Oh boy. My opinion of Superman IV: The Quest for Peace may just be my hottest take yet, not only am I a fan of the movie which is a hot take in itself but it’s genuinely in the conversation of my favorite Superman movie. It’d be hard for me not to understand the hate for this fourth entry, if you were really connecting to the first few films this tonal upheaval could definitely ruffle some feathers but as none of those really clicked for me this Batman & Robin-esque commitment to dumbness was refreshing and honestly amazing to watch. Where the third entry and even the first two to an extent repeatedly used gags this almost completely abandons that and channels the comedy through the stupidity of the storyline, I’d understand saying that wasn’t intentional if they continued the gag-fest along with the dumb storyline but since that physical comedy was toned down so much I can’t help but think what I’m taking from it was intentional. I said this in my review for it this morning but in Superman III it’s very frustrating how the gags and jokes stall the story but the comedy coming through the outrageousness of the storyline eliminates that problem and I’m convinced that’s how this runtime ended up so short. I also understand the hate on the visual side of things because it definitely looks the worst of the four but as someone who’s watched a good amount of bad sci-fi CGI those visual transgressions don’t really hinder my ability to connect with the movie. It should go without saying that Reeve and Kidder were once again really good and even though I’ve heard there were struggles making this movie (and Reeve even thought it’d end his career) I can’t imagine they didn’t have fun together working with this wild script, I also think this is the most screen-time Gene Hackman’s ever gotten in one of these movies so that was nice to see and I liker seeing the surprise appearances of Jim Broadbent and Ducky from Pretty in Pink. I’m gonna wrap it up there because I know for a fact I’ll be back to this, like my experience with Batman & Robin Superman IV: The Quest for Peace ends up as an immediate comfort movie of mine. If you hated the Schumacher Batmans I can pretty much guarantee this isn’t for you but I really believe most people who liked his dumb fun take on Batman would also find a lot to enjoy here.
Oh boy. My opinion of Superman IV: The Quest for Peace may just be my hottest take yet, not only am I a fan of the movie which is a hot take in itself but it’s genuinely in the conversation of my favorite Superman movie. It’d be hard for me not to understand the hate for this fourth entry, if you were really connecting to the first few films this tonal upheaval could definitely ruffle some feathers but as none of those really clicked for me this Batman & Robin-esque commitment to dumbness was refreshing and honestly amazing to watch. Where the third entry and even the first two to an extent repeatedly used gags this almost completely abandons that and channels the comedy through the stupidity of the storyline, I’d understand saying that wasn’t intentional if they continued the gag-fest along with the dumb storyline but since that physical comedy was toned down so much I can’t help but think what I’m taking from it was intentional. I said this in my review for it this morning but in Superman III it’s very frustrating how the gags and jokes stall the story but the comedy coming through the outrageousness of the storyline eliminates that problem and I’m convinced that’s how this runtime ended up so short. I also understand the hate on the visual side of things because it definitely looks the worst of the four but as someone who’s watched a good amount of bad sci-fi CGI those visual transgressions don’t really hinder my ability to connect with the movie. It should go without saying that Reeve and Kidder were once again really good and even though I’ve heard there were struggles making this movie (and Reeve even thought it’d end his career) I can’t imagine they didn’t have fun together working with this wild script, I also think this is the most screen-time Gene Hackman’s ever gotten in one of these movies so that was nice to see and I liker seeing the surprise appearances of Jim Broadbent and Ducky from Pretty in Pink. I’m gonna wrap it up there because I know for a fact I’ll be back to this, like my experience with Batman & Robin Superman IV: The Quest for Peace ends up as an immediate comfort movie of mine. If you hated the Schumacher Batmans I can pretty much guarantee this isn’t for you but I really believe most people who liked his dumb fun take on Batman would also find a lot to enjoy here.
