Superman IV: The Quest for Peace (1987)

Genre

Action | Sci-Fi

Director

Sidney J. Furie

Country

UK | USA

Cast

Christopher Reeve, Gene Hackman, Jackie Cooper, Marc McClure, Jon Cryer, Sam Wanamaker, Mark Pillow, Mariel Hemingway, Margot Kidder, Damian McLawhorn, William Hootkins, Jim Broadbent, Stanley Lebor, Don Fellows, Robert Beatty, Susannah York

Storyline

Determined to kill Superman (Christopher Reeve), Lex Luthor (Gene Hackman) creates Nuclear Man, an android that gets energy from the sun.

Opinion

A week ago I thought it was impossible to make a worse film than "Superman III". Today I think I won't believe in the impossible anymore.

A dreadful, painful to watch film, "Superman IV: The Quest for Peace" is a disgrace not only to Superman but to the whole superhero genre.

The story, if you can call it that, manages to be worse than ever with plot holes the size of the moon's craters - may the moon forgive me for mentioning her, but I had to since the Man of Steel goes up there to fight Nuclear Man - and has something like a million of uninteresting subplots that go nowhere. While the previous entry featured a drunk Superman kicking the shit out of Clark Kent - it was hilarious after all -, this one can claim a double date with Clark Kent, Superman, Lois Lane and Lacy Warfield that is one of the most depressing sequences in cinema history.

But the writing isn't the only problem. Not only the direction is non-existent, but everything else is just as bad. The editing is so poor it hurts. The cuts don't really go unnoticed as it looks like a butcher accidentally cut the film instead of meat.

The special effects join the party as well. They are terrible. T-E-R-R-I-B-L-E. How did you even manage to produce such poor special effects in 1987? Kubrick's "2001: A Space Odyssey" had better effects, and it happened 20 years earlier. Freaking unbelievable.

But the worst part has yet to come. The acting. Oh boy the acting. Christopher Reeve still stars as the Man of Steel and Gene Hackman is back as Lex Luthor but it is not any good. They both gives atrocious performances. Not to mention the supporting cast among which there are Mariel Hemingway, the same Mariel Hemingway who was nominated for an Oscar in 1980, and Jon Cryer who plays a guy even more pathetic than Alan Harper.

I'm so glad the original Superman series is over. I wouldn't have been able to deal with something worse than this.