| Superman III (1983) | |
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Rating: 5.0/10 (74,516 votes) Director: Richard Lester Writer: Jerry Siegel, Joe Shuster, David Newman Stars: Christopher Reeve, Richard Pryor, Margot Kidder Runtime: 125 min Rated: PG Genre: Action, Adventure, Comedy Released: 17 Jun 1983 |
| Plot: Synthetic kryptonite laced with tar splits Superman in two: good Clark Kent and bad Man of Steel. | |
In 1983 I was aged 10 when the third Superman came out. I recall watching it and being entertained by it all. I bought the comic book adaptation, and re-read it many times, still believing a man could fly. As the years passed my memory of the film grew a bit tainted. On reflection it seemed a bit of a comical mess, with only one stand-out moment in the whole film (more on that later). Re-watching it around 15 years ago I hated it from start to finish. By going back to a film that was so flawed, but my child-eyes had ignored the cracks of, my memory of the film was shattered. So, it was with trepidation that I revisited the film now. Suffice to say, the film is still a bad film, but it isn’t a total loss.
The original intent when it came to making the third Superman film was to break from the ‘all one story’ flow that had been used with the first two films, and instead go for a more comic-book style of film, with a standalone adventure. The Salkinds initially came up with the idea of bringing classic villains such as Braniac or Mr Mxyzptlk, and even throw on Supergirl, and were throwing around ideas around these great characters for some time. However, when a Warner Bros. head honcho saw Richard Pryor on TV saying that he really wanted to be in a Superman film, sadly the idea to shoehorn him into a role was pushed, and the result was this loose mess of a film.
Pryor plays Gus Gorman, a bumbling and inept person who cannot hold down even a simple janitorial job. However, somehow he magically discovers he has a knack for computers, being able to program them and design them. His employer, Ross Webster (Robert Vaughn) utilizes these skills to try to defeat Superman so that he can go on to rule the world. So, Gus uses his magic skills on magic computers to create some form of Kryptonite. When that doesn’t work, he is tasked with building a computer to finish the job. Meanwhile the kryptonite has had some results, managing to turn Superman into an angry, depressed, and arrogant natured sleazebag.
There are many things wrong with this film, and sadly the majority hinge on the recruiting of Richard Pryor. In order to shoehorn him into the film, the script opted for a more farcical and zany tone throughout, and according to rumours the team expected Pryor to improvise around it to generate more laughs. Richard Lester is back on board, having already damaged the second film with his jokey style of film-making. Combined together we have a film in which things happen not because they make sense, nor because they progress the story, but because the writers thought they would be funny. Computers in this film do funny, and rather magical things, such as making the crossing lights in a city fight with each other (interestingly Salkind tries to defend this piece on the commentary by saying that we still don’t know exactly what a computer is capable of doing – Well, it is safe to say they can’t make a static light turn into an animated sprite!). We have a weather satellite which, thanks to computer magic, can now actually change the weather. But then again, this is a computer system that to program it all you do it type out simple statements like, “LOOK FOR STUFF!” #stuff found+++ “USE STUFF TO DO THINGS!” #using stuff to do things+++. Yup, no need for complex lines of code, computers in the 80s were really easy to use.
When you also throw in quite a lot of dubious effects, and awful model work, the result is a cheap looking film that feel out of line with the previous films in the series. The attempt to force a possible tie-in Superman game into the proceedings results in nothing more than product placing of the highest order, and the ‘missile attack’ on Superman has some of the worst model work this side of Thunderbirds!
But, as I said, it isn’t a total loss. There is some charm to be found in Clark returning to his hometown for a reunion, and Reeve is once again entirely convincing and charismatic in his dual roles. He is also given one of the most iconic moments of the series so far in this film – the junkyard scrap. Evil Superman and Good Clark split off into two personalities and fight for complete control of the body, and despite a few small effects glitches, it makes for one of the best scenes in the trilogy so far. It could be looked at as a final resolve to the ‘battle of the fathers’ from the first two films. Jor-El educated his son to be better than humans, to be like a god unto them, and told him how different he was, whilst Jonathan Kent raised him to be humble and on level with humans, playing down his powers and becoming one with them. In this third film, the ‘evil’ Superman is the teachings of Jor-El taken to the extreme – he’s forgotten to be humble, and his powers make him arrogant, and feel like an outcast, hence he starts acting like he does. It takes a fight with the ‘good’ Clark Kent aspect to resolve the conflict, and in the end, it is Clark who must embrace his powerful side by killing the darker side, before the two aspects can finally live in harmony. That is what this scene is all about, the final acceptance that Clark and Superman are the same person, just wearing different clothes. He is just as weak as Superman, and he is just as strong when in Clark disguise. For this scene alone, the film is worth a watch.
So, Superman III – it’s a mess of a film with a few redeeming moments. Not as bad a job as I recalled, but definitely a film damaged by studio interference and insistence on leaning more to the comic styling of a popular comic actor at the time.
