Superman IV - The Quest for Peace

Rating:
Summary: "Superman" is still enjoyable....
Review: I bought this movie because the cover is very cool.Its not such a great movie because of the poor special effects, but it is still an enjoyable film.Of the whole "Superman" sequel, this and the first are mostly the best.I reccomend you SUPERMAN and SUPERMAN 4:THE QUEST FOR PEACE.This movie is worth the watch.I enjoyed this SUPERMAN classic.

Rating:
Summary: Unfortunate misfire in the Superman movie series
Review: "Superman IV: The Quest for Peace" is a laughably bad entry in the otherwise ok Superman series. The premise is well-meaning: Superman (Christopher Reeve) makes an attempt to rid the world of nuclear weapons. Lex Luthor (Gene Hackman) decides to take advantage of this by becoming a black market nuclear weapons dealer. He also creates Nuclear Man, a supervillain who gets his power from the sun, to kill Superman. Chaos and unbelievably bad special effects ensue. The DVD transfer is crisp, but perhaps too crisp: during one segment, which takes place on the moon, you can see the cables attached to Superman's belt, as well as the black curtains in the background which are supposed to be deep space. The original "Superman" from ten years earlier had far superior special effects. In fact, the old black and white TV series did better. At least they knew their limitations. A complete misfire from beginning to end. The disc has almost no special features, but then, why would it?

Rating:
Summary: It Could Have Been So Much Better
Review: "The less said about Superman IV, the better." Christopher Reeve

Superman IV: The Quest for Peace was originally intended to return the series to the flavor of the first film, with more emphasis on plotline and less use of camp and slapstick humor. With a minor script rewrite and stronger special effects, this could have been an exemplary film. Alas, that was not to be.

Cannon Group, the company which financed the film, was experiencing financial difficulties and slashed the budget, which resulted in many cut-corners and groan inducing un-special effects.

Christopher Reeve, Gene Hackman and the rest of the cast do their best with mostly weak material. After being virtually dumped from the third film, Margot Kidder's Lois Lane is returned to her rightful prominence here. The allusion the Lois subconsciously knows that Clark and Superman are one and the same is a nice touch here. There are a few other moments where the film shows its true potential, such as when Superman paraphrases Adlai Stevenson during his final speech before the United Nations. At a time when the Cold War was heating up, Superman's call for peace was a gutsy move on Reeve's part. Two years after this film was released, the Berlin Wall fell. Reeve, who receives story credit for this movie, is also to be commended for making Superman more of an international hero here, who effortlessly speaks Russian and Italian during the course of the movie.

The film looks better in widescreen than it did in pan & scan (Superman IV died a quick death at the box office, and I never saw it in a theater). The film elements look fine; the sound is acceptable, if unspectacular; and there is a theatrical trailer.

Rating:
Summary: Super Dud
Review: I remember this film well since I went to Junior High School with the kid who is really worked up about nuclear weapons in the movie. It was kind of cool to know someone who was going to be in a major motion picture.

And I was pretty excited to see it...and what a major disappointment it was to me then.

Can we really feel threatened by a man who gets what he wants by blurting that if he doesn't get what he wants then, "...I will hurt people." Oooo...makes me shake in my boots, really. Well, that's the idea of a villain, isn't it? What else is he going to do? "I'm not going to hurt people, but I might consider it so hand over the goods, Superman!"

And the effects...even for its day for a youngster, it seemed to be woefully inadequate compared to its nearly 10-year old predecessor that it makes you wonder if the special effects industry was on strike.

Also, let's not get into Superman getting hurt by Nuclear Man's scratches. Have we forgotten that a nuclear blast seemed to have left him unaffected in Superman II or is the radiation just a little more potent? Please.

Let's face it...if a fourteen-year old can see through the fallacies of this movie, then a grown-up should be completely revolted by it.

Rating:
Summary: Lame
Review: This film disgraced the first two films like Phantom Menace did to Star Wars. Good for insomniacs or an episode of Mystery Science Theater 3000.

Rating:
Summary: Superman IV: The Failed Quest for Redemption
Review: I've been told that this movie suffered so much because of the 45 minutes that were cut from it and the special effects that were never finished due to budget cuts. This film should never have been released "as is". It looks cheap, the editing made it so the story makes no sense, and it is aimed solely for the purpose of entertaining small children. I can understand wanting to make up for Superman III, but this was a total failure in that respect. Stick with the expanded versions of the first two films and try to forget that the last two were ever made.

Rating:
Summary: Highly Underrated
Review: As originally written, this film had great potential! It wasn't, however, executed as well as it should have. Maybe in a few years, we'll see the complete Superman IV....

Rating:
Summary: Terrible!!! Not one of the better "Superman" sequels!
Review: I have to agree with the people who gave their opinion on "Superman IV". This one is just not right at all! I mean, the filmmakers of this one should not have wasted all that time or money on trying to make this fourth installment. I do like the fact that they brought back Gene Hackman again for the role of Lex Luthor, but this is just not right! The special effects in this are very, very cheesy! And the 90 minute run time in this film is just plain sick!! It's nice to see Christopher Reeve back for the 4th time as the Man of Steel and also Margot Kidder as Lois Lane as well. But now, Mariel Hemingway steps into the picture, and all of a sudden, we've got a love triangle going on here! But like I said, the filmmakers wasted their time on this. They should have sat this one out.

Rating:
Summary: Superman 4 could be improved with new special effects.
Review: When I saw Superman 4 in the movie theater,the audience groaned at the poor special effects.One of the reasons for the poor effects is the budget cuts made to the film from US$36 million to only US$19 million.
Also the Salkind's,producers of the first 3 films,refused to lend the studio the effects equipment that they developed for the Superman films after the studio had bought the rights to make the film from them(one of the great double-crosses in film history).The Salkinds had also previously double-crossed Marlon Brando by writing him out of Superman 2 to avoid paying contracted fees,so they were known for this.
But the film's script on Superman getting rid of all nuclear weapons was a good idea and,if new special effects were added,it would improve this film greatly.Footnote...I noticed one crowd scene at the end of the movie seemed badly directed and wondered why,until I checked the second-unit director.....an inexperienced Christopher Reeve!

Rating:
Summary: super dud!
Review: if you want a detailed summary of this movie you can read the other reviews. Superman fights Nuclearman in a fight to the finish, thereby saving the world from nuclear meltdown. yawn.

poor acting (even that done by christopher reeves, margot kidder, and the rest of the returning cast). poor special effects (and that's being generous). extremely cheesy dialogue. add lame story line and non threatening villains (including gene hackman) and what do you get...a piece of cinematic crap entitled "superman IV: the quest for peace".

why didn't they just stop after #3 and go out on a high note. oh yeah, that's right, nobody from the first 3 had anything to do with #4, except some of the actors who only seemed to be going through the motions on this one anyway.

i hate to admit it, but i actually do own a copy of "superman 4". the only reason i bought it, though, was so i could have the entire series, which is the only reason i would suggest that anybody buy it.

if you're not a big superman fan, don't buy #4 or rent it. i would even suggest skipping it on t.v., there are much better ways of spending two hours than by viewing this piece of garbage.

and far as this one being cut down to 90 minutes from its original 134 minutes, all i have to say is that it's still too long.

the only thing this one has going for it is that alexander courage (composer of the original "star trek" theme) adapted its musical score from the original one by john williams. but even this fact can't save this flick from the dreaded one star rating.