= 3 stars

Starring Christopher Reeve, Richard Pryor, Annette O’Toole
Directed by Richard Lester

Despite its silliness and suffering from an all-too-common case of sequel-itis, I found Superman III decent entertainment, mostly due to Richard Pryor, Annette O’Toole… and drunk Superman.

The list of “what’s wrong” is endless: the epic feel of the first two Superman movies is absent, probably because director Richard Donner - who seemed to take the Superman myth quite seriously - is not involved. The villains are lamely non-threatening, especially in comparison to Lex Luthor or General Zod and his hench-kryptonians. Lois Lane is literally out of the picture. Lastly, the super computer at the film’s end that play sdorky video games and performs cyborg-conversions is super-dumb.

So what’s good? I really enjoyed Richard Pryor as a rags-to-riches computer programmer. His loopy, slightly insane character Gus Gorman provides contrast to the straight and narrow, 50s Americana man of steel.

I also enjoyed a relatively heavy segment where Superman is poisoned by some imperfect kryptonite and morphs into an evil, pissed off Super-Jerk. In a drunken stupor he flicks peanuts like bullets in a bar, sports a five-o-clock shadow, and even stoops to a disturbingly un-Justice League one night stand. Clark Kent memorably battles this evil doppelganger in an automobile junkyard.

Also competent is Annette O’Toole as Lana Lang who Clark Kent revisits during an amusing return to Smallville.

Ultimately, Superman III suffers from typical sequel-itis. The producers and Superman I and II director Richard Donner disagreed about the direction of the franchise, and as a result Margot Kidder and Gene Hackman passed on reprising their roles. Director Richard Lester took over Superman II partway through filming, and was given full reign on Superman III. Comedian Richard Pryor was about to become a big comedy movie star, and his role was literally written in. The result is a film that feels decidedly different from the first two.

The simple explanation is that Superman III suffers because Richard Donner wasn’t involved - but I still found it entertaining. About 50% is still worth watching, and you can’t really beat the theme song behind Reeve flying around in blue tights for movie entertainment. Especially when he’s plastered.

IMDB: Superman III
Wikipedia: Superman III
Rotten Tomatoes: Superman III 23%

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