Rating: Summary: Excellent movie... brought down by its dumb ending... Review: Hi... I am a BIG superman fan. I just got the Complete Superman Collection on DVD. I loved the first two as most people cause you could feel (specially in the first one, although I really enjoyed the second one... Donner's direction anyway) the Superman Legacy flowing from start to end, you could feel these movies where made to tell a story, not to rip of money. This 3rd installment IS a good movie. Let's see why: - It has good special effects (although you CAN see wires... by BAD effects I would mean Superman IV - It has good sequences. - If you're a Superman fan it's a must have. - Superman vs. Clark >> AWESOME! - Clark going back to Smallville. - Christopher Reeve's natural flying acting, you'll believe he does fly.Now to its flaws: - Richard Pryor... he doesn't belong here. - If one says Superman 1 & 2 you really get a picture of Superman in your mind, if one thinks about Superman 3... you don't. - It seems this movie was made as a comic relief barely featuring Superman... - You don't get the same feel as the first two... the beggining scene has a completely different theme and opening credits. - THE ENDING WITH CYBERWOMAN!!... I just hated that and was totally unnecessary. I mean TOTALLY. It ruined the ending for me and brought the movie down as well. - Special effects ARE GOOD, although they could have removed the wires as in the previous films, cause you can see wires almost anytime here. (I'm a 3D / special effects animator so I know how it works!) But not that big... the scenes where done perfectly and Christopher Reeve is a unique Superman, he fly-acts very naturally. All in all, I REALLY enjoyed the movie... although the ENDING was a bit lame. If they would've removed the Cyberwoman scene it would've been GREAT. IT DOES NOT have the same feeling as the first two, but what the hell, at least it's no Superman IV.
Rating: Summary: Not Bad Review: This movie was to be Dick Lester's own movie, and the Salkinds(Ilya and Alexander)were pleased by hearing that Richard Pryor by any price wanted to play in a Superman movie.They thought that he could play some kind of a comic villain in Superman 3, but that sadly turned this movie, that could have been an all time classic, into a Richard Pryor comedy. Anyway there are also a few scenes that that will be rememberd for a long time. Buy this movie to see the Superman vs Evil Superman scene!
Rating: Summary: Unworthy Of The First Two Films, But I Still Like It! Review: How do you take a growing franchise and suffocate it? You fire the director who did a great job and hire another director to muck it all up! That being said, I don't hate Superman III, it just pales in comparison to the first two Superman movies. Why the heck would you write up a sceenplay about a computer nerd who invents a killer computer bent on controlling the world, when there are so many great super villains available for Superman to take on?! It just doesn't make sense to me. I think the evil "Darkside" character from the comic books would've been a perfect choice instead. What were these guys smoking when they wrote this? Yes, Richard Pryor has some funny moments, particularly the scene when he gets Brad, the security guard, drunk so he can access the Smallville computer to destroy the Columbian Coffee Crops. But in order to use the computer, two cards must be inserted simultaneously and no one person can reach both by themselves, so Pryor grabs Brad, drags him to the computer room, rigs his hand with yo-yo string so that he can put both cards in at the same time. It's insane but I still laugh at it each time I see it. Unfortunately, other scenes with Pryor are ludicrous. The worst is when he falls off the top of a tall building on skis, yet is able to make it to the ground unscathed. Every time I look at this scene I say, "He would've been killed!". Richard Pryor is a very funny comedian, but a lot of this material is beneath him. The best scene of the whole movie isn't the climax with Superman versus the Super Computer. No, it's the great scene involving Superman vs Clark Kent! After being exposed to a substance similar to, but not exactly like Kryptonite, Superman begins to change into an uncaring slob. But the guilt inside him begins to brew and soon Clark Kent imerges from inside him, ready to take on and overcome the evil. Honestly, you really don't think Clark has a chance and that's easy to believe since his alterego lays into him heavily time and time again. But Clark never gives up. It's a really good scene and definately worth seeing. Lois Lane is replaced by Smallville alum, Lana Lang (played nicely by Annette O'Toole). This love story works because she's in love with Clark Kent, not Superman. She always liked Clark. If you recall from the 1st film, she asked him to join her with the gang but old Brad wrecked all the work Clark had done so he couldn't go. If she had been a little more strongwilled, they may have been together back then, but then of course, it wouldn't have worked out because he would eventually leave to search for his identity. At times I think Lana rivals Lois, because Lois loves Superman almost for his Godlike qualities and is fascinated by all his powers, where Lana just likes plain old Clark Kent. There's something to be said about that. No real bonus features to speak of on this DVD, except a trailer and cast & crew information. I was also disappointed that there were no extra scenes added back into the film like Warner Brothers had done with the first Superman Movie. You may have seen some of these scenes when Part III was shown on network television. So, even though it's not as good as the first two chapters, Superman III still deserves a place in my DVD collection, and yours. And don't forget about Christopher Reeve, who makes any Superman movie worthwhile.
Rating: Summary: A Fun Movie...A Good Movie...but a TERRIBLE 'Superman' Movie Review: This is really a silly comedy with Richard Pryor as the lead and Superman as a secondary plot device. Vaughn (of "the Man from Uncle" fame) plays his usual suave, diabolical role as the film's true villain, using Pryor's idiot savant character to construct a super computer capable of destroying the Man of Steel. A bizarre plot device involving a manufactured form of Kryptonite, which although green, seems to have similar effects to the "red" version ensues. It seems to me that this film makes a childish adulteration of the Superman villain Brainiac. One could say that "Superman IV" attempts the same technique with villain Bizzaro (cloned anti-Superman). Nonetheless, although this movie is a TERRIBLE Superman film, and taints his lead image with cartoonish camp, it is still a fun movie in itself. Just expect to be watching a Richard Pryor film with Superman included for the ride...rather than vice-versa. You won't necessarily like this movie if you liked "Superman I and II", but if you liked "the Toy", "Brewster's Millions", and "Stir Crazy" you will. Unless, of course, you are happy to have any live action film with Superman (or superheroes), irregardless of plot and seriousness. I guess some could argue that the whole genre is childish anyway, but movies like this do tend to kill the hopes of true fans and the wide-spread audience appeal alike. Still, I like Richard Pryor! :)
Rating: Summary: Really not a good movie Review: The first two superman movies tied togeather, this one and the later Superman IV were made to cash in. The comic relief approach is just a little too much, there are so many inconsistancies in time that you have to wonder what the editors were thinking. Looking back on computer technology in 83 and comparing it to now, really makes this movie feel older than even the first two.
Rating: Summary: "Superman III: First Attempt At Light-Heartedness" Review: Although this was really the first film where the Salkinds started to muck around with the legend, I regard it as a fun movie to watch just the same! Of coarse when I was a little kid, I was a bit freaked out by Superman turning into a villain! However, the scene between the bad and good Superman does make the film stand out in my opinion! Christopher Reeve pulled that scene off excellently in this film! The other actors, including Richard Pryor, although not getting the best out of the whole story, were still fun to watch! Not too bad of an attempt to be light-hearted!
Rating: Summary: Why? Review: From the opening scene, an overbudget homage to slapstick, this one looks as bad as it turned out to be. What would happen if the Man of Steel, through no fault of his own, was thrown into a bad Richard Prior movie. Well, here is the mess that director Richard Lester (think Joel Schumaker and the "Batman" movies) made of the "Superman" franchise. We get Clark foregoing Lois for Lana Lang. We get Superman as a bum. We get Robert Vaughn skiing on a skyscraper. The only redeeming quality is in the fight between Clark and Superman. Beyond that, you should stay away from this one at all costs. I wasn't lucky enough to have been warned, I saw it on opening day.
Rating: Summary: Stunningly Bad!!!!!!!! Review: I went back and rented all of the Superman movies after they came out on DVD. The first two Superman movies were entertaining. This one is incredibly dumb! It clearly shows that Richard Donner (the director of the first feature) was definitely the sole talent behind the success of Superman. In the documentaries featured in the DVD of the first feature, Donner emphasized the word "verismilitude" as the main focus of the Superman movies. This was what made the first Superman so entertaining. Donner was fired after the first one's release and not given credit for directing II, but he filmed much of it and clearly set the tone for how II was to be done. This gave Richard Lester a very easy path to work on. Superman III is the first feature without any of Donner's services, and the result is a complete disaster. Gone is Donner's verismilitude and what's left is lame attempts at dumb humor scene after scene. What is Richard Pryor doing in a Superman movie anyway? All of the actors looked embarrasing in their roles. Christopher Reeve looks especially bored. Maybe he saw what a turkey he was in, or maybe he was just tired of the role. This clearly killed the series.
Rating: Summary: Superman III is a joke! Review: I remember seeing this movie when I was like about 5 years old. I didn't see it in the theater because I was too young to go see it. I remembered when I rented this movie alot too. Right now I really hate it because it's the worst of the series. Why the hell did they have to put Richard Pryor? Yes, of course he is a funny actor but he didn't have to be in the Superman series. Superman III wasn't suppose to be funny it was suppose to be action and the best of the series as they said in the trailer from what I saw on DVD. Did you also know that Richard Pryor's part plays through the whole movie? Just like the first guy said when he was talking about this movie that it's more of a Richard Pryor movie than a Superman sequel. Whatever happened to the flying scene where Superman and Lois Lane are together? If you want to see a good Superman movie go rent or buy Superman II. Because I think that Superman II is the best of the series not III and IV. Infact, Superman IV is more of a kids movie to me I think it's just a rip off from the first Superman movie nothing big really happens in IV except a new villian who calls himself the nuclear man. I think Superman IV is so fake. Well, that's all I have to say about this dumb movie. As I said stick with Superman I and II.
Rating: Summary: A "grand" masterpiece, a "true FILM," a reason to go on. Review: "You can't take it with you," I've heard said. It's true: one cannot take it with one. When I heard this line (not in Superman III), I began to reflect in a way that I had never reflected before. When one dies--I mean, really dies--what does he carry from this life into the next? Not one's material objects, they are fleeting. One's memories? I hope so, because if I can't bring my film prints (material objects), and I can't bring my memories, then how will I bring Superman III to the afterworld (I do not know what kind of afterword there is, or if there is one at all, although I believe that there is)? If there was one thing in this non-permanent world that I could bring over to eternity, it would be Superman III. This is absolutely true. The only reason I'm alive right now is because of Superman III--what else is there in this world of suffering and tragedy? And yet, I am afraid of death. I am afraid of death because I don't know if there will be Superman III on The Other Side. Yes, horrible, terrible things have happened to me, and horrible, terribly things await me, and yet every day I am "in joy" (to quote Jim Perry) because Superman III is out there, and I know it, it's in my memory, I know every line, every shot, every gesture (and yet, still yet, there is always more to be discovered!), it is with me, and it makes death frightening. I don't think that there is cinema in the other world, which is very, very depressing. I don't even want to talk about how sad it is. I weep, nightly. This movie was made by "life-affirm[er]" Richard Lester ("The Beatles A Hard Day's Night," "The Beatles Help"), and it really stands above anything else out there. The comedy is very, VERY spot-on, with Richard Pryor doing his funny-man routine...it is very, very good, but it is also a classic character, a man who fights with his morality (good vs. evil), and comes out on top (he turns out good)! He is the quintessiantal human character, an Odysseus, an everyman for today. Superman (who is superhuman) also fights the ultimate--I would even say PENultimate (best ever) good vs. evil scene...he fights with himself...Literally! Clark Kent fights with his evil impulses, personified as Superman with a slight stubble (this technically dazzling scene was done with the use of split-screen technology and stand-ins, who look very convincing), and comes out on top--barely! I can't get enough of it. Also, there is a pretty girl in this film (can you guess who?) Thanks to Warner Bros. for putting this one out, why did it take so long! Warner Bros. really cares about its customers, and that's what sets them apart. My only complaint is that Lois Lane doesn't get enough screen time in this movie, perhaps as a result of M. Kidder's condition.
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