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Superman IV - The Quest for Peace Customer Reviews (1 - 3 of 26 Reviews)

Superman 4 - The Quest to Redeem the Franchise...
4 years after "Superman 3" completely ruined any credibility this franchise had with audiences and comic book fans alike, Warner Brothers tried to redeem themselves with the release of "Superman 4: The Quest for Peace". Supposedly, Christopher Reeve (Superman/Clark Kent in all four films) had a large part in the writing of this film as the subject of disarming the world's political superpowers of nuclear weapons was dear to his heart. Sadly, though this film was a marked improvement over anything contained within "Superman 3", it was not nearly as good as either of the first two in the series.

"Superman 4: The Quest for Peace" appears to ignore all of the events of "Superman 3" and finds Superman at odds with arch-nemesis, Lex Luthor yet again. Superman's main goal in this film is to help rid the world of nuclear weapons by hurling them into the sun. Lex Luthor sees this and chooses to make his own anti-Superman, by taking some of Superman's DNA and some specially made clothing material, attaching it to one of the nuclear missles and have Superman unknowingly launch it into the sun, creating Nuclear Man. Now Superman is in for the fight of his life to save all of humanity from Nuclear Man and Lex Luthor's evil.

"Superman 4: The Quest for Peace" as I said before is better than "Superman 3", it still suffers from several stupid plot points. The primary stupid plot point centers on Lex's plot to create Nuclear Man, how does sending some of Superman's DNA and some clothing material into the sun where nukes are being launched cause the creation of a super-villain. Also, how the heck does Superman rebuild a rock wall with some power from his eyes. This is not a power that Superman possesses, he has never had the ability to lift objects with lasers from his eyes.

To the film's credit, it was nice to see the original film's cast back together again, and Christopher Reeve and Gene Hackman seem to be enjoying themselves. A lacking story, with special effects that are worse than either of the first 2 films (supposedly the execs at Warner Bros. decided to cut the films budget during filming to shift the funds to another failed blockbuster of that year, "Masters of the Universe"), this caused many special effects shots to be reused in the film and the footage seemed out of place and washed out. Decent acting considering what the actors had to work with. Overall, an average adventure for the Man of Steel, that somewhat redeems the franchise but not enough to successfully revive it. This film coupled with "Superman 3" is the reason there hasn't been a Superman film made in almost twenty years, until Warner Bros. decided to enlist Bryan Singer to bring the hero back to life in "Superman Returns" debuting in 2006.

"Superman 4: The Quest for Peace" is rated PG for violence.

Not as bad as you remember
Looking back, now that Chris Reeve is no longer with us (soon to be joined, sadly, by his lovely Dana), it was easy to be cynical. The first two Superman films were perfect. After the stunning disappointment of Superman 3, people were a bit wary about giving their trust to a new Superman film.
I'll be the first to admit that Superman 4 is nowhere near as good as the first two, but it does have a powerful message about nuclear disarmament and world peace, a cause which Chris Reeve threw himself into wholeheartedly.
So before dismissing the film completely, remember the life and dream of Chris Reeve, and continue the elusive quest for peace!

A weak ending to a great series
I tried to like this movie, I really did. I loved all the Superman movies, even the third with Richard Pryor and all that campy, silly, humor they added into it. But this was just so bad.

It's so hard to like this movie, they were playing on cliches and tired themes from the last three movies. Margo Kidder got older - and looked it! - and was obviously self medicating to compensate for the bad time they were having. Mariel Hemingway costars as the sexy manager who is actually the boss's daughter, who, for reasons we are never quite privy too, prefers Clark Kent over Superman despite his bumbling antics. And not like it wasn't obvious throughout the other movies, but ARE YOU TRYING TO TELL ME THAT THEY REALLY DIDN'T KNOW THAT CLARK KENT WAS SUPERMAN!?!?!?!? The man had an absolutely positively perfect body this side of Morten Harket and they DIDN'T KNOW?!?! Those thick glasses and dorky suits only hid so much!!!

Lex comes back with Nuclear Man, who looks like a rip off of that guy from Greatest American Hero with a relaxing job on his curls. Superman almost dies but is saved, miracle of miracles, by the last remaining crystal from the asteroid pod he came to earth on. Lois Lane has a rememberance of her love for Superman but conveniently forgets again with the magic kiss. And worst of them all, Superman didn't really save the day! He wanted to rid the earth of all nuclear weapons, and didn't! "Make Love Not War" didn't work in the hippie era, it didn't work in the Regan era, and it ain't happening today either! This laid a big fat goose egg and ended the series on a bad note. What a shame it was all down hill for Christopher Reeve after that, otherwise I think he would've had a much more rewarding career in films.

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