The first two Superman films with Christopher Reeve were enjoyable and imaginative romps. Without Richard Donner behind the wheel, however, the task fell upon Richard Lester to continue the series. The man previously touched up Superman II for its release, so why not?
The problem is, Superman III cranks up the camp and cheese so much that all sincerity is stripped away. Even the film's opening credit scenes are a long-running joke...literally, it's one comedic slapstick gag after another, strung together in an almost Vaudeville fashion. The rest of the film is littered with similar gags, and they often aren't that funny. At the center of it all is Richard Pryor, for some odd reason; the man seems totally out-of-place in this picture, with all his bumbling, mumbling, and unfunny antics. Oh, there is action as well, but it is of an absurd nature. The climax is a series of cheesy and unlikely events that pushes this film into bad B-movie sci-fi territory.
To be fair, the story has its merits. It does touch upon some interesting ground, first by taking Superman back to Smallville for a while, and secondly be having him literally battle himself. The film also touches upon a few clever ideas, regarding oil dependency, the advent of computers, and the notion that a computer could become self-aware (I think having Superman battling a powerful AI is an inherently cool idea, but the film plays it out so cheesily that it falls way short). Otherwise, the film's story is strangely unremarkable; most of the side characters are shoved to the side, in favor of a new cast of rather uninteresting people, and most of the story is displaced by the comedy and camp.
The film has its share of decent photography and editing. Christopher Reeve offers the most earnest performance here, while the rest of the cast really hams it up. Writing is pretty bad. This production seems to use a lot of ambitious sets, props, and costumes, but a lot of it hasn't aged well, and parts of it look cheap and gaudy. Music is not all that great either, despite the usual reprise of John Williams' original theme.
Good for a laugh or two, but ultimately weak in so many ways, Superman III earns a marginal score from me, and represents a steep decline in quality from its predecessors.
2.5/5 (Entertainment: Average | Story: Poor | Film: Poor)
No comments:
Post a Comment