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Superman III review

We review Superman III - the third outing for Christopher Reeve's excellent portrayal of Krypton's son

Superman III

Certificate: PG

Starring: Christopher Reeve, Richard Pryor

Release date: 1983

2 out of 5

2

If you’ve read the Superman reviews for parts I and II, you’ll know that the 1978 and 1980 movies were great. This, the third Superman movie to star Christopher Reeve, is not, however.

The first big problem is that the producers hired comedian Richard Pryor as the bad guy (a computer geek who teams up with multimillionaire Robert Vaughan to do vaguely bad stuff) and he wasn’t a good enough actor to make the most of an underwritten part. Meanwhile, Margot Kidder (as Lois Lane) only pops up in a blink-and-you’ll-miss-her cameo performance, leaving the romantic stuff to Clark’s old flame Lana Lang (Annette O’Toole, who went on to play Mrs Kent in the TV series Smallville).

It all adds up to a silly adventure as Superman is zapped with red kryptonite and is split into two people, one good and one evil (as a prank, the bad Superman straightens the Leaning Tower of Pisa in one of the movie’s rare fun scenes). But with much of the Superman mythology left out, this is only worth watching if you’re truly a completist.

Is Superman III suitable for kids? Here are our parents’ notes...

None.

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