Superman IV: The Quest for Peace (Exclusive Series) (HBO Max)

Initial release date: July 24, 1987

Studios: Warner Brothers/The Cannon Group

Plot: Seeing the US and the Soviet Union engaged in a nuclear arms race that could lead to Earth's destruction, Superman decides that he must take action. He collects all the nuclear warheads from the world and throws them into space. Meanwhile, his nemesis, Lex Luthor, has broken out of prison with a new scheme. He clones Superman with radioactive material to create Nuclear Man, a being just as powerful as the man of steel.

Cast

Christopher Reeve - Superman/Clark Kent

Gene Hackman - Lex Luthor/Nuclear Man (voice only)

Jackie Cooper - Perry White

Marc McClure - Jimmy Olsen

Jon Cryer - Lenny

Sam Wanamaker - David Warfield

Mark Pillow - Nuclear Man

Mariel Hemingway - Lacy Warfield

Margot Kidder - Lois Lane

William Hootkins - Harry Howler

Jim Broadbent - Jean Pierre Dubois

Writer(s): Lawrence Konner (The Many Saints of Newark)

Mark Rosenthal (The Sorcerer's Apprentice)

Director: Sidney J. Furie

Rated PG (90 minutes)

So, I finally made it to 'Superman IV: The Quest for Peace' For quite some time, I've been seeing online how bad this sequel was and I kept an open mind throughout the whole movie while I was watching it.

Okay, there are a few moments that are kinda cool. It was good to see Gene Hackman back as the iconic Lex Luthor after not appearing in the third movie. And, the whole sequence of how Luther creates the film's villain Nuclear Man is cool, showing how he has the power of the sun and whatnot ... and that's pretty much it.

The visual effects in the first two movies are amazing and were just alright in the third. But, in this sequel, the effects were a major down-grade. I know it was the 80s and computer visual effects were still not the best at the time. Yet, there are definitely other films from that decade that had a lot better visual effects.

You can also tell in some scenes that the movie was rushed since you can easily see some of the wires that hold the actors during the flying sequences and how they re-used several effects shots. The movie was produced by The Cannon Group, who was known at the time for creating very cheap, and not so great movies

There is a moment towards the end where you see the Lacy Whitfield character being taken by Nuclear Man and is taken into space ... where there is no air ... yet she can still breath and function normally. I think the filmmakers messed up a little there LOL.

So, overall, this sequel can be a majorly campy installment that is fairly weak. I will be checking out 'Man of Steel' Thursday night before I begin my Veteran's Day slate!

'Superman IV" is available to stream on HBO Max.

Here are some interesting little tidbits for 'Superman IV: The Quest for Peace':

• Reeve publicly regretted his involvement in the film. He stated, "'Superman IV' was a catastrophe from start to finish. That failure was a huge blow to my career."

• The movie's original budget was $36 million. Just before filming was to begin, The Cannon Group, which was experiencing financial problems, slashed the budget to $17 million. The filmmakers cut corners by doing things like re-using special effects.

• When Nuclear Man was being developed, Reeve was approached to play that part of Superman's polar opposite, or a darker version of Bizarro.

• Reeve agreed to play Superman for a fourth time if the studio financed his project, 1987s 'Street Smart.'

• The Cannon Group, thinking that they had a potential blockbuster on their hands, cut the two hour plus film down to a lean 90 minutes, so that theater owners could have more screenings per day, and potentially make more money that would eventually filter back to the studio.

• The film was both a critical and commercial failure, with many reviewers criticizing the cheap visual effects, inconsistencies, lack of originality and numerous plot holes.

• The Cannon Group was in severe financial trouble by the mid 80s. They bought the rights to Superman, hoping the film would save them. The finished picture ended up being another costly failure.

• At the end of the film, Superman says to Luthor as he's dropping him back off in the prison quarry, "See you in 20." Superman and Luthor wouldn't appear in a film together until 'Superman Returns' - 20 years later.

• It was released on July 24, 1987 in the UK, US and Canada. Domestically it opened to 1,511 theaters and grossed $5.6 million during its opening weekend, ranking 4th at the box office. Overall gross of $15.6 million domestically alone.

• After the fourth movie flopped, the series went dormant for nineteen years. Plans were made to make a fifth movie, but they never came to fruition. Reeve's 1995 paralysis made any further development of sequels involving him in the starring role impossible.

• Eventually in 2006, a soft-reboot of the series, 'Superman Returns, was released and disregarded the events of the third and fourth movies, though the CW ArrowVerse crossover event 'Crisis of Infinite Earths' seemed to indicate that the latter sequels were in the same canon.

• A proposed fifth movie had Superman dying and resurrecting in the shrunken, bottled Krypton city of Kandor. The premise of Superman's death and rebirth coincidentally predated the 1992 'The Death of Superman' comic book storyline.

https://youtu.be/jwuB2ub5aek