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"I recently rewatched Superman III as part of the gigantuan Superman DVD boxset I got for Christmas and I was struck by the fact that it's not a very good Superman film, but it's a pretty decent Richard Pryor movie (if that makes sense)"
I don't really feel its a good "Pryor movie" ---as Pryor's talents were quite
dulled down to pass as "family fare"---but I certainly see what you're
getting at.
However, I feel SUPERMAN III is a very nicely made slapstick---or almost
superhero satire/parody type vibe movie ---and Pryor, restrained as he was,
deserves most of the credit for helping the movie achieve that quality
I thnk Schumacher's movies were going for this, but I think they were poor
even at that---all around mediocreness
Actrually, I think SUPERMAN III is one of the best made movies in the
superhero genre, because for the silliness it's trying to portray, it
does better and is more consistent than all other goofy superhero
movies in my opinion---and its Superman and Reeve and Pryor for
cripes sakes. I'm also a fan of the other actors, old and new in
that movie.
SUPERMAN IV:QFP in comparison, takes a very serious subject and gives it
virtually the same goofy treatment, treatment Lester started to inject as
early as SUPERMAN II----anyway SIV:QFP fails on just as many levels as
Schumacher's Batmans IMO ----just creepily bad, again only IMO
And here's the greatest thing SUPERMAN III has to offer IMO...
It's the ONLY superhero movie I've seen that has a good ending
that ties all the movie plots in quite neatly and creatively
As it goes...
On the way to the Smallville Reunion Superman saves Smallville from a
chemical plant meltdown, and as a result when Superman comes to visit
Ricky on his b-day and the town finds about it, they give him a parade,
which is an opportunity for the villains to drop off the "kryptonite"
which turns Superman "bad" giving the villains time to build their
supercomputer and when Superman finally recovers from the kryptonite
effect, he uses "morphing acid" 6to destroy the supercomputer---acid
which he discovered its properties at the chemical plant in the first place
For a silly movie----that's quite a nice series of events
The worst about Superman III IMO, is that it CONTINUES the downward
plunge into comedy that was hardly there in the first movie...yeah...
it was the same cast, and partially the same director of Superman II,
but SIII was basically a different movie from the other two
The fact that it strayed from the comic book? That stuff never bothers me
for that alone....I'm not a religious comic guy.....but.....I do like movies quite
a bit and inconsistency with vibes gets on my nerves a tad
The fact that the Salkinds and afterwards Golan/Globus could never
decide the mood of the Reeve version of the Superman franchise, well,
that's what bothers me the most about SIII...but its not abig thing, and I still
soldier on
Alone from the screwy changes from film to film, SIII is a cute, solid little movie.
I don't really feel its a good "Pryor movie" ---as Pryor's talents were quite
dulled down to pass as "family fare"---but I certainly see what you're
getting at.
However, I feel SUPERMAN III is a very nicely made slapstick---or almost
superhero satire/parody type vibe movie ---and Pryor, restrained as he was,
deserves most of the credit for helping the movie achieve that quality
I thnk Schumacher's movies were going for this, but I think they were poor
even at that---all around mediocreness
Actrually, I think SUPERMAN III is one of the best made movies in the
superhero genre, because for the silliness it's trying to portray, it
does better and is more consistent than all other goofy superhero
movies in my opinion---and its Superman and Reeve and Pryor for
cripes sakes. I'm also a fan of the other actors, old and new in
that movie.
SUPERMAN IV:QFP in comparison, takes a very serious subject and gives it
virtually the same goofy treatment, treatment Lester started to inject as
early as SUPERMAN II----anyway SIV:QFP fails on just as many levels as
Schumacher's Batmans IMO ----just creepily bad, again only IMO
And here's the greatest thing SUPERMAN III has to offer IMO...
It's the ONLY superhero movie I've seen that has a good ending
that ties all the movie plots in quite neatly and creatively
As it goes...
On the way to the Smallville Reunion Superman saves Smallville from a
chemical plant meltdown, and as a result when Superman comes to visit
Ricky on his b-day and the town finds about it, they give him a parade,
which is an opportunity for the villains to drop off the "kryptonite"
which turns Superman "bad" giving the villains time to build their
supercomputer and when Superman finally recovers from the kryptonite
effect, he uses "morphing acid" 6to destroy the supercomputer---acid
which he discovered its properties at the chemical plant in the first place
For a silly movie----that's quite a nice series of events
The worst about Superman III IMO, is that it CONTINUES the downward
plunge into comedy that was hardly there in the first movie...yeah...
it was the same cast, and partially the same director of Superman II,
but SIII was basically a different movie from the other two
The fact that it strayed from the comic book? That stuff never bothers me
for that alone....I'm not a religious comic guy.....but.....I do like movies quite
a bit and inconsistency with vibes gets on my nerves a tad
The fact that the Salkinds and afterwards Golan/Globus could never
decide the mood of the Reeve version of the Superman franchise, well,
that's what bothers me the most about SIII...but its not abig thing, and I still
soldier on
Alone from the screwy changes from film to film, SIII is a cute, solid little movie.
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