Superman III is not considered to
be the worst of the Superman films but now that I’ve seen Superman III and the
abomination that is Superman IV, I can happily say that Superman III is simply
far worse than Superman IV which is by no means a good film apart from the fact
that it has a few good factors to it such as the returning cast, the character of
Superman and the Superman like moments and the overall short duration of the
film that ensures us that this film isn’t as horrid and stinky as Superman III
Superman agrees to stop the launch
and use of nuclear weapons and begins to put an end to it but by a complete accident,
he creates a man of nuclear referred to as NuclearMan whose one task is to kill
Superman, under orders from a returned Lex Luthor.
Superman is an iconic movie
character, respected and even worshipped by some and often labelled the
greatest superhero ever made and one of the all time great movie characters.
Thanks to Christopher Reeve and Richard Donner, Superman is a worshipped
character from the magic of the first two Superman films which portrayed him as
an honest, courageous, courteous, brave and determined fighter whereas Superman
III didn’t really take the character anywhere and explore his sudden evil side.
Whilst potential, terrible overuse of slapstick humor and a horrendous story
destroyed the film to a point beyond repair. Thankfully, Superman IV got two
things perfectly right about the film and that is the character of Superman and
how is loyalty to Metropolis as well as Reeves’ portrayal who absolutely nails
it once more! It was almost a joy to see everything about Superman recovering
since Superman III and this is quite simply, the only good aspect of the film
I’ve never criticized special
effects in films and normally, I don’t intend to. When you consider how great
the effects in the first three Superman films are and how Superman II had a
budget of over 50 million and that the latest instalment, which was produced
seven years later, has less than $25 million, it is so definitely clear that
this film was not to ever be made considering the box office and critical
failure of Superman III. The effects in this film look beyond horrendous, even
unwatchable especially sequences involving Superman or Nuclearman flying
through space or Metropolis. It looks like a terribly edited version on
Photoshop where nothing looks realistic enough to take seriously.
Sequences involving flying around
in Metropolis, especially a scene that ruins Superman in two ways involving
Superman taking Lois for yet another fly around Metropolis is not only hard to
take seriously, it completely destroys the magical moment from the first film
and makes Superman a rather hard character to understand. I guess it’s time to
get used to him in Superman Returns but thankfully, this is the only instance
where Superman is portrayed as a douche. Having taken her for a tour, he gives
her a mind erasing kiss (which still makes no sense) in order for her to forget
that he is Superman. Simply, the special effects looked horrendous. Even Monty
Python and the Holy Grail, being a 1975 picture, had better effects of God!
Whilst Christopher Reeve is
outstanding as Superman and Gene Hackman is as usual, good as Lex Luthor, the
rest of the cast simply aren’t interesting even Marc Maclure as Lois Lane, who
simply doesn’t show the same enthusiasm and passion as she did in the first
two. Clearly a bad sign! The acting comes off rather horrendous especially the
voice of Nuclearman done by Hackman, who completely makes it truly ridiculous
to take seriously.
The new characters in this film
aren’t interesting. The entire story evolving around the Daily Planet is simply
stupid and how the story unfolds there is completely ridiculous and to top it
off, more and more annoying and one dimensional Superman characters are
introduced. Even Lux Luthor himself is uninteresting throughout the film and
Nuclearman is a complete waste of some potential.
The story, whilst having potential,
simply doesn’t turn out to be anything special or even remotely, interesting.
Much of the film is simply boring and thankfully, clichéd slapstick is not
thrown into the film to make it worse! It definitely has a Superman feel to it
and in some ways, had some great sequences such as the scene involving Kal-El’s
Kryptonian ancestors where they warn him to stay away from human affairs.
However, this scene is completely betrayed later in the film and much of the
individual scenes taking place in the film are completely unnecessary and are
rip offs from the first two films.
Overall, in some ways I cannot
understand how loathed this film is yet Superman III is allowed a free pass. It
just shocks me to see how this film is the most hated of them all but honestly,
whilst a terrible film is made to be a great film when watching immediately
after Superman III. A lack of stupid slapstick and a computer villain make this
a better film than its predecessor but still not a good film by any means.
Grade- 3/10
Still not a remotely good film, has stupid effects, poor plot, bad villain and is a complete rip off from Superman II.
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