Superman IV: The Quest for Peace (DVD, 2006, Deluxe Edition)

While this film is probably the worst of the four Christopher Reeves renditions of the Man of Steel, remember this... It's still better than Superman Returns. Seriously, the film does get a little too anti-nuke propaganda-y but what do you expect from the 80's. It was bound to happen. At least Clark isn't a dead beat dad stalking around the windows of his ex at night... plus considering the continuity timeline they used for the film he's also a date rapist slipping Lois a "mickey" so she'd forget about the whole encounter. Anyway, Superman IV still holds the distinction of being a fun (sometimes tedious) throwback to the Silver Age when a guy in tights and a cape still was planted firmly in the world of Fantasy versus one trying to conform to the real world.

Buy the DVD, and some popcorn, cuddle up with a blanket and call it good!

Jim Bumgardner
09/21/09

Awesome - I loved the movie Superman IV. I looked for it for a long time, I’m so glad I finally found it.

Yes, this movie was arguably the worst of all the Superman films. But the dvd covers the debacle in such an in-depth way that it's well worth the money. One of the writers of the film contributed a high quality film commentary. At times it does seem like he's doing a long negative movie review(much like this one), but he gives you a lot of insight into what was going on with the movie production company and he appears to be the only person humble enough to admit the failures of the film. It is more fun to watch the film with the commentary as it seems more like a comedy with all of the mistakes being pointed out as they happen.
What makes this dvd even more entertaining are the deleted scenes. There are plenty of them, since the film was originally intended to be much longer. There are two deleted scenes with a different Nuclear Man. One of those deleted scenes is a fight between Superman and the rejected Nuclear Man. It is perhaps one of the worst scenes ever in cinematic history. The music for the scene sounds like it should be in the background of a blooper reel. It is possible that this music would have been different, had the scene made the final cut. But then again it is also possible that the music would have stayed.
Anything was possible with this film. In one memorable or forgettable scene(depending on how you look at it), Mariel Hemingway breathes in space. She also demonstrates that gravity is the same in space as on Earth as she hangs from Nuclear Man.
The makers of this film also accomplished a feat that will be hard to match. They created one of the worst villains ever: Nuclear Man. This quasi-nemesis to Superman has long, blond hair that is done in such a way that he would have fit in better at a disco(wrong decade). His powers are infinite and confusing. Sometimes he likes to shoot blue rays from his fingers, other times he prefers orange. He sports silver press-on nails that can grow longer if he wishes them to. Intimidated yet? Last but not least, this villain REALLY REALLY enjoys roaring. Here's the kicker: His only weakness is.........a light switch. Technically, he is powerless when there is no sunlight. The decision to call him Nuclear Man and then make his power come from the Sun defies all logic. When speaking, his voice is actually Gene Hackman's. The reason for this is never explained. I figured maybe Mark Pillow(the actor who played Nuclear Man) had a high, whiny voice. But when viewing a deleted scene in which they include Pillow's actual speaking voice, it's not much different than Hackman's. Perhaps they were just trying to get as much of Gene Hackman in the movie as they could to somehow compensate for all the bad stuff. Gene Hackman's performance in the film was one of the few bright spots.
Really in all fairness, the entire cast did the best they could possibly do. Unfortunately it was just a very bad film. The effects were cheaply done. Cutting so many scenes prevented any continuity. The writing wasn't exactly top-notch either. Ironically, Superman's prophetic final line to Lex Luthor in the film is, "See you in 20." A film from the Superman movie franchise would not be produced for another 20 years until 'Superman Returns' came out in 2006. The new film makes a point of ignoring the 3rd and 4th Superman films, continuing only where the 2nd film left off. All in all, if you need a good laugh, buy the Superman IV dvd.