MovieChat Forums > Superman III (1983) Discussion > Why so much hate for this entry? It's th...

Why so much hate for this entry? It's the best of the Reeve pictures....


...at least IMHO.

All 4 of the Reeve pictures feature terrible special effects, corny humor and questionable casting decisions. None of the 4 stand up today--at all.

This one had the guts to go all-in with the schlock and cheese and it paid off; the "bad Superman" sequence is the funniest sequence (albeit possibly unintentionally) in all 4 Reeve films.

The final showdown in the scariest of all 4 pictures as well and people still talk about being scared by it when they watched it when they were a kid.

Also--Richard Pryor! Richard Pryor FTW! Robert Vaughn is also badass in anything he does. I love Stamp's Zod but Robert Vaughn clearly has more fun.

Sorry but this will always be my favorite of the 4--hands down.

Stop hating on this film please. You can't tell me that 1 and 2 are great films and this one sucks. 1 and 2 don't hold up AT ALL in 2013. Whatever faults this film has you will find in 1 and 2. The rating is a travesty. This film is much funnier than most supposed comedies in the 80's were.

My rating: 7/10.

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It was more of a Richard Pryor film than a Superman film. I'm not saying I hate it, but it wasnt the greatest. I mean come on even the cover for the movie is ridiculous looking.

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I adore the 1st film. Probably a top five for me. It still stands up. I really like part II, the more Donner the better. And I enjoy part III. If I ever watch the first two, I never hesitate to pop in part III. I think a 7/10 is fair.

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This film was a total mess...even Reeve admitted it. It...along with Superman 4...are regularly listed in the worst superhero movies ever. Pryors character doesn't belong...Vaughn is miscast...the list is endless.

The unholy triumvirate:
The Bat, the Trek, the Bond

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"Vaughn is miscast".

How can Vaughn be miscast as a slimy, suave politician-type bad guy? That's his stock in trade.



"facts are stupid things" Ronald Reagan

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Exactly.

I mean this movie truly does suck (minus the junkyard scene, of course), but it's not because of Robert Vaughn.

------

Wait a minute... who am I here?

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Compared to the crop of Superhero films we've had since Superman 3 it's pretty good.

It's cheesier, sillier, and a bit of a mess compared to Superman 1, but it's still fun.

I'd rather watch this than the bland paint by numbers superhero films of the last few years. We've had a lot of middling nothing movies and some awful stinkers, so Superman 3 can take a breather now and climb down from the "worst of" lists.

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But you're hating on it you said the reeve superman films have special effects when they don't but i do agree with you on superman 4 though.

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Listen to the podcast, "how did this get made" for Superman III and it's the funniest thing I have heard. It really goes into detail what exactly is wrong with Superman III , starting with the 15 minute introduction of a guy hitting a fire hydrant and his car filling up with water. The evil Superman parts and the Smallville bits are like from a different movie , but the rest of it seems to be from a different movie staring Richard Pryor.

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you said the reeve superman films have special effects when they don't


What the hell are you talking about?

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None of the 4 stand up today--at all.


The first two hold up just fine, III and IV never did. At least IMHO.

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I wouldn't call this the best one, but it is a entertaining entry. I'm not really sure which one I like the best honestly, but this one has grown on me in the last couple years. I like it, but it could've been better. One thing would be to tone down the campiness, especially the ridiculous opening credits sequence.


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This is not a full blown Superman movie, it's been watered down. Why is Pryor the main character?

I thought this was about Superman! There's no continuity with the first and second film and it feels completely different. The script is very poor. Even Christopher Reeve admitted it was a mess.

Problems at a glance:-

The first 7 and a half minutes are a complete and utter joke. It's so false and unfunny. The photo booth was so forced, there's no way that would ever work as a gag because it doesn't take Clark that long to change into Superman. It takes minutes for a photo to be developed and produced, there's no way it would take him that long to change. And that's the problem with this movie, none of it is any good. All those stupid bits such as the man walking into the lamppost,the roller skating girl, mime artist etc should have been cut. The armed robbery should have been expanded and Superman should have been in that scene doing what he does best, not the stupid fire hydrant/ drowning scene.

Don't get me started on the traffic light non sense!

The Gus ski scene is pathetic and another over the top slapstick piece of rubbish that has nothing to do with Superman or furthers the story in any way.

When Superman confronts Gus's super computer none of it is good. Superman not breathing in the bubble do me a favour! He can breath in space but not in a bubble! The video game screen where they are firing rockets at Superman is a complete mickey take. And why oh why does Superman need the acid? Superman could have ripped the computer to shreds after Gus stopped the Kryptonite Ray. Tell me How in the hell apart from the Kryptonite can Gus's computer hurt him at all! You can't tell me that when he was being dragged backwards into the computer he was overpowed!

They never even explained Clarks disappearance while he was evil from The Daily Planets point of view.

And that's just for starters without really going into it.

Even the best bit of the film where evil Superman fights himself has its fair share of problems. Why did Clark have to stay in character!
The script was rubbish!

It just goes to show that Lester as a Superman director didn't have a clue. Only Richard Donner did. The first Superman is a classic and was a bench mark for Super hero films. With Donner being fired it set the franchise on a downward spiral and never recovered in Reeves time.

I love Superman and there's no way it should have been given this disrespectful treatment. No wonder it's only rated 4.9 on IMDB.

After all these years I tried to watch it again with my girlfriend and she and I just couldn't take it seriously or get into it. It was laughable for all the wrong reasons so we stopped watching it.

Superman 1 and Donners cut of 2 still stand the test of time, but Lesters 2 and 3 are poor and shabby. The less said about four the better.

Christopher Reeve is the best Superman ever and that will never change even with the material of 3 and 4!

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This is not a full blown Superman movie, it's been watered down. Why is Pryor the main character?

I thought this was about Superman! There's no continuity with the first and second film and it feels completely different. The script is very poor. Even Christopher Reeve admitted it was a mess.

Problems at a glance:-

The first 7 and a half minutes are a complete and utter joke. It's so false and unfunny. The photo booth was so forced, there's no way that would ever work as a gag because it doesn't take Clark that long to change into Superman. It takes minutes for a photo to be developed and produced, there's no way it would take him that long to change. And that's the problem with this movie, none of it is any good. All those stupid bits such as the man walking into the lamppost,the roller skating girl, mime artist etc should have been cut. The armed robbery should have been expanded and Superman should have been in that scene doing what he does best, not the stupid fire hydrant/ drowning scene.

Don't get me started on the traffic light non sense!

The Gus ski scene is pathetic and another over the top slapstick piece of rubbish that has nothing to do with Superman or furthers the story in any way.

When Superman confronts Gus's super computer none of it is good. Superman not breathing in the bubble do me a favour! He can breath in space but not in a bubble! The video game screen where they are firing rockets at Superman is a complete mickey take. And why oh why does Superman need the acid? Superman could have ripped the computer to shreds after Gus stopped the Kryptonite Ray. Tell me How in the hell apart from the Kryptonite can Gus's computer hurt him at all! You can't tell me that when he was being dragged backwards into the computer he was overpowed!

They never even explained Clarks disappearance while he was evil from The Daily Planets point of view.

And that's just for starters without really going into it.

Even the best bit of the film where evil Superman fights himself has its fair share of problems. Why did Clark have to stay in character!
The script was rubbish!

It just goes to show that Lester as a Superman director didn't have a clue. Only Richard Donner did. The first Superman is a classic and was a bench mark for Super hero films. With Donner being fired it set the franchise on a downward spiral and never recovered in Reeves time.

I love Superman and there's no way it should have been given this disrespectful treatment. No wonder it's only rated 4.9 on IMDB.

After all these years I tried to watch it again with my girlfriend and she and I just couldn't take it seriously or get into it. It was laughable for all the wrong reasons so we stopped watching it.

Superman 1 and Donners cut of 2 still stand the test of time, but Lesters 2 and 3 are poor and shabby. The less said about four the better.

Christopher Reeve is the best Superman ever and that will never change even with the material of 3 and 4!

 I agree 100%. Couldn't have said it better myself. I think anybody who thinks this is as good as the first 2 needs to have their head examined.

Green Goblin is great! https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=t1L4ZuaVvaw

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I disagree with a lot of what you had to say, especially the part about Clark in character against the tougher Superman. I have no idea what you meant to say here.

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Lois lane was hardly in this picture and then they turn their attention to the Annette o tool character and its all the better for it

Don't like the actress who played Lois lane and I don't know why superman is chasing after her

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I remember watching this in the theatre when I was very little in the early 80's. The whole theatre was literally empty.

Watching the final showdown on the big screen was very awesome and was very very scary from what I remember. I don't think I recall liking it as much as part 2 at the time,but over the years it has grown on me,and I agree this is actually the best of the 4.

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I really enjoy part lll a lot i know it has goofy part's but i feel there is more good in this movie then bad the scene of clark going back to smallville superman putting out the fire and clark vs superman which no other movie will ever top for me the best moment in any superman show or movies can never be topped

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Either 2 reasons explain the empty theatre: it was toward the end of the film's run that year or the theatre you went to wasn't very popular so no one came.

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When people refer to Clark Kent as a "bumbling idiot" I think this is the particular movie they're thinking about.

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