Rating: Summary: A great underrated movie.... Review: Christopher Reeve and Gene Hackman deliver stunning performances,and so does Margot Kidder and the rest of the cast. Here are my ratings for each Superman movie: Superman gets 4.5, Superman II gets 4.0, Superman III gets 3.0, and Superman IV gets 4.5, Overall every movie in these wonderfu series are good.Rated PG for Violence/Peril, and mild language
Rating: Summary: Just when you thought it was safe to watch a man in tights Review: The first two Superman movies set a standard that was hard to live up to. Sure enough, Superman III was a colossal dud that made some of the Friday the 13th films look like Kurosawa films in comparison. However, Superman IV actually manages to slither below the very low bar set by Superman III. In addition to the bad direction and script of III, IV adds horrible production values. This movie looks cheap... Badly edited, poorly photographed with special effects that look as if they were done in someone's basement, the film is embarrasingly bad and must mark the lowpoint in Christopher Reeve's, Gene Hackman's, Margot Kidder's and Mariel Hemingway's careers (and everyone else involved, for that matter). It is especially sad to see Reeve in this film -- the first two films succeeded so magnificently greatly because he truly became Superman to the audience -- and realize that this was his final performance as The Man of Steel. Warner Home Video should release Superman I and II as a set and leave the last two films to rot.
Rating: Summary: BEST OF THE LAST TWO SEQUELS! Review: SUPERMAN 3's problem was that it was way too funny (even though Richard Pryor was good in the film). The producers brought an interesting plot and story with SUPERMAN IV: THE QUEST FOR PEACE. The film had fine acting and storytelling, brought back the best Superman villain, who brings about one of the most diabolical creations ever conceived. The film only has two faults: the name Lex Luthor gives his evil creation (Nuclear Man! Woah, scary!), and the visual effects (compared to one and two) left something to be desired (but since the film cost $17 Million, the effects are OK. But LEFT BEHIND: THE MOVIE cost the same, and had a six-minute scene that featured some kick-&$@ visual effects). Overall, a good film. Worth a look! Grade: A-
Rating: Summary: "LOOK MA! YES WIRES" Review: Being the biggest Superman fan in the world, seeing a Superman film being bad really means it is bad. Superman 4 was by far the worst Superman film of the series, Superman 2 was the best, Superman The Movie was great and Superman 3 was ok. Three things bought this movie down and here are the three things. 1. Story/Plot: Probably the main fault with the film, the idea of Superman ridding the world of Nuclear Weapons after a cry from a boy and the idea of Lex Luthor recreating life itself the Nuclear man, by a single hair from Superman was right down silly. 2. Special Effects: The problem with the special effects for Superman 4 was that they were poor, cause the movie was low budget the effects were layed down to a level of being tacky. There was too much use of blue screen in the film and cause of not correct lighting Superman flying in the air looked out of place. Where scenes of Superman on wires I don't know if it is cause I have extremely good eyesight or what but wires could be seen nearly everytime Superman flew off. 3. 90mins/Bad Cutting: This has to be the main fault with the film. Superman 4 was originally 134mins long this was cut to a disappointing 90mins missing a whole battle with another Nuclear man and a more detailed plot and more understanding to the film itself. Not only did this cut affect probably the ratings of this film but it most definately affected the plot. Sometimes things would seem out of place or a cut from one scene to another gave this impression that perhaps wait a second where is the scene between these two scenes. Overall not a very good film watchable but not great and Christopher Reeve also looked to skinny in this one, which also had a part to play in killing Superman off in what began as a great series.
Rating: Summary: It was the editing that ruined the movie. Review: After reading a lot of the background story on this film, it seems that it was a good idea as a script, and they did film a lot of scenes that were ultimately edited out. I think if the folks at Warner Brothers go back to the original film prints of Superman IV, restore the lost footage into the movie, do some new editing, and improve the effects with new ditigal technology, then this movie could be much better. The Superman/Nuclear Man battle could be shortened, but don't change the music score. Alexander Courage did a good job with it.
Rating: Summary: Uncut Only Review: I say the uncut version of this film was far better than the crummy 90min. verion what we have now. I've eventually seen the long 2hour 15min. version at a screen test before it hit the theaters. Because of the silly other people there, the director chopped all of them awsome scenes out which made me angry. The creation of Nuclearman 1 fight and between Superman and Nuclearman 1was great even though the effects weren't finished. Superman responding to Jeremy's letter was also good and those fools cut that scene too. A scene I thought was touching was when Superman was flying with Jeremy around the world. Why did they cut that scene? I don't know. He also destroyed all of the copies in the studio, but I managed to have a extra one, but I misplaced when I was moving in 1988 which really [stinks]. I don't see how I made that stupid mistake. Shucks! Only if I knew it was valuable I would still have it today. Maybe someday I and eveeryone else will see this full version. I'll see it a 2nd time then
Rating: Summary: Worst Movie Ever! Review: This movie is horrid! As it stinks so bad, my friends and I in college would find it on some bad cable channel all the time. As we watched, we would make fun of it, like Mystery Science Theather 3000 does. There are so many photography faults and the story is just really, REALLY, bad. I have it on DVD to make fun of.
Rating: Summary: A great character... a terrible movie... Review: It's been many years since I saw the incredibly bad "Superman IV: The Quest For Peace." Years since I was tormented by the vision of Nuclear Man, by the lousy dialouge, amazed by the idea that anyone could find Mariel Hemmingway attractive enough to destroy a city over. Still, since I got the DVD boxed set, I wanted to get my money's worth, and that meant watching S:IV. And was it as bad as I remember? Oh god, it was worse. From the bad science (Superman pushes the moon from its orbit to create an eclipse, yet tides are unnaffected? And there's no sunrise on the moon, either! The dark side is always dark and the light side is always light!) to the extra powers (rebuilding the great wall vision, anyone?) to the bad plotting (Superman finds a power plant with an OPEN REACTOR to chuck Nuclear Man into?) to the inconsistent characterization (Superman brings back Lois' memories from Superman II long enough to unburden his soul, then wipes 'em out again -- hardly behavior benefiting Earth's Greatest Hero), it was just a bad movie. Why Gene Hackman agreed to come back for this is beyond me. This is not to say that everything about the movie was bad. There were, in fact, two scenes that I really liked, which save it from a failing grade. The very first scene is Clark back at the old Kent farm, refusing to sell it to some developer, holding out for a "real farmer," very in character, very sweet. And the final scene, where it is not Superman that saves the day but Perry White, was also good -- a great moment of heroism for a character really underused in the Superman movies. Sadly, neither of these scenes are good enough to counteract the mountains of badness inbetween, which is why the film doesn't fail, but is still way the hell below average.
Rating: Summary: Better Than 3, But Still.... Review: Superman IV, released 4 years after the debacle that was Superman III, is not a great movie. This once grand, classy series was brought to a grinding halt with Part 3. Part 4 doesn't do much to try to salvage it. It is, however, better than 3. This time out, Superman plans on ridding the world of nuclear weapons. At the same time, evil villain Lex Luthor has escaped prison, with help from his newphew Lenny, and has created a superhero of his own named Nuclear Man. Nuclear Man's job is, of course, destroy Superman. Christopher Reeve, once again, is the anchor of this film. It's sad that he isn't given better material. However, he did help out with this one's story. It was definitley better than Part 3's lame plot. Gene Hackman as Lex is marvelous as always. All our other favorites also return. Margot Kidder was given a much better part than 3. Her Lois Lane is back in the action. There's even a nice flying sequence between her and Superman that is reminiscent of the one they took in the 1978 original. Clocking in at only 90 minutes, it doesn't have that long blockbuster epic feel to it that the others had. It's too short. Many of the flying scenes looked downright cheesy. Did director Sidney J. Furie know what he was doing?!. I don't think so. Poor Jon Cryer. He brings nothing to the role of Lenny, Lexs' dimbulb nephew. All in all, this was a pretty disappointing effort. Better than 3, but still mediocre at best. The Quest For Peace?. How about The Quest For A Good Script?.
Rating: Summary: super flop Review: this is the last of the Christopher Reeve superman movies, but it should be pointed out that superman 3 was the last Alaxander and Ilya Salkind production. this flick is produced by Golan-Globus productions/Cannon films, and is of thier usual "b-movie" quality. the writing and special effects are very poor compared to the three previous movies, and not even Christopher Reeve could save it. the special effects of the 50's tv show put this movie to shame, and so does the writing for that matter. if you must see this one, tape it from cable, as cutting it for time considerations is actually a blessing in this case.
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