Superman fans often complain that Hollywood is simply unable to treat their favourite comic book character right. Such complaints actually began a long time ago, during the initial film series starring Christopher Reeve, which is nowadays seen as golden standard for all future modern superhero films. Superman III, 1983 film directed by Richard Lester, is often referenced as the point when Superhero film franchise began to go downhill.
Somewhat complicated plot deals with Superman a.k.a. Clark Kent (played by Christopher Reeve) returning to Smallville to visit old friends during high school reunion. One of those friends is Lana Lang (played by Annette O’Toole), a single mother with whom he spends some time during which they begin to discover romantic feelings for each other. In the meantime, unemployed Metropolis man Gus Gorman (played by Richard Pryor) has discovered talent for computers and has put it to unsavoury use after being employed by Webscoe corporation. He embezzles large amount of money before he is caught, but the corporation’s owner Ross Webster (played by Robert Vaughn) is so impressed with his skills that he decides to use him for his own shady schemes, which include sabotaging Columbia coffee harvests and world’s oil supplies. Webster is angry and orders Gorman to find Kryptonite which should kill Superman. Gorman finds flawed Kryptonite which doesn’t kill Superman but causes changes in his psyche and character. Superman becomes selfish and violent and engages in acts of vandalism before suffering mental breakdown that would have him split into two characters - bad Superman and good Clark Kent.
Richard Lester replaced Richard Donner during the troubled production of Superman II and proved himself as an efficient and capable director. However, he wasn’t Superman fan and wanted the film and franchise to steer towards pure comedy. In Superman III producers gave him free hands and Lester made this film according to his preferences. This is seen at the very beginning, during long opening title scene that features series of spectacular slapstick gags. Orientation of new Superman film towards the comedy is further underlined with the casting of Richard Pryor, comedian who was at the peak of popularity at the time. The character of Gorman was written exclusively for Pryor’s established screen persona, but in this film he looks like an alien body artificially inserted into Superman franchise. Pryor is talented actor, but all his skills can’t compensate for poorly conceived character that goes through some unconvincing transformations - from simple conman to computer genius and villain’s top henchman only to, predictably, see the error of his ways and becomes Superman’s ally at the end. Pryor is wasted in this film and same can be said for many other members of the cast. Robert Vaughn plays one-dimensional villain who is vastly inferior to similar character of Lex Luthor in first two films. Annie Ross as his sister and collaborator is forgettable, while talented comedienne Pamela Stephenson is wasted in the role that consists of a single joke (a supposed bimbo that actually likes to read books by German philosophers). Margot Kidder as Lois Lane is reduced to glorified cameo.
The best thing about Superman III is Christopher Reeve. In this film he is at the peak physical shape and quite comfortable with the role. The subplot about his personality splitting allowed him to show some more acting range. Unfortunately, this opportunity is used only in relatively small segment of the film and the climactic battle between two Supermans happens too early in the film. Subplot involving Lana Lang, despite good chemistry between Reeve and O’Toole, is unresolved. Lester and the scriptwriters seem to be more interesting in Pryor’s (often not too funny) antics and in the end they add evil supercomputer as the new villain. Superman III also adds to the silliness with the scene in which Superman is pursued by missiles combined with footage of early 1980s video game. Superman III had success at the box office, but even people involved at the production, like Reeve and Pryor, admitted that it wasn’t very good. In the end franchise owners Ilya and Alexander Salkind concluded that Superman had ran its course and decided to sell it to Cannon Group. While not complete waste at time and entertaining at times, Superman III today looks like a cautionary tale of what could happen to franchise when it takes the wrong path.
RATING: 4/10 (++)
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