‘Effective immediately, I’m going to rid our planet of all nuclear weapons...’
So, here we are. After covering the three previous entries in the Superman franchise, we have arrived at Superman IV: The Quest for Peace, notorious for being a box office bomb and one of the worst sequels of all time. Christopher Reeve described it as “…a catastrophe from start to finish”. Empire magazine placed it at number 40 in their list of the the top 50 worst movies ever. Is it a turd? Is it a shame? Yes, it’s Superman IV: The Quest for Peace…
Superman (Reeves) is back! As is Lex Luthor (Gene Hackman – missing from the third entry). Why are they back? Well, they were each paid a huge amount of money (Reeve alone was paid $6 million). Everyone who works for the Daily Planet also returns and we have an unwelcome sea of new faces. Most notably, Mark Pillow as Nuclear Man (in what is unsurprisingly his only film credit) and Jon Cryer as Lex’s incredibly annoying nephew, Lenny.
You know things are bad when even the opening credits are setting off alarm bells. This whole thing feels amateur from the start. The ‘flying’ scenes are truly unwatchable. Everyone involves seem faintly embarrassed. Surprisingly, Milton Keynes doesn’t make for a convincing Metropolis stand in. Cannon Films slashed the budget in half shortly before filming and boy does it show. The Quest for Peace? The ‘quest’ should have been for a decent plot. Instead, we have some tired Cold War inspired bullshit and some nonsense about the sun.
What’s most upsetting about watching Superman IV is that it didn’t make me angry. If anything, what I felt for the people involved in this movie was pity. Reeve is still trying his hardest, and a Gene Hackman at 20% is still better than most actors out there, but these glimmers of talent just make the final film even more tragic. It’s a senseless waste of aptitude, time and money.
Superman IV is as bad as people say it is. It’s not even so-bad-it’s-good, it’s just bad. I’ll say one thing for a nuclear apocalypse, it would, at least, wipe all trace of this abomination off the earth. Here’s hoping.
