Critical opinion of this Superman movie has not been kind. Richard Donner was famously sacked off the original with Richard Lester shooting new footage for that and Superman 2. This one is more clearly Lester's film - he was the only director. It's also the film of David and Leslie Newman, with no Robert Benton or Tom Mankiewicz.
I remember loving it as a kid. I adored Richard Pryor and thought the opening slapstick sequence was incredibly hilarious. I remember being upset that Lois Lane got so little screen time.
It's really fun to see those actors again - Chris Reeve, Margot Kidder, Jackie Coogan, Marc McClure, etc. I loved Annette O'Toole as Lana.
The idea of a bad Superman isn't a bad one and him going some for a school reunion is a great one. The computer stealing scam is funny.
But it's lazy. So lazy.
Cobbled together. After a while I started getting angry watching it.
The script is random. Richard Pryor is on unemployment forever then turns out to be a computer genius, so good he attracts Robert Vaughan, who has a Valerine Perrine style mistress in the form of Pamela Stephenson. Vaughan's plan is vague, something to do with oil. It starts and stops - Pryor creates a kryptonite variant, turning Superman bad accidentally; he makes the weather change; he a super computer which... is bad. Pryor has to go to Smallville to do something with computers which involves a slimy bully who is hitting on Lana. Smallville?
It's full of comic bits. Some are okay - that opening sequence. Some are irritating - Pryor describing what Superman did, Pryor impersonating a general to give Superman a gift, Pryor getting the bully drunk, Pryor on skis, a three beat story of Perry White running a competition at the office and the winners going on holiday and having a bad time.
Vaughan may as well have not been in the film. Stephenson could've been cut out - I guess she sleeps with Superman, which is different. But why not use this emotionally?
It's just a shame they didn't use the comic books as a resource more - they could've brought in Braniac, Supergirl, Mxy.
Or just focused it on the two Supermans. Have Vaughan want that from the get go. Give him a specific plan (control of oil is fine but be specific). Make Pryor a computer genius from the start. Really work on the Lana-Clarke Kent plot, have him want to be a father figure, fall for his high school sweetheart, be heartbroken over Lois. Have Lana kidnapped. Have bad Superman do really bad things.
It's so frustrating because there's a good movie inside here, or at least a cohesive one, but this is a mess.
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