"Superman 4: The Search (and failure) For Decent Collaborators I remember when I first heard about "Superman 4" being produced, and the names Golan/Globus were uttered. My first thought: The guys who do the Chuck Norris movies? And, second: It's going to be bad! When my roommate and I went to see "S4" the week it came out, my thoughts unfortunately came true. From the glittery opening credits (glitter?), to (spolier alert!) Lex Luthor bring put back into his prison rock quarry (I didn't know they still had those), "Superman 4: The Quest For Peace" is simply a well-intentioned idea executed badly. Christopher Reeve's basic idea was a good one, but Cannon simply dropped the ball due to greed (using not only the original budget, but even MORE money given to them by Warner Bros., to shore up other failures, including "He-Man and The Masters Of The Universe") and incompetence. Margot Kidder looks pale, with EXTREMELY mascaraed eyes, but she does manage to convey her love for Superman. Mariel Hemmingway had nothing to work with as Lacy Warfield, but she serves her purpose of being pretty (despite the odd costume designs that she, and everyone else, sports). Gene Hackman is sleep-acting through his role, but he still manages to make Lex snidely evil. The less said about Jon Cryer's performance, the better ("The Dude of Steel? Boy, are you gonna get it!") As for Mark Pillow? You can't fault him too much- it was his first film, and he was picked to be the sex-appeal villain (plus, his cheesy costume does him no favors.) His lines mainly consist of mouthing roars that are post-dubbed by Gene Hackman. Chris Reeve is still Superman, and his performance is his usual best. The effects are amusingly bad- flying strings abound unremoved, the models look like just what they are-models- and some of them are just bizarre. Who knew Supes had a spare mesh bag put away if she should just happen to gather all the worlds' nuclear missiles and toss them into the sun? And, who knew the Earth's countries had THAT many missiles? Who knew you could move the moon out of its orbit without causing massive problems on Earth? FINALLY, who knew you could breathe in space? Lacy Warfield has no problems doing it while hanging onto the unconscious Nuclear Man! I could go on, but if you're reading this you've most likely seen "S4", and understand about the effects completely. As bad as this film is, though, I find myself watching it again and again, maybe hoping that a Happy Film Fairy worked their magic and changed the film, making it better. Reeve and Kidder (as well as the rest of the film series' cast) do their best with what they have to work with. Once Chris Reeve had his accident and ended up in a wheelchair, my heart sank knowing he'd never be able to do another Superman film, and possibly end the series on a higher note than "S4" did. But, "Superman 4" is what it is, and (Spolier alert?) the Deluxe Edition DVD offers a bunch of deleted scenes(with stock music and unfinished effects)that show what "S4" could have been if the premiere screening hadn't been so negative as to cause massive re-editing. The film would've made a lot more sense in certain parts, and (in my opinion), a lot more fun. "S4" is bad, yes, but not repulsively so. Just to be able to see Chris Reeve and Lois Lane fly around the world again (albeit badly!) makes "Superman 4: The Quest For Peace" worth another viewing. It''d be nice to see the complete cut used for the aforementioned secret screening, but until that happens, we have this version. Which, for entertainment and nostalgia, is alright. Chris Reeve's heart was in the right place, but Cannon Films' heart was not. A shame.
P.S.: If you can find a copy of the"International Version" somehow (I recorded it on VHS from Superstation TBS several years ago), you'll see two scenes featured in the DVD Deleted Scenes section, but fully integrated into the film (full music and effects): Superman saves a little girl (actually, Chris Reeve's young daughter) from a tornado in what looks like Kansas (or possibly, Smallville): and, Superman saves Russian politicians from a nuclearmissle that Nuclear Man aims at them.