The big mistake here was the casting of Richard Pryor and the general shift in tone to silliness and stupid comedy scenes. Yet the highlight of the film (similar to Spidey 3) is the exploration of the dark side of a superhero. The whole sequence in which Christopher Reeve turns psycho and ultimately splits into two personas, having a big fight with himself, is the only reason the movie is worth seeing, and most people fail to acknowledge that Reeve actually did some truly good acting here, good enough so that the "bad Superman" is convincing and somewhat scary -- especially the scene where he is sitting in a bar, unkempt and unshaven, breaking holes in a mirror behind the bar while flicking peanuts at it (never mind that alcohol is not supposed to have any effect on Superman). Unfortunately, the rest of the film is garbage.<br /><br />Aside from this, the story is not really about any central idea or concept. Robert Vaughan is just a generic Lex Luthor with a different name -- think about it, he even has a blonde bimbo mistress like Gene Hackman did in the two previous films. What is his grand scheme really all about, and what does he want to achieve? Darned if I know. The climactic sequence with the supercomputer is simply bad. The special effects are not very good in this one. And where is Margot Kidder as Lois Lane? She is largely absent from the film. Although Annette O'Toole as Lana Lang is a solid substitute, and in terms of her character at least the film is somewhat faithful to the comics.