As the hero, Christopher Reeve oozes with sincerity in the world-peace scenes - he helped write the story of the film, and this may be why he overdoes it. But he's also funny when he gets back to being klutzy Clark Kent, so the movie doesn't completely drown in its own good intentions.
Director Sidney J. Furie, whose previous career high-point was either The Ipcress File or Lady Sings the Blues, fumbles the tone as badly as Richard Lester did in Superman III, veering drunkenly from action/adventure to comedy. Gone is the sense of naïve grandeur that made the original Superman such an endearing production.
Stunning. I've never seen anything like this. This is better than all of the other movies coming out these days. Probably my favoritest movie ever in the entire universe.
I'm going to be generous and give Superman IV: The Quest for Peace a 8 rating. My reasons are a few and quite unarguable really.... Firstly I didn't like Superman II much because it felt depressing even with the three villains fighting Superman it just didn't feel nice. Secondly I got to see actor Sam Wanamaker from Raw Deal (1986) and enjoyed his presence onscreen even though he didn't bring much to the actual movie itself. Thirdly actress Mariel Hemingway was always sexy and usually up to no good and she was the kind of woman I'd sleep with and finally I liked the villain and the idea he came from the sun and how Christopher Reeve's Superman character eventually ends up stopping him. Superman IV has many great scenes especially with Superman and Nuclear Man and Gene Hackman as Lex Luther was cool. Not the best movie but okay and certainly better than Superman II.
The first few films in this series are both amusing and produced with high technical values, but this fourth in the string is a poorly scripted, anemic production.
Superman IV is a pathetic appendage to the series, a dull, shoddy film that makes the minimal 1950s TV series seem
rife with production values by comparison. [27 July 1987, p.10C]
Sequels to big-budget popular hits usually end up super-slick, shallow and inflated. But this one isn't even super-slick; it's shallow and deflated...The overall effect is of a story atomized and dying before our eyes, collapsing into smashed pulp, ground down into big-budget Kryptonite ash. [27 July 1987, p.1]
It came to a stage in these movie's were Christopher Reeve started carrying the movie's on his shoulder's they faded and this sequel is no different. The story dragged from start to finish it. It wasn't fair after Superman: The Movie the character got dragged through three director's and it went into a downward spiral. As a fan of the character you let certain thing's slip in the movie. The flying sequences were poor, the villain was poor and it wasn't a very good movie.
This is the film they showed the most on my local television broadcast back in the day. Why, well a few reasons:
It's short.
It has actors in the scenes.
It's short.
It has action scenes.
It's short.
It doesn't make sense in any order you put the film in.
It is edited together incredibly poorly.
The main Vilian ****.
Superman is an Idiot now and does weird things.
It's Cheap.
It looks like dog doo doo.
I can go on...
I don't like this film, I like the Idea but everything in this film is just made badly. It was clearly made very cheaply like the money made from Superman III couldn't push it even to quality standards at the time.
The only thing I like is maybe Clarks Date, and I don't know what happened to Miss Lane but it looks like she's been in a terrible accident.
I don't know about the actual actors' health at the time but sheesh she looked bad in this film.
Superman IV: The Quest for More Budget, I think WB at that point should have just cut their losses after Superman III, because everything that happens in here almost wipes the slate clean from the previous film.
Is this a bad film overall? Yes, it's clear as day.
Is it entertaining? A little bit.
4/10 it's missing a lot of what made the previous films enjoyable, it doesn't take its time, scenes are cut very poorly, and Characters are just doing things that have no representation in the actual plot. The first half of the movie is completely Pointless, Completely.
Luckily this is the last Superman film with Christopher Reeves. Thank you for being a really cool Superman and Showing a Side of Superman that most people would relate to, also I like this version of Clark Kent, the clumsy, goody guy is a great personality.
Well, that's It, that's all the Superman Films....Until Superman Returns.
THIS REVIEW CONTAINS NO SPOILERS:
This movie is so bad that it is a work of art, this is the next Mona Lisa of film. If you're in a **** mood, turn on Superman IV.
While this is in no way a good film, it is superior to the absolutely awful Superman III. It is largely boring, and Reeve and Kidder aren't given enough to do. The graphics are actually worse than the preceding films.
TaglineNuclear Power. In the best hands, it is dangerous. In the hands of Lex Luthor, it is pure evil. This is Superman's greatest battle. And it is for all of us.