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#182 - Superman IV: The Quest for Peace
Sidney J. Furie, 1987
Superman decides to get rid of all the nuclear weapons on Earth, which prompts Lex Luthor to create an evil clone of Superman.
Wow, what a trainwreck. Produced by the infamous Cannon Films studio (my main inspiration for watching this movie was seeing the bashing this film took in the documentary Electric Boogaloo), Superman IV marks an incredible downgrade in quality from its solid predecessor. So many factors collide in order to make this film a complete mess during its surprisingly short running time (how often do you see a superhero movie that only barely makes it to 90 minutes?). Firstly, there's the incredibly ludicrous premise where the looming threat of nuclear annihilation prompts a small boy to write a letter to Superman, who then vows to completely destroy all nuclear weapons to the near-unanimous agreement of all the world's leaders. This is then followed by a newly freed Lex Luthor working with his painfully annoying nephew to create their own version of Superman with "Nuclear Man" (pronounced new-kew-lar) by attaching Superman's DNA to a nuke getting thrown into the sun. Yes, really. There's also a sub-plot involving the Daily Planet being taken over by a corrupt newspaper tycoon, but that doesn't go anywhere interesting (and also results in one dire scene where Superman has to keep changing between being himself and Clark Kent in the presence of both Lois and the tycoon's daughter). Though Christopher Reeve believes in the film's anti-nuclear message and communicates that level of seriousness to his performance, everyone else is either terrible or having too much fun to care.
Then there's the effects - the effects in this film are simply stunning based on how totally and utterly bad they are. Green-screen effects look incredibly shoddy, the same footage of Superman flying is reused against multiple different backgrounds, his powers are extremely unconvincing (take a scene where he uses ice breath to put out a fire and it is clearly footage of the fire being run in reverse), the fact that Nuclear Man apparently develops like an embryo yet still emerges fully clothed, and so on and so forth. Even the opening credits look awful. Not even a triumphant score by veteran composer Alexander Courage does anything to distract from how this film is borderline-MST3K material and somehow manages to feel padded out despite being exactly 90 minutes in length. Still, at least it's the amusing kind of terrible (when it's not actively trying to be comedic, of course) rather than the kind that inspires genuine vitriol, and for that I suppose I should be grateful.
Sidney J. Furie, 1987
Superman decides to get rid of all the nuclear weapons on Earth, which prompts Lex Luthor to create an evil clone of Superman.
Wow, what a trainwreck. Produced by the infamous Cannon Films studio (my main inspiration for watching this movie was seeing the bashing this film took in the documentary Electric Boogaloo), Superman IV marks an incredible downgrade in quality from its solid predecessor. So many factors collide in order to make this film a complete mess during its surprisingly short running time (how often do you see a superhero movie that only barely makes it to 90 minutes?). Firstly, there's the incredibly ludicrous premise where the looming threat of nuclear annihilation prompts a small boy to write a letter to Superman, who then vows to completely destroy all nuclear weapons to the near-unanimous agreement of all the world's leaders. This is then followed by a newly freed Lex Luthor working with his painfully annoying nephew to create their own version of Superman with "Nuclear Man" (pronounced new-kew-lar) by attaching Superman's DNA to a nuke getting thrown into the sun. Yes, really. There's also a sub-plot involving the Daily Planet being taken over by a corrupt newspaper tycoon, but that doesn't go anywhere interesting (and also results in one dire scene where Superman has to keep changing between being himself and Clark Kent in the presence of both Lois and the tycoon's daughter). Though Christopher Reeve believes in the film's anti-nuclear message and communicates that level of seriousness to his performance, everyone else is either terrible or having too much fun to care.
Then there's the effects - the effects in this film are simply stunning based on how totally and utterly bad they are. Green-screen effects look incredibly shoddy, the same footage of Superman flying is reused against multiple different backgrounds, his powers are extremely unconvincing (take a scene where he uses ice breath to put out a fire and it is clearly footage of the fire being run in reverse), the fact that Nuclear Man apparently develops like an embryo yet still emerges fully clothed, and so on and so forth. Even the opening credits look awful. Not even a triumphant score by veteran composer Alexander Courage does anything to distract from how this film is borderline-MST3K material and somehow manages to feel padded out despite being exactly 90 minutes in length. Still, at least it's the amusing kind of terrible (when it's not actively trying to be comedic, of course) rather than the kind that inspires genuine vitriol, and for that I suppose I should be grateful.