Review of Superman III (1983) by Sean L — 18 Dec 2012

A trainwreck of epic proportions, with almost no connection whatsoever to the first two films. Superman has long had a cheesy side to him, it's no secret, but in trying to uber-emphasize that aspect of the character above all else, this stretches itself way, way too thin.

If one were to remove the rich, interesting back-story from the first two films, cram every forced, campy slapstick pun into one long reel and inexplicably insert Richard Pryor at his mainstream worst, the final product would look startlingly similar to Superman III.

The shameless Luthor stand-in's villainous plot is vacant and nonsensical, Lois Lane is written out after twelve lines, The Man of Steel himself is basically a supporting character, and both the central plot vehicle and the final battle are so far over the top they've lost sight of the Earth.

The Superman-gone-bad scenes are good for a laugh, if just in a "wow, they actually filmed and released this" manner, but otherwise it's a catastrophic, toilet bowl stinker.