After the disappointing Superman III, Christopher Reeve decided he was done with Superman and stated he had no interest in playing the role again. However, when Cannon-Globus bought the film rights to the Superman franchise from the Salkinds, they were able to tempt Reeve back with promise of more creative control. Reeve crafted a story of Superman getting involved in trying to end the Nuclear Arms race. It was an ambitious storyline but with a slashed budget, things began to fall apart with the film almost immediately.
Superman (played by Christopher Reeve) receives a letter from a young boy after nuclear disarmament talks break down asking Superman to get rid of all the nuclear weapons. Superman took a vow never to get involved or interfere in politics and initially turns the kid down. Meanwhile, trouble is brewing at the Daily Planet as the paper has a new publisher, David Warfield (played by Sam Wanamaker) and his daughter, Lacy (played by Mariel Hemingway). They intend to make the Daily Planet more like their other more tabloid-esque papers, which rubs many of the staff members the wrong way. Clark catches the eye of Lacy though, and a small romance begins to develop between the two. Lex Luthor (played by Gene Hackman) is broken out of prison by his nitwit nephew Lenny (played by Jon Cryer), who Lex amusingly refers to as the Dutch Elm's Disease of the Luthor family tree. The two set out to come up with a new way to destroy Superman. Stealing a strand of Superman's hair from a local museum, the two scheme to create a villain as powerful as Superman to destroy him. When Superman reconsiders and agrees to get rid of all the nukes, Lex sees his chance and sticks a device on one of the missiles, containing the genetic stew that when it's flung into the sun and detonated will create the new supervillain. This new creation, Nuclear Man (played by Mark Pillow and overdubbed by Gene Hackman) has only one goal: destroy Superman.
There are a lot of problems with Superman IV: The Quest for Peace. Having it's budget slashed from $35 million dollars to $17 million just before filming began made a huge impact on the film, leaving the film with a decidedly smaller effects budget. It also left director Sidney J. Furie with fewer options in shooting scenes as they scrambled to get through a shorter shooting schedule, with scenes often being poorly lit with un-imaginative camera angles leaving the film looking rather bland. After the film had a poor test screening, Warner and Cannon editors chopped up the film from a movie slightly over two hours into one that is barely an hour and a half. This only adds to the incoherence of the overall film and it is pretty clear when you view the finished product (if you can call it that) that there are huge chunks missing. The time crunch also meant there were critical effects shots missing which led to Superman suddenly developing a new power, the super telekinetic glance where he can rebuild damaged property with just a glance. It was supposed to be of him rebuilding the damage done by Nuclear Man manually using his superspeed, but the shots were never done. Then there is the climactic scenes in space between Superman and Nuclear Man, as well as a captive Lacy, who is somehow able to survive on her own in the vacuum space, in one of the biggest and most laughable movie goofs of all time.
The cast tries their best to keep the ship afloat. Christopher Reeve anchors this sinking ship with another strong performance as Superman and really sells the conflict Superman feels over if he should take an active role in disarming the world of Nuclear weapons. Gene Hackman is a good sport for once again playing Lex Luthor (also they probably paid him well) and the movie certainly picks up any time he's around, slinging his little one liners, usually at Lenny's expense. Jon Cryer, who was clearly cast to help the movie appeal to a younger audience, is suitably amusing as the dimwitted Lenny, although I can see how he would be annoying to others. Mariel Hemingway was a good choice as well as the Daily Planet's new publisher, Lacy. Her budding potential romance with Clark was nice and I liked their scenes together. Her character is inconsistent though. In her first scene she is established as a bit of a spoiled brat, but then suddenly isn't, which is likely a cause of all the vicious editing the film went through.
Overall, Superman IV: The Quest for Peace was an ambitious attempt to bring the Superman series back to respectability after the disappointing third film only for it to be cut off at the knees and fall on it's face as it managed to create a film that was somehow even worse. It's an absolute trainwreck of a movie and you know you should look away but, you know, morbid curiosity...
No comments:
Post a Comment