Superman IV: The Quest for Peace. Not So Super. Not Remotely Duper.
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- Опубликовано: 30 сен 2024
- #superman #dc
Stam Fine Reviews looks at the 1987 film Superman IV: The Quest for Peace.
Starring Christopher Reeve, Gene Hackman, Mariel Hemingway, and Margot Kidder; Superman IV is, in a word, yikes!
The film series' original producers offloaded the film rights to Cannon who made what turned out to be the last movie to star Reeve, who in turn wanted a specific storyline in order to appear as the Man of Steel. Budget cuts turned this into a, well, have a look.
I remember seeing this on the shelf in my local video store back in the late 80's, after greatly enjoying the first two movies I was excited to see it particularly since Gene Hackman was back as Lex Luthor..that excitement had completely vanished by about 15 minutes into the movie..
I can't stop laughing reading this......
You're a tiny bit nicer to this than everybody else who covers it, so kudos for being different. I also kind of liked Gene Hackman's and Jon Cryer's chemistry. Too bad they never teamed up in anything else.
The comics adaptation (which sticks closer to the original concept and doesn't have to worry about having its budget slashed) is actually a good sight better. Superman IV was probably never going to be a "good" movie, but it didn't have to be the disaster it was.
@Denise Bluth🦸🦸♂🦸♀🧐
Went to see it with friends in the theater, so would have been 13 or 14. It started off with an ominous scene on a playground with a plane flying over. Then it cut off, and we had to change theaters as they had the labels switched between Superman and La Bamba. Even at that age we realized pretty quickly we should have stayed.
Reeve gave it his all. He took this film seriously despite that massive budget cuts & tried to make it work. When I finally saw it on VHS back in the day, I was embarrassed for him. He deserved so much better.
How did Reeve keep a strait face during this movie being made?.
Simply HORRIBLE 😢
Pure greed of Golem and Globus taking half of the 34 million budget they were GIVEN by Warner bros to make the film and spending it on another one of there movies (He man) just so they could make more of a profit. Completely cheated the fans and Christopher Reeve. I'm glad Cannon went bankrupt and they lost everything hopefully.
No he didn't. He didn't work out for shit. Was way too skinny and lanky.
Superman's roofie lips aka "The Ol' Kryptonian Knockout". Reeve only agreed to star in _QFP_ to fund _Street Smart_ - a genuinely great film that gave longtime TV actor Morgan Freeman his big break in '87.
This movie makes part 3 look like a masterpiece by comparison.
Aunty Beryl's exploits are so proflic at this point she needs her own biography.
They used that ending shot in all the Christopher Reeve "Superman" movies. It was more of a tradition not an insult to injury.
I remember watching this at the cinema and some children crying their way through it
Just like the Transformers movie. The 80s were hard on children at the movies
The Salkinds totally mismanaged the whole franchise. Not letting Richard Donner finish Superman II was the first mistake. Richard Lester made that a lot cheesier that it should have been. Donner's work saved that from being the dreadful mess that a 100% Richard Lester mess is (see Superman III). Getting rid of the whole franchise for part IV was an opportunity to reverse that. However, totally the wrong company got hold of it and just kept hammering the nails into the coffin. Learning how this whole project was doomed before it started is tragic. Christopher Reeve was totally screwed over with this. It's interesting how TV shows (Lois & Clark, Smallville and Superman & Lois) can get it right, yet the movie industry seems to find it so hard.
The Donner cut of Superman 2 is awful for the most part, what Lester did with it was campy in places, but what some conveniently forget is that Donner had plenty of campy stuff in his version too. Some changes Lester did really made a difference too, like replacing Brando with York that makes far more sense to Supermans return, which was ridiculous in the Donner cut, while the ending to that version was just as bad for a number of reasons.
I like all the Superman movies and think Nuclear Man is a stand in for Bizarro.
Christopher still did his job well, his acting was still on form in both rolls, and his wire work take off and landings are well done in this fourth film.
Any time a non-comedy movie is 90 minutes you know there was major panic in the editing room. Sometimes it turns out ok, like with First Blood. Sometimes it turns out like Superman IV.
That applies to major films made during the 1970's onward. In the height of the studio system era, it wasn't unusual.
Absolutely! Always look at the running time!
I actually saw this on opening day at the cinema. Oh the innocence of youth so savagely destroyed.
It's a real shame about Superman IV:The Quest for Peace. A storyline with good intentions but was poorly executed and made on the cheap. It really took the gloss off the 50th anniversary of Superman.
Even with a good budget, the film probably would have sucked anyway.
@@ricardocantoral7672 I think a bigger budget would have made the presentation more bearable.
@@Dohsoda I know but the film would still be dumb as hell.
25,000 subs, great to see that number -slowly- but surely rising.
Always enjoy your stuff...
Thank you very much!
Yes, it's a $hitty film, but still way better than the Snyder Superman.
Hmmm, they are both really cringe. I guess Part 4 is better because Superman is actually Superman.
@@ricardocantoral7672 Reeve leaves Cavill in the dust.
@@dhenderson1810 I thought Cavill did a good job in those few moments when he wasn't portraying Superman as a blight on humanity.
@@ricardocantoral7672 He had too few expressions.
Often he would be standing around, looking and brooding.
I'm not questioning Cavill as an actor. In fact, I would love to see him as the next James Bond. Firstly, because he could carry off the role, and secondly, WB could scrap the DCEU and focus on superhero movies that DO make them big money (Dark Knight trilogy, Joker, The Batman).
@@dhenderson1810 Reeve wasn't that expressive either but he had a great presence. Cavill does too and the brooding is definitely the fault of the script. I think he could have easily fit in Donner's films. As for Cavill as Bond, he would be a good candidate but he's getting up there in years. If they pick him, he would probably be done by his third film. They really should have retired Craig after Skyfall.
I wish I'd known this was filmed in Milton Keynes when I worked there for 3 months. Probably been into the shopping mall this was filmed in. The grid layout of the town was trying to replicate US cities and the traffic there flowed pretty well.
I live in Milton Keynes and know locations of some of the scenes (Central Milton Keynes train station for example).
Milton Keynes was, and still is, good for ground level and interior scenes. It does fail with the fact that the buildings in Milton Keynes were low level (at the time there was a hight restriction on buildings). There were no skyscrapers, something that Metropolis is know for.
It shows in some scenes with Superman flying off or landing. You see too much sky.
I always loved to watch this movie especially with Clark Kent in the movie!
Its heart is in the right place, conceptually. Reeve hated the comedy of parts 2 and 3 and only agreed to coming back for a 4th on the proviso he could use it as a platform for a very serious issue he wanted to address, the arms race and nuclear disarmament. Unfortunately the productiom was a nightmare and the budget was tiny, so it suffered the same fate as dozens of sequels and killed the franchise.
The worst part for me was when that Sun guy had that woman halfway to the moon and she didn’t die. Then screamed as she fell back to the earth...from space.
Gotta feel bad for *checks imdb* MARK PILLOW?!? for his first movie being this. Too bad he was only in a few things before calling it quits with movies.
Superman III was OK. Superman IV was awful, although the subplot about the newspaper industry was surprisingly realistic and interesting.
If you watch this AFTER returns and Crisis Earth episode it works!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Honestly, I think there was still a good film hidden within Superman 4. With some VFX updates and extra cutting, it could actually turn out to be quite decent
There's a guy called APRICEPRODUCTION who's done some pretty amazing work sprucing up Superman IV's dodgy FX. Take a look at his channel.
This needs a special edition and use better CGI to fix the movie.
@@dhenderson1810 I think I'd also fix the pacing and maybe add in bizarro instead of nuclear man. That way instead of taking Lacy into space for no reason he could be taking her to Bizarro World and the third act would take place there. Then we could tie it into the themes of the movie by having Superman discover that the people of Bizarro World are not evil just misunderstood and teach Bizarro how to lead them in a more peaceful direction.
@@arcadeassassin7176 I think the Bizarro world idea would have been great.
But it wouldn't have happened because were making this on the cheap.
Cannon were notorious for buying franchise movies and spending little on the budget,
They spread the equivalent of one movie's budget, and spread it across three films ("Superman IV", "Masters Of The Universe", and a Jean-Claude Van Damme movie called "Cyborg", with the majority of the budget going to MOTU).
They did this to make maximum profits off tent pole movies and stars, without too much outlay.
Of course all three movies flopped, and Cannon folded as a result.
So I can't see Cannon spending more money to build a Bizarro World set.
Superman outside Argos HQ, ridiculous! What next, the Avengers hanging out at the Sainsbury Centre for the Visual Arts?
I look forward in anticipation to my complementary "Stam Fine Stealth Like to Raise Engagement". Or maybe just this one time a genuine Stam Fine like?
Im really happy that cannon films went bankrupt and Golem and Globus the owners lost everything possibly. Because they really cheated the fans by taking half of the movies 34 million dollar budget which they were GIVEN by Warner bros to make superman 4 and spent it on another film they were making at the same time (masters of the universe), just so they could make more of a profit. So this film only had 17 million spent on it instead of the full budget. I think if it had the full amount of 34 million spent on getting the best writers, best FX teams, real locations ect, it could have been one of the best because of Christopher Reeves enthusiasm for the project because they promised him he could have some creative input into the film. But pure greed of those two cousins cheated the cast and the fans.
Agree. 17 million back then could have been enough, but Cannon Group not only cut the budget they cut scenes, the script, the FX and locations. If they kept the budget as is and didn't cut all the stuff they did the movie could have been epic. Other then Reeve, the only good thing that came out of it was Mark Pillows Nuclear Man. I mean it would have been awesome to see Bizarro, but they couldn't get the rights so we got one of my favs in Nuclear Man instead.
The film that makes Superman III look like a cinematic masterpiece.
Regardless of the film 🎥 Christopher Reeve was and is still 👉 SUPERMAN 🦸♀️
Stam Fine, another Friday treat, you spoil us😀 Milton Keynes and Argos, brilliant
It's a perfect silver/early bronze age
COMIC book story. From the dialogue to the storyline itself. However for a movie? Eh. Everything was shoddy. At this point it's only been 9 yrs since Superman the movie. Yet Reeve, Kidder, and especially Jackie Cooper look at least 20 yrs older, Superman is not supposed to age so quickly, and Jimmy Olsen looks 35 in this movie what the hell is he still doing here? The story is rushed, full of holes, and never gets going. Luthor , who wore wigs in the first two movies because he was bald, now looks like a balding middle aged man who somehow grew more of his own hair and is no longer vain enough to cover it up. The production , special effects, lighting, sets, filming locations all suck. There is NO love out into this movie. Reeve as great as he was can't save this film. It's hard to soar like an eagle when you're surrounded by turkeys. Once Donner was fired it was the beginning of the end. In retrospect having the first two movies be one connected story made it impossible to grow. Especially when you replace the director of the first movie. Sad ending to the greatest Superman ever.
Thank you, thank you, thank you, for shaming that maddeningly thick mispronunciation of “nuclear”. 🎉🎉
Nuclear Man could also have been Dieter Bohlen.... or Matthias Reim. XD
When, I was a little kid he was the first Superman I seen. Too bad the last movie when I was like that?. But It was a f****** a try right!?😃. That's gotta count for something?.
It is a bad movie when "Superman III" is compared favourably by comparison.
It appears this film was made for 99 cents; unbelievable 😢
It looked it for Superman VI
Reeve only came back for a big cheque, approval of the storyline idea, and Cannon had to make a movie he was working on, called "Street Smart".
The money was appealing but he mostly did it because of the creative control. There's no way he would have returned just for the former because he wanted to put Superman behind him.
Street Smart is one of my favorite movies. Reeve is very good in it and Morgan Freeman is genuinely scary.
Superman 4 went the way of the phone booth. Just rode the coat tails of Superman the movie ( 1978)
I saw this at the cinema. What a wild night out that wasn't.
As disappointing as IV is, a bad Chris Reeve Superman movie is still more enjoyable than a modern box office hit grim Superman. The closest (though still not the same) I've seen to capturing that Reeve's aura as Superman has been Brandon Routh reprising him for TV's Crisis on Infinite Earth's multiparter. Close enough in fact to almost make me feel like I was back the day.
Amen!
This film reminds me of my first date when I was 13/14 years old. I still remember her name and how excited I was to actually have a date. We didn't have a second date. The film didn't help. I didn't hate it though. 🤣
In other words, Superman IV was the Batman and Robin of the Superman franchise
super man 4 was an cinematic atrocity.
I've not seen this movie, but I hope Superman found some peas.
Or piss.
The more I learned about the behind the scenes turmoil of this flick, the more lenient I am toward it. It’s still bad, but it wasn’t through fault of trying
Hey! Don't trash on my man Gopher!
Whaa..???
I loved this movie..
God...
I was almost 20 when this movie came out and it's a poster child form why certain movies shouldn't address complicated political issues. It really should have ended when the kid's classmates laughed at him for the idea because it's a childish premise. It pretty much ignored that Superman set himself up as dictator of Earth. What happens when he decides there's another issue he can "solve"?
Actually, I think that's an interesting scenario. Superman going too far but not being down right evil.
Christopher Reeve looked like he didn't bother working out for IV either. He looks a lot slimmer with less muscle mass.
Yes. He trained differently because his back was trashed from all the flying effects on a harness from the first 3 films. His back discs were messed up so his weight training had to be modified.
@@DiverBand Plus I think his suit at least in the fourth fim had padding to give the illusion of muscle?🤔🤨🤷🦸
This was the only superman film I had on VHS after my TV recorded copies of the first 3 went out with the Betamax they were recorded with. I always felt that this needs a reedit and a Kingdom Come style story could be hashed out.
Keep up the good work... So Superman Returns next???
I love the soundtrack to this film. Certain scenes with Superman have great music, of course the classic Williams theme but also Nuclear Man's theme.
Alexander Courage was the film's musical director and conductor who adapted this score and did a good job.
@@markelijio6012 La La Land Records released a two-disc of the Soundtrack which is fantastic!🤗🦸♀🌆💽
Never made it through. Thanks for saving me the trip. I'll just keep watching the first two.
It had a noble idea of nuclear disarmament but it was executed (the operative word) terribly.
This movie killed my childhood. Well, a little bit.
I could never bring myself to watch this one, and this review has justified my decision. Good review, though, as always.
I think this film is at its best treated as a generous DVD extra.
The shitty effects took me out pretty badly but I'd be on board for a special edition.
THANK YOU for uploading at such an hour
I honestly think this film is at least trying to attempt a worth while story, as opposed to the third film, which seems to be just throwing stuff at the screen. Yes, it's dispiriting......but at least it failed trying to do something. What is 'Superman III' about?
I went to see Superman IV in the theater. What a disappointment. When the scene showing superman gathering nuclear warheads in space to throw out to interstellar space came, my sister & I looked at each other and laughed out loud. So did the audience. Superman III was a burning wreck descending from the sky and Superman IV was the fiery crash ending. I feel sad that Christopher Reeve & Gene Hackman had to go out this way.
Strangely I remember so much of this as a teen and didn’t care
I think this movie encapsulates the goofiness and charm of the silver age comics (especially Jerk Superman) and with the full budget and better effects could have been a good entry into the franchise, reviving it for at least one more movie. But oh well.
In both versions of Superman 2. Superman. Destroys the Fortress. Them in 4 it's back. No sense
hard to believe that the director of this tripe, Sydney J. Furie, made one of the best films of the 1960s and the best spy film of all time, " The Ipcress File" starring Michael Caine. In Superman 3 and 4 Chris Reeve is wearing a full head wig , his alopecia by this time being too difficult to disguise, he was the best Superman no doubt about that, Superman 3 was okayish......but Superman 4 was terrible, Chris Reeve got a big paycheck though, so we can forgive him I'm sure, acting is a job, even Superman has a mortgage and credit cards to service.
Lois and Clark please.
Also I believe I watched this at home but I forgot as soon as it was over. It was a huge let down as an adolescent seeing Superman suck
terrible movie I would say. Mark Pillow should of been He-Man in the movie at this time, I like Dolph but he wasn't great. Lenny was irritating but Cryer is great as Lex Luthor in Supergirl. Chris made a bad mistake returning and Margo too.
Superman IV: The Quest For Cheese (co-starring Wallace and Gromit).
Superman IV: The Quest for Quality
@Chief Scheider your quest has been granted here ruclips.net/video/6BUYEsm6O6M/видео.html
Superman movies 1 & 2 both are timeless and more better than later Superman films
Superman IV Quest for Peace is unusual film and interesting being made by Cannon films 🤔
Thank you for dragging Milton Keynes' terrible design. I'm so glad the only times I ever went was via taxi.
Margot Kidder looks 20 years older than she did in the first one while Christopher Reeve looks the same. What the hell happened?
Kidder was a druggie
Men age like Sean Connery, and women age like…well, Sean Connery.
@@joemamma137 HA HA HA
Oddly, this was the only sups film I saw at the cinema. Even as a 9 year old I thought it was rubbish.
Looking back on it now, I guess the idea was decent enough, and the bit where he chucked the nukes into the sun was quite cool. But it was so cheap looking it's hard to take seriously. Milton Keynes trying to be metropolis FFS...
Yes, it's the only town in the UK with a US style road grid system, but that's about it.
It may be bad, but it is still head and shoulders better than Superman III. At least this one was trying to be an actual superhero movie, and wasn't created just to be a (lame and unfunny) vehicle to promote Richard Pryor's career.
Yes number 3 and 4 weren't that great but Christopher Reeve will always be Superman to me
This is a waste of the talented involved, and yet another example of never trusting cannon films to put in effort. But it’s still silly enough to make it watchable. Superman 3, to me is still the worst of the reeves superman movies.
Bryan Singer has made some terrible mistakes in his life, disregarding Superman III & IV was most definitely not one of them! Certainly he had plenty of good reasons to do that.
i saw this as a kid back in the 80s as i was 7-8 years old when it arrived on HBO and it was shit. it hasn't aged well. the science, a subject i was never good at mind you, is horrendous. it looked cheap and i hated the "ban nukes" bullshit. the only thing in that film that is any good is... gene hackman. i've seen him in bad movies but he's never given a bad performance. he's one of those RARE actors that can't suck.
The next time my kids do something wrong I am going to make them watch this movie as punishment.
The first Nuclear Man in the original cut of the film looked like Bizarro with a mixture of Lobo thrown in.
Regarding the director, too bad Furie is mostly known for this turd and the Iron Eagle films. He should be better remember for directing the film that made Michael Caine a star, The Ipcress File, and an excellent kitchen sink drama called The Boys.
GOOFY NUCLEAR MAN 1.0
was ridiculous
👌
This movie was doomed by it's budget, I still prefer it over superman 3, at least this one didn't put me to sleep.
Went to see this at the Cinema when I was a kid, accidently went into the wrong movie and ended up watching Fievel Goes West lol
Superman IV would have been better as split up into little pieces and made into a sitcom so it can be cancelled as a bad American series and not part of movie canon.
Are we supposed to hate the guy who points out that if your business hasn't made any money in three years you need to change something?
He is just stating a fact everyone else in this movie is too stupid to know.
The only American guy that wears his underwear on the out side
Superman Returns: the Quest for Superman III
You nailed it. After the huge disappointment when this film was released and a lot of time passed, this film has become a guilty pleasure only because my expectations are so low going into it. It somehow makes the film more enjoyable. Hackman as Lex Luther is also fun to watch no matter how bad the film is. It's easy to see some of the interesting story elements had huge potential, but just failed to come together in typical Cannon fashion. But then, MANY Cannon films are a guilty pleasure for me, so what do I know
With a big enough budget and better writers it could have been a good film. Nuclear man had potential to be a formidable enemy for Superman.
Even this the least liked Superman movie is better than man of steel lol
Just wondering, who is Jeba the Hutt? You seem to know him.
trust me when I say Milton Keynes is a toilet
I actually enjoyed 'IV' as a kid. Even if the film was not executed well, it seemed to try to recapture the heart of the first two films that was lacking in 'III'.
Putting on a Superman suit and acting your way through a crappy movie.
#4 sucked.
I just pretend 3 and 4 don't exist!
I forgot how bad it was, 🤣
UN Building is in NYC.
After seeing the first 3 films l was excited to see 4 but not seeing Lex Luther again l want something new Lex had his time in the first 2 films ,the 3 rd film was ok but a lot of slapstick and the 4 one was worse l heard found out many many yrs later they split the budget for two films 2nd one being Heman which was way better story and effects. The forth film could’ve been epic like Tim Burton’s BATMAN in 1989,can u blame Chris not wanting to do another film after Burton’s BATMAN film. And in the late 90’s we lost Burton’s version of SUPERMAN which l be leave would’ve been epic as well ,BUT WE’LL NEVER REALLY KNOW WILL WE
So many people are ripping this movie apart, wish they did the same critical butchering to Snyder's hack job. Cause this movie with ALL it's visual flaws, is FAR superior where it counts and that's the heart and the character of Superman and what he is actually here to do. It's the only Superman movie to date that does what is needed to actually help the planet and not just fight bad guys... but hey! if there's no SuperCGI beating up other CGI then no one is impressed...
Started as major blockbuster movies and ended with that tv movie look and budget
Planet Of The Apes and Superman it's just the classic franchise losing steam syndrome
Thats an Interesting fact that it was filmed entirely in England i didn't know that. However I'm not surprised, there is a scene shot in what is supposed to be a New York subway station. But even as kid of 12 who'd never been to NYC i could tell that it was blatantly a London underground tube station albeit with a name change.....Thats really pathetic cost cutting.
"Milton Keynes is not an awful town"...I mean, I'll believe a man can fly, but I'm not THAT gullible!