Superman IV: The Quest for Peace (1987) Warner Bros-Cannon Films/Action-Adventure RT: 90 minutes Rated PG (comic book-style violence, language) Director: Sidney J. Furie Screenplay: Lawrence Konner and Mark Rosenthal Music: Alexander Courage (adaptation) and John Williams Cinematography: Ernest Day Release date: July 24, 1987 (US) Cast: Christopher Reeve, Gene Hackman, Jackie Cooper, Marc McClure, Jon Cryer, Sam Wanamaker, Mark Pillow, Mariel Hemmingway, Margot Kidder. Box Office: $15.6M (US)/$30.2M (World)
Rating: *
Superman, where are you? Please come and save us from this terrible installment of the Superman franchise? Oh that’s right, you’re starring in it. Superman IV: The Quest for Peace is the absolute worst of all the Superman movies. This is precisely the reason it’s better than Superman III. Unlike the dull tree-quel, it’s unintentionally hilarious. And dumb as hell. It’s so stupid that the viewer is in jeopardy of losing IQ points while watching it.
The plot is very basic. The US and the Soviets are right on the brink of a nuclear war. A schoolboy writes a letter to Superman (Reeve) asking to him to get rid of all the nuclear missiles in the world. Superman attends a meeting of the United Nations and tells them that he’s going to collect all of the world’s nuclear missiles and dispose of them in space. What, he doesn’t remember what happened the last time he got rid of something in space? Apparently not.
Meanwhile, Lex Luthor (Hackman) escapes from prison with the aid of his idiotic nephew, Lenny Luthor (Cryer, Pretty in Pink). Once again, he plans to destroy Superman. For that, he’ll need a sample of his DNA. He finds a strand of Superman’s hair on display at the museum. I want to take a brief moment here to demonstrate just how stupid Superman IV: The Quest for Peace is. Lex and Lenny steal what they need by cutting the strand with a pair of ordinary scissors. HOLD ON A MOMENT! The hair strand is strong enough to hold a 1000-lb. weight, but not an ordinary pair of scissors? Wouldn’t the scissors break trying to cut Superman’s hair? You would think that the writers would explain that bit of information, yes? NOPE!
Anyway, back to the review. They create a genetic matrix and attach it to one of the nuclear missiles. The idea is to create a radioactive super-human called Nuclear Man (Pillow) who can defeat Superman once and for all. Once the missiles reach the sun, Nuclear Man comes into existence.
In other news, tabloid tycoon David Warfield (Wanamaker, Raw Deal) and his daughter Lacy (Hemmingway, Star 80) have taken over The Daily Planet with the intention of turning it to another trashy tabloid paper. Lacy takes a liking to Clark and wants to hook up with him. At the same time, Lois (Kidder) still loves Superman. What’s a superhero to do about this situation? Clark/Superman has enough to worry about, such as Nuclear Man and Lex Luthor.
There’s nothing much to this abomination that is either 90 minutes too long or 90 minutes too short, you tell me. The actors could have phoned in their performances since nothing of any real interest happens. Reeve hasn’t been into it since the second one. Even Hackman seems bored. He doesn’t chew up the scenery this time; he merely nibbles on it. And can somebody explain Lenny Luthor to me? What’s the deal with his character? He’s incredibly annoying. Perhaps he’s mentally challenged or something. That would explain a lot. Why, Ducky, why?
The special effects in Superman IV: The Quest for Peace are terrible. I’ve seen better effects in low budget movies. How many times do they use the same shot of Superman flying? Then there’s the script. A kindergartner could have written a better screenplay. It looks like something that was quickly thrown together so it could be released during the summer. There’s plenty of talent on both sides of the camera. How could it have turned out so bad? I’ve never been a real fan of the director’s work. Sidney J. Furie is notorious for directing lousy movies like Iron Eagle II (1988), The Taking of Beverly Hills (1991), Purple Hearts (1984) and Ladybugs (1992).
Actually, I do know why Superman IV: The Quest for Peace turned out like it did. Cannon, now the owners of the franchise, slashed the budget in half at the last minute forcing Furie to make changes to the script. They didn’t have the money for decent special effects. They did what they could with what little they were given to work with. Is it any surprise it turned out like it did?
There are a lot of stupid things in Superman IV: The Quest for Peace that to list them all would require several volumes. Okay, maybe I’m exaggerating a bit, but it’s of no consequence. This is one really bad movie. The action scenes are especially bad. This movie doesn’t care enough about its characters to give them something interesting to do. When I see a movie like this, I want a lot of fighting and action, not stupid scenes like the one where Clark Kent has to keep going back and forth between Lois and Lacy after Clark makes a date with Lacy and Superman makes a date with Lois. It reminded me of an episode in the Brady Bunch where Peter meets his exact double and arranges dates for the same night. That kind of thing doesn’t belong in a superhero movie. I’m starting to wonder whether Superman IV: The Quest for Peace was supposed to be a comedy. If that’s true, then it succeeds in spades. I’ve never seen anything funnier that wasn’t supposed to be funny.
