Good things about "Superman III"

[TrueDave]

Reeves ballet like wire work, Reeves stunts, Some of "Dark Superman " played by Reeves Junkyard fight With Reeves and Reeves. Superman saving the day with his brain.
A lot of really BIG fly ins and Take offs. Nice crane wire work.

[Hector]

I hated when dark Supes got drunk.

How in the hell was that possible?

So Supes was vulnerable to alcohol?

[ScottA]

There was nothing about Superman III I liked. I remember when I got Chris Reeves autograph at a convention. He had a question and answer session with the audience and he told us he hated III. He said he should never have done it.

[Sandman9580]

It's a pretty weird movie, I'll admit, but I loved Superman III when I was a little kid - so it's very fondly burnished in my memory. The action/comedy mix is a bit more palatable when you're a kid, I think. I can definitely remember it occurring to me at some point that the opening slapstick bit was "off-key" - but I loved the character of Gus Gorman. (Still do.) I thought his plan of stealing fractions of cents from his boss was really clever - and that was the first time I can remember contemplating how money works. I also liked Lana and her son and the whole Kansas reunion, loved to hate the Brad character (still love the scene where he and Gus get drunk!), and I loved the smart blond who pretends to be a clueless bimbo (although I didn't really pick up on that one 'til I was older).

But the best part was definitely the "bad" kryptonite and the Clark vs. Superman fight. Even now, I think that whole sequence - from "mis-synthesizing" the kryptonite to the final showdown in the junkyard - just has a great classic, comic book feel to it. It's disturbing and also kind of exhilarating to see Superman go to the Dark Side for awhile, and then have the good part that was left have to come out and vanquish the bad part. That whole fight scene is just a great visceral, physical representation of inner turmoil and dissonance.

And, I will admit to being utterly terrified of the robot lady at the end. Even to this day that still creeps me out.

So, yeah - I can understand people not liking it 'cause of the various cringe factors, but... I still think it's a fun movie. Watching it always felt like going on a roller coaster ride.

[Mikey]

I like Superman-3 in the same way I like Star Trek-5

I guess I like torture

The only thing I really hate about Superman-3 is the intro which seems to last FOREVER and isn't funny at all.

It's probably the worst movie intro ever

[Bruce Banner]

For me it was a massive disappointment. Loved the first 2, but the third just didn't hit the mark.

Ross Webster and a supercomputer as the main villian just could not compare to the awesomeness of ZOD!

[SgtPepper]

I actually love 3. It may not have had the strong comic book vibe, but it was still fantastic film.

[Bo8a_Fett]

Pamala Stephenson, Lana Lang and the smallville segments, dark supes (although I too didn't like the drunk supes I loved the flicking peanuts like bullets) and the wire work.

[Earth 2 Chris]

I put in III on occasion and watch the chemical plant scene, the high school reunion, the picnic, and the Dark Supes/Clark fight. The rest I skip past.

It has it's moments. It's got Reeve as Superman, and I really liked Annette O'Toole's Lana much better than Kidder's Lois. And the effects are well done, like in the first 2 movies.

The Dark Superman vs. Clark fight scene still holds up very well.

The photo booth scene at the beginning is cute, but all that other nonsense shows that Lester was the wrong director to take over this series. Donner put some humor in, but that is just out and out vaudvillian slapstick.

I haven't seen Richard Pryor in that movie in years.

Chris

[MIB41]

The biggest problem I had with Supes-III, was it's inability to get off the wisecracks. It was almost a parody of the previous films, because no one seem to be serious. Any perceived 'danger' was quickly smothered in jokes that took away any dramatic elements of the film. It felt like a marathon just to get through the picture. It was a huge miscue that wrecked the franchise, from which it has still never recovered.

[LadyZod]

Superman was under the influence of Red Kryptonite. That's how he got drunk.

But still, I kind prefer the movie that never was...

The villains were SUPPOSED to be:

Lex Luthor (Why come up with a new mogul badguy? Hackman was done by II, and a little upset and would not come back.)
Brainiac (you can see some of the sequences at the end that were still used.)
And good old Mxy, which would have created the Superman split with red Kryptonite.

I remember reading an early treatment that included that, and that also included a Supergirl (as a love interest, not his cousin.)

Heck even Superman IV would have been awesome if they would have gone the route of Lana Lang being employed at the Planet and being interested in Clark Kent, while Lois loved SUperman... double date. And Nuclear Man was to be Bizarro.

But with the rights being sold away for "SuperMAN", the Salkinds kept the rights to Lana Lang and Bizarro for the Superboy TV show.

[Mikey]

Even though I like Robert Vaughn, I always thought having him as the badguy cheaped the production look and feel of the movie .... Because I always consider Vaughn a "TV" actor.

[TrueDave]

Oh, and the Kick Butt Clark Kent scene of ALL!

Clark Kent at the Bowling alley smacking down that Jerk !!!!!

[TrueDave]

Totally right. It was Luthor and gang all over it.

How do we go from Zod to an Old Maid 7 of 9 ??

Superman was under the influence of Red Kryptonite. That's how he got drunk.

But still, I kind prefer the movie that never was...

The villains were SUPPOSED to be:

Lex Luthor (Why come up with a new mogul badguy? Hackman was done by II, and a little upset and would not come back.)
Brainiac (you can see some of the sequences at the end that were still used.)
And good old Mxy, which would have created the Superman split with red Kryptonite.

I remember reading an early treatment that included that, and that also included a Supergirl (as a love interest, not his cousin.)

Heck even Superman IV would have been awesome if they would have gone the route of Lana Lang being employed at the Planet and being interested in Clark Kent, while Lois loved SUperman... double date. And Nuclear Man was to be Bizarro.

But with the rights being sold away for "SuperMAN", the Salkinds kept the rights to Lana Lang and Bizarro for the Superboy TV show.

[BlackKnight]

The Only good thing About Superman 3 ...., Was the Name Superman In The Title. It's Pretty Much A Down Hill Train Wreck from there.