Evil businessman Ross Webster (Robert Vaughn), standing in for Lex Luthor, forces a computer genius (Richard Pryor⌠Yes, I said Richard Pryor. Thatâs not a mistake.) to control the weather and help in the destruction of Superman (Christopher Reeve).
Without Richard Donner to restrain the Salkind production team, and with director Richard Lester one-upping them on silliness, Superman III returned comic book movies to being juvenile jokes. More camp, yet less funny than the overly camp Batman and Robin, Â Superman III is an embarrassment.
The first Superman movies had an epic tone, an interesting Lois, fantastic music, and perfect casting for the lead. For Superman III, the tone is that of a morning kidâs show, Lois is mostly absent (Margot Kidder having sided with Donner in his fight with the Salkinds), the old music is nice when it shows up, but the arrangements are lacking, and Reeve is stuck doing bad comedy, making Clark a complete idiot.
The film is doomed before the long, humorless, slapstick gag that runs under the opening credits ends. Itâs clear this is going to be a comedy, but not a funny one. The Clark/Lana relationship is painful and Clark acts so stupidly that it is impossible to figure what even this lonely country girl sees in him. The movie grinds to a halt as we go to Clarkâs high school reunion. The Superman âheroicsâ are drab and pointless, and often occur without any connection to the meandering plot. But who cares when you kill it all with Richard Pryor. Pryor agreed to star, having said he wanted to do a Superman film only as a joke. But his insult was taken as a genuine desire to act in a superhero movie and they paid him a lot, so he suffered, and so do we. Not a single second of his screen time is funny, believable, or dramatic. But then, not a single second of the screen time without him is either.
It followed Superman and Superman II, and was followed by Superman IV: The Quest for Peace and the semi-sequel Superman Returns. The character was rebooted by Zack Snyder for Man of Steel and Batman vs Superman: Dawn of Justice.