To celebrate the release of Man of Steel this month, the Flickering Myth writing team are looking back over Superman’s previous screen adventures; next up is Anthony Stokes with a review of 1987’s Superman IV: The Quest for Peace…
After the disappointing box office returns of Superman III and the spin-off Supergirl, nobody was in a rush to make another Superman movie. The rights were sold to the infamous Cannon Films, who approached a reluctant Christopher Reeve to return to the character. Reeve was given a deal which included creative control over the story, an option to direct a fifth Superman movie if the fourth was successful, and the chance to produce another movie of his choosing.
The end result was what many could consider a train wreck. Cannon Films reportedly took money from investors and spread it across multiple projects leaving Superman IV with a significantly smaller budget then proposed. Being an effects driven film, Superman IV’s production suffered and Reeve reportedly even told young star (at the time) Jon Cryer that the movie was going to be “terrible”. After a disasterous screen test there was 45 minutes cut from the theatrical release.
I’ve had very little exposure to the character of Superman. I was a devout fan of the TV show Smallville, and I watched a healthy amount of Superman: The Animated Series, but I’ve never really understood the appeal of the Man of Steel. To me he seemed like a cheat code, and I found his dynamics uninteresting because he’s basically invincible. I know in the comics he’s far from invincible, but in any given adaption he’s pretty much a god. Not to mention I always thought it was weird nobody recognized Clark Kent as Superman.
Superman IV begins with Clark Kent finding out that Perry White has been fired from the Daily Planet and replaced by tabloid tycoon David Warfield and his daughter Lacy. Lacy tries to seduce Clark and this begins a really forced love triangle between the two of them and Lois Lane. Meanwhile, at a UN meeting, there’s an uproar about the threat of nuclear war. Superman decides to get rid of all the nuclear weapons and toss them into the sun. Lex Luthor, played once more by Gene Hackman, escapes jail with his nephew Lenny Luthor (Cryer), and concocts a plan to send Superman’s DNA into the sun to create a clone. From the sun is born Nuclear Man, who has all the powers of Superman and we have our primary antagonist, who isn’t introduced or even conceived until halfway through the movie.
Now this movie is considered to be not only the worst Superman movie, but also one of – if not the – worst superhero movies ever made. Would I go that far? Maybe. On a purely technical level, it takes the cake easily. Every dollar cut from the budget is felt; there’s a repeated shot of Superman flying towards the camera that is used excessively. Because of so much footage being cut, the editing is choppy and all the subplots go absolutely nowhere. Scenes cut without warning or any sense of rhythm or purpose.
Even outside of aesthetics the movie feels dated in its handling of the story and its mechanics. Superman disarms the nuclear countries, and had this been a modern day adaptation, the most interesting aspect of the movie would be the real world consequences of having no nuclear weapons. There could have been a subplot about the Cold War ending, but there’s no politics to deal with or even complications of throwing nuclear bombs into the sun. The physics are completely non-existent and disappear and reappear at the plot’s convenience. Everything is really simple and it shows just how far comic book movies have developed in the intervening years from just being big budget cartoons with black and white morals.
The jury is out if this is the worst comic book movie for a few reasons. In being so new to Superman, most of the criminal mishandling of the character didn’t offend me personally. As a matter of fact, the few parts that focus solely Superman and Lois really showed me why people love the character, and made me invest more time into the Superman movie franchise. Christopher Reeve portrays the Man of Steel very well and conquered any quips I had about Superman going in to the movie. And, while poorly edited and executed, the movie at least tries to be good. There is a charm and a quaintness to its awkwardness and its missteps. It is horrible yes, but not for lack of trying and if handled correctly some of the concepts could have been really interesting.
Surprisingly I didn’t hate this movie. Saying that, I far from enjoyed it and really there’s absolutely nothing of value in this film. It’s not absurdly stupid enough to be fun or to watch ironically and genuine Superman fans will be rightfully upset. The fact it turned me on to liking Superman isn’t a positive, because it will likely have the opposite effect on most people. I suspect that the fact I was anticipating this film to be antagonizing really softened the blow significantly, but in the name of good taste stay away from Superman IV: The Quest for Peace at all costs.
Anthony Stokes is a blogger and independent filmmaker.
Originally published June 6, 2013. Updated April 11, 2018.
