Superman IV: The Quest for Peace (1987)

Superman IV isn't exactly the finest moment in the Superman franchise. The effects are poor, the sets are cheap, the editing is choppy and the script doesn't make much sense. There is, however, some good stuff within this 1987 sequel that makes it better than other bad sequels. The Alexander Courage score is wonderful, dramatic and sweeping and really lifts the movie during the action sequences. Mariel Hemingway's character, the lovely Lacy Warfield is a fresh character that adds much to the production. She's very pretty too. Gene Hackman makes a welcome return as the camp Lex Luthor and he has some funny moments with his nephew, Lenny Luthor. The story has some good themes and messages but they seem to get lost within the incoherent nature of the structure. It's nowhere near as entertaining as the first, second or even third Superman flicks but it's still a charming little flick that could have been so much more. 6/10 from me.

For sure, the results is awful as the feat is impossible to get, even for a Superman! In the man of steel comics, you can find brilliant comics about a dark or stupid clone of Superman called Bizzaro! And you can also find other comics about Superman becoming internationally involved (like in the beautiful Peace on Earth in which he wants to eradicate starvation). Here, we have the two stories mixed together with Luthor being the conductor behind but the production just tears everything apart! Luthor is becoming a mere clown assisted by a rock and roll nephew??? There are a lot of scenes that doesn't make sense at all: sure it was the same for S3, but the entire movie was funny and the crazy things make laugh: here it's totally serious and those nonsense just don't fit: humans flying alone and even breathing in space, Supe rebuilding China wall with his eyes ! Clone is seeded by the sun and born as a talking adult with his costume neatly done (even with the chest N for Nuclear Man!) and I could go on: the scratches, the krypton crystal, … The effects are horrible: done 10 years after the first and the effects looks like a poor 50s B-movie: wires everywhere, moon space is a dark curtain (not even flat), same shots used in different parts…. And the final blow with a salvage editing: if I watched only the screen version, I rate it 1 because the elements of each plots don't make sense together. My dad DVD has deleted scenes and those lost 30 minutes helps the movie: the 1st dumb clone is not that bad and the race arms is much better told with the Kremlin and everything else! At the end, if this quest for peace was challenging, all the more than Supe had a view of the whole planet instead of saving Lois or a cat or a man drowning, this last Christopher movie is nonetheless a missed opportunity!

This is the movie that killed the Superman franchise until 2007. The acting was just awful and the effects were not really good. I also think that the main villain (Nuclear Man) was just a carbon copy of Superman, except less interesting. The music, however, is a saving grace for this film, so I'd recommend getting the soundtrack to this movie instead of watching the actual movie. 1/10.

Although he is imprisoned, Lex Luthor (Gene Hackman) further demonstrates that there is no correction facility that can hold him as he breaks out once again and plots revenge on the man that put him there. To that end, he fiendishly combines Superman's DNA and nuclear fusion to create a superhuman being he calls "Nuclear Man" (Mark Pillow). Meanwhile, the newspaper known as the Daily Planet has been bought by a wealthy tabloid publisher named "David Warfield" (Sam Wanamaker) who promptly changes the journalistic format of the newspaper to one that specializes in cheap sensationalism. He also replaces the editor "Perry White" (Jackie Cooper) with his daughter "Lacy Warfield" (Mariel Hemingway) to solidify the new format. Interestingly enough, while "Lois Lane" (Margot Kidder) continues to harbor a deep infatuation for "Superman" (Christopher Reeve) Lacy develops a romantic interest in "Clark Kent" (also played by Christopher Reeve) instead. And this creates a unique problem in itself when Lois and Lacy agree have a double-date with both Superman and Clark Kent. Now, rather than reveal any more let me just state that I am perfectly aware that this particular film has been roundly condemned by a vast majority of critics and even had the dubious distinction of garnering two Golden Raspberry nominations: "Worst Supporting Actress" (Mariel Hemingway) and "Worst Visual Effects". Additionally, Esquire magazine ranked it at #40 of the worst 50 movies ever made. That's pretty bad. Even so, while I agree that the special effects could have used significant improvement, I disagree with the assessment concerning Mariel Hemingway's performance. For starters, I didn't think her performance was that bad and I certainly don't think it merited a Raspberry Award nomination. If anything, I thought her presence actually helped liven up the picture to a certain degree. Likewise, I also disagree with the overall evaluation of the film by Esquire magazine. Case in point, it was nominated for an International Fantasy Film Award in the category for "Best Film" and ranked #4 at the box office upon its release. So there you have it. In any case--and not that it means anything--I personally thought this movie was better than its predecessor. So, for all of the reasons just mentioned, I have rated this film accordingly. Slightly above average.