VHS : Superman 4 - The Quest for Peace

In association with Amazon.com

Rating:

- Not all bad
A lot of negative stuff has been said about the Superman IV movie. But unfortunately many reviewers overlook the good points too. First of all, the musical score is wonderful, and it is mind boggling why the soundtrack has not been released, especially since the composer is Alexander Courage. OK, so the special effects need work. You can tell they're dollies when Superman and Nuclear Man are flying around the Earth. But the heat-ray/lasers used for Nuclear Man's power are wonderful. And remember folks, Gene Hackman did the voice for Nuclear Man, not Mark Pillow. So all that awful dialogue cannot be the burden of Pillow alone. It would be a truly great movie if they included all cut footage and spruced up the special effects. The great sound and music is already there.

Rating:

- Just when you thought it was safe to watch a man in tights
The first two Superman movies set a standard that was hard to live up to. Sure enough, Superman III was a colossal dud that made some of the Friday the 13th films look like Kurosawa films in comparison. However, Superman IV actually manages to slither below the very low bar set by Superman III. In addition to the bad direction and script of III, IV adds horrible production values. This movie looks cheap... Badly edited, poorly photographed with special effects that look as if they were done in someone's basement, the film is embarrasingly bad and must mark the lowpoint in Christopher Reeve's, Gene Hackman's, Margot Kidder's and Mariel Hemingway's careers (and everyone else involved, for that matter). It is especially sad to see Reeve in this film -- the first two films succeeded so magnificently greatly because he truly became Superman to the audience -- and realize that this was his final performance as The Man of Steel. Warner Home Video should release Superman I and II as a set and leave the last two films to rot.

Rating:

- BEST OF THE LAST TWO SEQUELS!
The problem with "Superman III" was the direction it was taken (British sensibilities, Richard Pryor, etc.). The producers brought an interesting plot and story to "Superman IV: The Quest for Peace." The film had fine acting and storytelling, brought back the best Superman villain, who brings about one of the most diabolical creations ever conceived. The film only has two faults: the name Lex Luthor gives his evil creation (Nuclear Man! Woah, scary!), and the visual effects (compared to one and two) left something to be desired (but since the film cost $[...], the effects are OK. But LEFT BEHIND: THE MOVIE cost the same, and had a six-minute scene that featured some kick-&$@ visual effects). Overall, a good film. Worth a look! Grade: B+

Rating:

- "LOOK MA! YES WIRES"
Being the biggest Superman fan in the world, seeing a Superman film being bad really means it is bad.
Superman 4 was by far the worst Superman film of the series, Superman 2 was the best, Superman The Movie was great and Superman 3 was ok.
Three things bought this movie down and here are the three things.

1. Story/Plot: Probably the main fault with the film, the idea of Superman ridding the world of Nuclear Weapons after a cry from a boy and the idea of Lex Luthor recreating life itself the Nuclear man, by a single hair from Superman was right down silly.

2. Special Effects: The problem with the special effects for Superman 4 was that they were poor, cause the movie was low budget the effects were layed down to a level of being tacky.
There was too much use of blue screen in the film and cause of not correct lighting Superman flying in the air looked out of place.
Where scenes of Superman on wires I don't know if it is cause I have extremely good eyesight or what but wires could be seen nearly everytime Superman flew off.

3. 90mins/Bad Cutting: This has to be the main fault with the film.
Superman 4 was originally 134mins long this was cut to a disappointing 90mins missing a whole battle with another Nuclear man and a more detailed plot and more understanding to the film itself.
Not only did this cut affect probably the ratings of this film but it most definately affected the plot.
Sometimes things would seem out of place or a cut from one scene to another gave this impression that perhaps wait a second where is the scene between these two scenes.

Overall not a very good film watchable but not great and Christopher Reeve also looked to skinny in this one, which also had a part to play in killing Superman off in what began as a great series.

Rating:

- Uncut Only
I say the uncut version of this film was far better than the crummy 90min. verion what we have now. I've eventually seen the long 2hour 15min. version at a screen test before it hit the theaters. Because of the silly other people there, the director chopped all of them awsome scenes out which made me angry. The creation of Nuclearman 1 fight and between Superman and Nuclearman 1was great even though the effects weren't finished. Superman responding to Jeremy's letter was also good and those fools cut that scene too. A scene I thought was touching was when Superman was flying with Jeremy around the world. Why did they cut that scene? I don't know. He also destroyed all of the copies in the studio, but I managed to have a extra one, but I misplaced when I was moving in 1988 which really [stinks]. I don't see how I made that stupid mistake. Shucks! Only if I knew it was valuable I would still have it today. Maybe someday I and eveeryone else will see this full version. I'll see it a 2nd time then

page 16 of 31