio messing around with it before release.

In my experience, the Director's Cut usually shows what a good job the editor did in the first place!
Okay, some movies are enhanced (Lord of the Rings) but that may be because the full story was just too long for the screen time available.

Of the few I've seen:

Alien - better in the original cut (and tbf, Scott admitted it was just unscreened footage)
Aliens - better in the original cut (some stupid stuff in the DC, like Hudson being a dick in the flight down to the planet)
Star Trek 2 - the number of crass lines that were restored was embassing
The Exorcist - much better as the "Director's Cut" although it was actually the "Writer's Cut". Freidkin admitted he cut those extra scenes out because he didn't understand their purpose at the time, later he did so included them in the restored version
Apocalypse Now redux - why, just why. The Playboy bunny shagging/raping scene was the only scene in the movie not to feature Willard. The French Plantation was just pointless

Ordinarily I'd agree with what yer man said in the last post but I actually opened the thread to mention Kingdom of Heaven as one of the exceptions. IMO it is the epitome of a film saved by a DC as it doesn't just add to it a bit or act as a curio, but is essential. The film goes from a deeply flawed, poor film to an excellent one.

Valid point. Maybe I should have said that if a film was released in a cut that the director pretty much wanted then a "Director's cut" will almost invariably be shite. If it was released as a "Studio Cut" or "Board Room Executives Cut" then a DC should be worth seeing. I've never seen Kingdom of Heaven, but your description places it in catagory two...

Yep - don't bother with the original cut, but the DC is a film I recommend.

Donnie Darko - ruined. A lot of stuff is explained in unnecessary exposition which detracts from the overall mysterious atmosphere.

Daredevil - saved. Ok, not completely saved cause it's still basically rubbish, but it's about a million times better.

Terminator 2 - not completely ruined, but a couple of completely unnecessary scenes in there. Psychic dream sequence with Kyle Reese - wtf?

Agree with Kingdom of Heaven, it improves a lot, from utter shite to barely watchable 3 hour slugfest.

Butterfly Effect had like three different ending. One for the theatre, one the director wanted, and another one they did for shits and giggles. I dont know which ending was the directors one though.

Great movie too.

I think Army of Darkness had a directors cut, ironically the original studio insisted ending is far better the the Planet of teh Apes "tribute"..."All hail to the King baby!"

The Lords of the Rings extended editions are both excellent additions and generally not better or worse then the originals, just alternative for those who want more.

i know of two endings only. SPOILER. The one where he kills himself in the womb and when he ignores on the street. what was the third?

He goes back to when he first met his girlfriend as a child and tells her he hates her and to go away. SHe runs off crying and they never become friends/lovers.

I think that's the ending for the theatre

ok got it cheers

As a counterpoint to Yer Man, I thought Aliens: Directors Cut took a great movie and made it greater.

But I'm an Aliens fanboy...

Could just about get over the Macedonians having Irish accents but hard to believe that film was salvageable.

They could start by not skipping from the early days straight to Gaugamela...

Fully agree with Kingdom of Heaven DC being much much better. I didn't like the theatrical version, but thoroughly enjoyed the DC. The characters are very well developed, and some of the filming is fantastic.

The DC of Alien 3 is also a classic, even though I must say I really enjoyed the theatrical version as well. I also love the DC of Aliens, with two important scenes: the one where Ripley learns about her daughter's death, and the one with Newt's family discovering the derelict ship containing the eggs.

I'm a huge fan of Apocalypse Now, but I thought the redux version was pointless. The plantation scene is waaayy too long imho.

LOTRs films are much better in the DC imho, but I'm a huge fan of the books so maybe this explains.

I found Gladiator's DC very disappointing, the soundtrack was changed for the worse, and some recuts of perfectly valid scenes are just too bad.

Seeing the planet and having Newt's dad get face-huggered gets rid of a lot of the tension when the marines first land.

Showing the Aliens directors cut on Channel 4 now. Never realised that Sigourney Weaver was nominated for an Oscar for it. Funny name that, Sigourney.

Prometheus.

Maybe. I get the feeling some big scenes were cut. And, scanning through this thread it wouldn't be the first time Scott's needed a second attempt.

I don't mind that there is a plantation bit as the contrast adds to the surreality... but it's too long, yes.

Cinema Paradiso was a bit long.

The final Lord of the Rings movie needed an editors axe taken to it. How long was that ending? Christ

It is, yet it left out 'The Scouring of the Shire', which I think is major part of the books as a whole.

In fact the whole treatment of the 'Saruman' character is disappointing in the film. [/nerd]