The Spotlight 7.15.07 Superman III

Posted by Scotty Flamingo on 07.15.2007

If it inspired the plot of Office Space, how bad can it be?

Hello and welcome once again to Flamingoville. It has been a busy week for your ole' pal as I've seen three flicks. I caught Live Free or Die Hard on Sunday. I have to say that it was miles better than I thought it would be. Justin Long wasn't nearly as bad as I thought he'd be, and he actually made me chuckle a few times. I thought it got a little ridiculous at the end with the bit with the jet and the semi, but hey it's Die Hard. All in all, I'd rate it as far better than the insipid Die Harder, but not quite as good as Die Hard With a Vengeance.

I caught the midnight showing of Harry Potter on Tuesday. I think that reading the books ahead of time may be hurting my appreciation of the films. I saw the first 3 before I read any of the books and enjoyed them, but have not felt as positive about the last two after I read the series following seeing the third movie. I feel the major problem with Order of the Phoenix is timing. There are so many great characters that have nothing to do. Alan Rickman is absolutely brilliant as Professor Snape, but he only gets one good scene. Even Ron and Hermione are given very little to do. However, the film does have an incredible Wizard's Duel at the end and nails the new character of Luna Lovegood.

Finally, I saw Evan Almighty last night. The last said about that the better. In my defense, I was invited by a group of chicks. It's as bad as I thought, with most of the "comedy" coming from Steve Carrel dancing silly or animals craping.

I've already tackled two of the Superman films in past editions of The Bullseye, but now that I'm doing Spotlights as well, I figured I'd take on the third film in the franchise.

Superman III was released in 1983 and was considered a financial and critical disappointment. However, the film still grossed $59 million domestically which was nothing to sneeze at in the early 80's. Critics bashed the film for having poor villains and too much comedy and it is definitely hard to argue with that. Robert Vaughn plays a second rate Lex Luthor clone (not literally) as the film's big bad while Richard Pryor is his lackey as a crooked computer whiz.

I'm not saying that Superman III is a great or even good film. It certainly isn't as good as the first two Superman movies. However, the film is still a guilty pleasure of mine. Also, as I've mentioned in previous columns, the Donner films were far from perfect anyway. So let's get to why I like Superman III.

First of all, Superman III gives Superman a new love interest in Lana Lang, played by Annette O'Toole, who does a fantastic job. Lois Lane is barely in this one and I fell that it is a nice change of pace, especially after the mess that Superman II made out of the Superman/Lois relationship.

Second of all, yeah, Superman III is played for laughs a lot more than the previous movies. But it succeeds in being a funny movie. Richard Pryor gives one of his great PG performances in the tradition of movies like The Toy or Brewster's Millions. I will always laugh at Pryor's Gus Gorman using a drunken, passed out guard to assist him in breaking into a computer system.

Also, the plotline is fairly well done. Gorman's computer scam that gets him the attention of Fake Luthor is actually very clever. He learns that the company paychecks often have fractions of cents that are rounded off. So he devises a program that transfers all of the fractions to his account. This idea was lifted for one of the main plotlines in Office Space. In fact, they even reference it in the film. The rest of the story is fairly solid. There is nothing overly convoluted or overdone.

Then you've got EVIL Superman. Christopher Reeve does an awesome job of turning Superman into a rotten bastard after getting exposed to synthetic Kryptonite (I wish they'd just used Red Kryptonite instead, but oh well.). This Superman goes to bars, nails blondes, and straightens the Tower of Pisa! This leads to the film's best scene, the fight between Clark Kent and Superman. On top of being a great fight scene, it is wonderfully ambiguous. Is the whole thing metaphorical and just in Clark's head, or did the too somehow actually split?

Finally, you've got the final battle between Superman and Gorman's supercomputer. It is a fun little battle. Nothing as spectacular as the Metropolis street fight from Superman II, but as good if not better than the fight in the Fortress of Solitude at the end. The computer battles Supes with a big sticky bubble, a robotic woman, and a Kryptonite laser. Superman even has to use his brains to win in the end.

So there you have it. Two good fights and a humorous performance by Richard Pryor. There are certainly worse ways to spend a couple of hours. Hell, this movie is miles ahead of the fourth movie in the series, the abysmal Quest for Peace. Unfortunately, you won't see a column on that one as it is universally hated and would not warrant a Bullseye, and doesn't have enough positive aspects for me to even scrape 100 words to do a Spotlight on.