Review of Superman IV: The Quest for Peace (1987) by Austin S — 30 Apr 2009

Superman IV is such a mess. I believe everyone agree with that statement. I was trying so hard not to fall asleep when watching the DVD.

However, when I watched the deleted scene and listening to the audio commentary, the most experience things happened. This is the first time I think the deleted scene and the audio commentary is more interesting compared to the actual movie itself.

The deleted scenes are quite long compare to usual deleted scenes provided by other movies. There are some deleted scenes that I don't understand why they deleting it (the final movie have lots of plot holes that would have been fixed if some of the scenes is included). But several deleted scenes (especially the plot of Superman fighting with his idiot clone) were so awful, that I don't understand what the hell was in their mind when they shot this scene?

This is also the first time I heard audio commentary coming from one of the movie maker that starting from the early beginning of the scene bashing the movie. Mark Rosenthalâ??in his audio commentaryâ??blamed Cannon Pictures' lack of commitment on financing the project, cutting the budget half from the initial plan. As a result, some of the effects were not as good as it had been before. The other thing, the problem during post production forced 30 minutes of the movie being cut. Even, there was also a discussion to use the plot of Superman fighting with his idiot clone for Superman V. (?).

In the end, Superman IV was such a tragic movie. It initially came as a redemption attempt to fix what went wrong in Superman III. But unfortunately, it only makes thing worst.