Having gotten the heavy backstory out of the way, franchise screenwriters David and Leslie Newman and director Richard Lester (who helmed the theatrical version of “Superman II”) cut loose with the character in “Superman III” (1983). While the film rates only a 4.9 on IMBD – suggesting that a lot of moviegoers would’ve rather missed this one, like the Bermuda-bound Lois — it has a lot to recommend it.
Supes heads back to Smallville
Clark (Christopher Reeve) heads to Smallville for his 20-year high school reunion and reconnects with Lana Lang (Annette O’Toole, later Martha Kent on “Smallville”), who likes Clark for who he is, especially now that her options are whittled down to guys like Brad (Gavan O’Herlihy), who peaked as a high school quarterback. While it could’ve been played up more, I appreciate how Lana digs Clark whereas Lois (Margot Kidder) likes Superman. It makes Lana seem sweeter, and it sets up a nice love triangle for the next movie.
“Smallville” fans will also recognize Superman’s predicament here, where he’s hit by a certain flavor of Kryptonite that causes him to act a certain way. In this case, he loses his goodness and becomes a sort of worldwide prankster.
“Superman III” (1983)
Director: Richard Lester
Writers: Jerry Siegel, Joe Shuster, David Newman
Stars: Christopher Reeve, Richard Pryor, Margot Kidder
Supes mischievously straightens the Leaning Tower of Pisa, which inspires denouncement from the United Nations, except for Colombia, which he had recently saved from a rainstorm. “Superman III” does not delve into the notion of the world turning on Superman; it’s not that kind of movie.
But it’s not totally shallow, by any means. In the film’s most entertaining sequence, the twisted version of Superman fights a Clark Kent that emerges from his psyche. It’s a wordless, metaphorical junkyard brawl representing Supes fighting off the bizarro-Kryptonite, but it’s played like a real fight, and – no kidding — I like it better than the Batman-Superman throwdown in “Batman v Superman” (2016). Highlights include Clark being smashed into the ground by a huge weight and being flattened in a compactor.
Lester emphasizes comedy
“Office Space” fans will recognize the scheme of thief Gus (Richard Pryor), who funnels all the fractions of a cent on the books of the company he works for into his check. Rather than going to prison, Gus is recruited for bigger schemes by his boss, Ross Webster (Robert Vaughn), who recognizes cyber-crime is the new wave.
Webster, sister Vera (Annie Ross) and girlfriend Lorelei (Pamela Stephenson) make up the saga’s typical evil trio, but the Newmans have gotten better at writing repartee, and I actually enjoy this group more than Lex-and-company and Zod-and-company.
There isn’t a lot more humor in the script than in the first two movies, but Lester embraces it much more than Richard Donner did, never missing an opportunity for a gag. Your mileage will vary, but I find the humor works more often than not.
It starts with a Rube Goldberg-style opening where the stunning Lorelei distracts a man on the sidewalk, causing him to stumble, and leading to a long series of pratfalls. As the likable, down-on-his luck Gus, Pryor improvises and is pleasant to watch; a highlight is a sequence where he pretends to be drunk in order to trick Brad and gain access to a computer.
Sometimes it winks too much
I find the comedy works less well when it winks too much; for example, the Websters’ monitor tracking missiles heading toward Superman looks like a “Superman” video game, and that took me out of the movie. Lester may have been ahead of his time by going “meta.”
Unlike its contemporary, the “Jaws” franchise, the special effects stay strong for the third “Superman” entry. A first-act set piece of a burning chemical plant sets the stage for vintage Superman heroics; it’s clever how he freezes a lake, then drops the sheet of ice onto the plant to put out the fire.
The final act featuring a giant sentient computer in a mountain cavern has not aged as well. The Newmans were smart to anticipate cyber-crime, but the specifics of the evil computer were probably silly even in 1983; it’s like watching a less-good version of “Virus.”
Based on the IMDB ratings, I expected a huge drop in quality for “Superman III,” but I don’t see it. It serves up the epic chemical-plant fire, the delicious Superman-vs.-himself fight, Clark-Lana romance and watchable villains. And as a bonus, things don’t run so far off the rails that Supes has to reverse the rotation of the Earth again, so it ends on genuine moment of Lois being jealous of new secretary Lana in the Daily Planet offices.