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.
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.