Publication Date: 07-08-2025

Superman III (1983) review

Dir. Richard Lester

By: Steve Pulaski

Rating: ★★

If there were ever a film to bleed early-eighties, cinematic camp it’s, unfortunately, the second sequel to Superman. It’s no doubt certain pictures can pull off the aforementioned camp to great effect, but after two serious (well, somewhat straight-forward) films centered around the Man of Steel, here is the third installment, which can’t even take itself seriously, leading to the audience not being able to take it seriously. What happened? Were the filmmakers shocked they got this far?

If you were a die-hard fan of the first two Superman films, Superman III is at least something of a significant disappointment. Director Richard Lester returns using the one great thing him and the three writers brought to Superman II in extreme excess, which was providing light-hearted comedy and borderline satirical elements of the superhero genre. Here, his direction feels flatter than before and the Newmans, David and Leslie, write the film with a comedic tone that feels out of place.

Most notably, the film features a watchable, but often half-baked performance by Richard Pryor who, despite enormous comedic talent and mainstream recognition, feels simultaneously overused and underused here. Overused in the regard that he seems to be the main star, where Superman is the supporting role in his own film, and underused because Pryor is never given much funny to do. He plays Gus Gorman, who goes from collecting unemployment checks to being a talented computer programmer, whose acts of embezzlement attract Ross Webster (Robert Vaughn). Webster wants to hack the computers of the world and create a financial monopoly on the wealth. Or something like that. In the process, he wants to effectively transform Superman (role reprised by Christopher Reeve) from the caped-do-gooder he is known to be to an evil brute with no compassion or morality at all.

On top of this, Lois Lane is away covering a story in Bermuda (actress Margot Kidder probably found better things to occupy her time with), and Clark Kent goes to his high school reunion alone, only to reconnect with Lana Lang (Annette O’Toole), an old friend.

This is all well and good, but where is the sly wit from the third film’s predecessor that was presented very conservatively in the trailers? Where is the agony that Kent experienced as living two completely different lives? Where are the touching scenes with Lois and Clark? Everything that made the first two films likable and functional is omitted and what we’re left with is a film that feels tired and obligatory. There is no longer the excitement there was in the first two installments. While some parts felt as if they were plastic and kind of cheesy, this entire effort feels plastic and cheesy. And when you have a sequel to a Superman film headlined by Richard Pryor, that’s the last thing the project should feel.

Superman III, as a whole, simply doesn’t work. There’s too little energy, not enough drama to care about, too much emphasis on a campy personality, Ross Webster as an archetypal villain doesn’t invite much suspense as a whole, and Reeve, once again, does his best, although he is trying to humanize a rather bland hero and the only thing he is given interesting to do is to show Superman’s evil side when the time comes. If Richard Pryor would’ve pulled something like he did in See No Evil, Hear No Evil – perhaps that scene when him and Gene Wilder are pulling out their car from the river – we’d have a movie. Or, you know, if the title character wasn’t practically a supporting character.

My review of Superman (1978)
My review of Superman II
My review of Superman IV: The Quest for Peace

Starring: Christopher Reeve, Richard Pryor, Robert Vaughn, Jackie Cooper, Marc McClure, Annette O’Toole, Annie Ross, Pamela Stephenson, and Margot Kidder. Directed by: Richard Lester.