"Superman IV: The Quest For Peace" Movie Review

    The Christopher Reeve Superman remains the definitive take on the ‘Man of Steel’ in my opinion.  I think the first two Superman films are among the best movies ever made.  The Superman franchise sadly went down in quality greatly following those two masterpieces.  “Superman III” has some good moments but ended up foiled by it’s attempts at comedy.  “Superman IV: The Quest For Peace” ended up in even worse shape and proved to be an embarrassing swan song for Christopher Reeve in the role he made so iconic.

    “Superman IV: The Quest For Peace” was made by Canon Films with a shoe string budget.  Not exactly a promising start for a film in which it’s predecessors were famous for pushing the limits of special effects.  There were literally moments in the film where the wires could be seen and scenes that ended up being used multiple times to save on the budget.

    Christopher Reeve returns as the Man of Steel in his final appearance as Superman.  Not only does he star in the film, but he also helped develop the story about disarmament of nuclear weapons.  The film sees the welcomed return of Gene Hackman as Lex Luthor.  Hackman is such a joy to watch as he hams it up.  Hackman helps elevate this film ever so slightly, it’s just a shame he isn’t in more of the film.  Jon Cryer adds some comedy as Lenny Luther, Lex’s nitwit nephew.  Hilariously enough, Cryer has recently been cast as Lex Luthor in the CW series “Supergirl”.  Margot Kidder is once again hardly in the movie and her absence is felt.

    One of the worst parts of the movie to many fans is that Nuclear Man is the main villain.  This angered many fans since he wasn’t a character original to the source material.  I am not sure why they chose to create a new villain when Superman has a great rogue’s gallery that weren’t touched up until that point but the filmmakers did.  Still, I remember actually enjoying Nuclear Man as a kid (although the costume is ridiculous). Nuclear Man, interstingly enough, just made his comic debut in 2018.

    The movie isn’t as terrible as many make it out to be nor is it anywhere near as good as it should have been.  “Superman IV: The Quest For Peace” is ultimately a film bogged down by lofty ideas in a no budget and cartoonish production.

Grade: D