an absolutly laughable film, the worst of the franchise

F

So so bad. Nuclear Man! More a comedy then anything.

D

When you realize the shit that went on with this film and take it for its cheesy merits, it gets respect from me.

It was dumped by the Salkinds over to Cannon to be one of their major films costing 35 million. 5 days before production started the budget was slashed to 16 million, yet they still had 35 million budget to cut, unfortunately it cost the special effects to cut massively.

The budget was strained still to a 134 minute film, in a last minute effort to gain as much money as possible, they cut an unheard 45 minutes of the film out, including a battle that cost almost a 3rd of the 16 million budget. Major Plot points were lost, including an earlier villian, Nuclear Man 1, The nuclear man we see is actually 2.

When you take it for what it is, its no Batman and Robin, in which they had everything to make a good movie and totally fucked it up, it had nothing and had to go from there. The one good thing to note about it, is Christopher Reeve, as cheesy this gets, Christopher Reeve is still a great Superman, and its sad that his last time as the epic hero, couldnt redeem the bad script of the third. And for what its worth, Nuclear Man was an interesting villian, but with the lack of the budget and a cut script, he really has nothing to go for it.

When you take it for what its worth, it shouldnt be part of the Franchise, but more of a film that is a lot like an actual comic book of Superman. I give it a C

And I actually like it more than Spiderman 2, because i used to watch it when I was younger and didnt mind so much. Spiderman is just went off the deep end for me in the sequel.

I love Superman. I love what he stands for. That saying, Superman IV: The Quest for Peace is a piece of shit. As much as I agree with Thegun and what he said about the budget and the 134 minute cut (Even though that version was premiered once and got such a horrible reaction it was cut to 90 minutes), the downfall of the film came before anything was filmed. The fact that Christopher Reeve was involved in the script and brought the idea of Superman imposing his views on Nuclear War (During the Cold War at that) on the series, just was not needed.

Still, that doesn't take away from the footage on screen. Whether it's from an astronaunt being decapitated, and then magically getting his head back, to the character played by Mariel Hemmingway somehow being able to breathe in space, the entire film is just a mess.

D+

Here is basically a play-by-play review of the film that I would recommend that mostly sums up my thoughts.

http://www.agonybooth.com/superman_4/

The one good thing is the new DVD, as from what I've seen the film has had a lot of enhancements in bluescreen and colors. Not to mention, I heard that they changed the bluescreen completely and Mariel Hemingway is no longer in space when Nuclear man is comatose by the eclipse. Also a lot of the missing footage will be available. From what I've seen the fight between the first nuclear man was pretty good. Superman being crushed by cars, huge pieces of building getting thrown. While I agree that the original showing was probably ill recieved, I doubt the new version was better, the quality was just so much worst, even then the third. Its rare that Every sequel cost less than the one before it. The originals budget would equate to 170 million today, the 4th would barely hit 40 million. Even the thirds budget would be closer to 90 million.

I agree about Reeve and his political views getting in the way, but it also was not the footage he intended. He talked about how horrible it was and had very little to do with his earlier idea. For instance, the whole UN thing was suppose to be more epic and controversial, and Reeve was suppose to play Nuclear Man as well, being that he is supposedly a clone of Superman. Like the third, theirs a lot of good material, but it is never explored. I dont blame Reeve because when he signed on, it was a much larger scale project.

Yeah, this is definitely an epic fail of a movie.

It was funny, I had both movies that were used for the budget of Superman 4, that and Masters of the Universe and I watched both all the time. It's childhood nastalgia for me. Obviously Spiderman 2 is a better film, I just enjoy Superman 4 as the QuasiModo failed Experiment of a DTV film with A list talent.

Woohoo, Reeve keeps his top-billing against the return of Hackman!

Superman IV: The Quest for Peace is certainly a different animal to the previous three, though I'd say it shares DNA with them all, but mostly the third one. It's goofy and cheesy and certainly has mistakes. BIG mistakes. Defying anti-gravity! Breathing in space! The mistakes are insulting, but I'll take cheese and blunders over boredom ('78) any day of the week. The monologues about peace and the talk at the UN was, umm, weird. But it's a weirdness that I think wouldn't seem out of place in a Superman comic, so I accepted it here.

The process to create Nuclear Man is preposterous, but as a character and nemesis for a superhero he's alright. Certainly more eye-catching and interesting than the blandness of Reeve. I believe this movie ran out of money, so the special effects and cut corners are for all to see, and they show the film up as looking just as dated as the first film, which is embarrassing considering it has ten years on that one. But there are some good things about the film, and supposedly the more worldly view to this story is influenced by Golan and Globus, so they did add value. I actually enjoyed Superman talking Russian and Italian. Why wouldn't he?! And the early scenes on selling the farm, and with the last crystal from Krypton were fine. But sadly, the action is lame. Rebuilding The Great Wall of China with just his sight was perplexing and the subway scene is the biggest damp squib in the series, both technically and narratively. But where else can you see Superman use a mountain top as a volcano stopper in Italy? C

Superman III C+
Superman IV: The Quest for Peace C
Superman II: The Richard Donner Cut C
Superman: The Movie D

This entire franchise just isn't one to be remembered. Rubbish storylines, amateurish production values, bad actors, producers and egos plaguing the entire series, and just the wrong person playing the titular hero. I enjoyed the action scenes whenever I saw them on TV as a child, but as an adult you see things for how bad they really are, and man this is bad. Thank fuck Man of Steel exists. The only one I'd care to watch again is Superman III, though hopefully I don't run into it again for at least a decade.

Who at the time could have been a better Superman?

That's an unfair question. Reeve was an unknown. I'd have also chose an unknown, just not Reeve.

Yeah ok, I never questioned Reeve as Superman before, mainly because he just got only universal acclaim for it from what I can remember.

Very cool anyway, you rewatched and reviewed these films, enjoyable to read about it.

I never really had a problem with him until the last few days. He's really not a good actor, and his build is like that of a normal guy. He's tall, but no muscle whatsoever. Superman was always big and had defined muscle in the comics I saw. It just seems stupid to pick someone with no muscle AND no ability to act. Thought they could have at least ticked one box. This always irked me, but never really felt the need to express it as I grew up with him as Superman so I just accepted it, I guess.