Superman III (1983)

“I ask you to kill Superman, and you’re telling me you couldn’t even do that one, simple thing.” – Ross Webster

Number of Times Seen – Too many to count (Theater in ’83, cable in the 80’s and 90’s, 19 Jun 2017)

Brief Synopsis – A computer genius is hired by a millionaire to create a way to stop Superman

My Take on it – After giving us the second film in this franchise, the producers chose to once again give Richard Lester the opportunity to direct this film.

Unfortunately, he once again chose to make this film too campy and deviate completely from any kind of serious tone.

Due to this, the story feels more like a farce than anything else.

The most iconic scene of the film is also the only real memorable part of the entire script; the fight between Superman and Clark Kent in a junkyard.

Most of the different plot threads presented here don’t gel well together and it seems as if the possibly left too much on the cutting room floor.

Richard Pryor is prominently featured here as a computer programmer, but he is completely wasted here.

Very few of his scenes are funny in any way which is a shame since he was such a comic genius.

In addition, his character should have been developed much better which would have made him more interesting to watch.

Robert Vaughn was a poor choice as the villain because whenever he has a confrontation with Superman, he seems extremely weak and pathetic instead of headstrong like the main villain should.

Bottom Line – Lester’s hand is too heavy here and the story comes off as too much of a farce instead of a serious superhero movie. The fight between Clark Kent and Superman in the junkyard is the most iconic scene of the film and works especially well. Most of the plot threads just don’t gel very well together.  It’s also too bad that Richard Pryor is wasted here because as a comic genius, his character might have been more interesting to watch if he was better developed.  Vaughn is a weak adversary for the Man of Steel and the confrontations between them are actually quite pathetic.

MovieRob’s Favorite Trivia – In his autobiography, Richard Pryor admitted that he thought the screenplay for this movie was terrible, and he only accepted the role because he was offered five million dollars for it. (From IMDB)

Rating – BAFTA Worthy

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