“Lenny, let's try and keep your IQ a family secret.”

Engrained in this messy movie is actually a story that could have been great. Christopher Reeve was certainly passionate about the nuclear arms race, and that passion is seen onscreen as this is what the story is about - Superman ridding the world of nuclear weapons. It’s surprisingly effective for me, and also surprising that a comic book movie from this time took the risk of being this outspoken. This is by far the most criticized not only Superman movie, but known as one of both the worst comic-book movies of all-time, and worst movies overall of all-time, and I really don’t see why. Yes, like I said, it’s a mess, but it actually has something to say and is, while at times artificially, entertaining, very unlike Superman III.

It returns to what made the first two movies so endearing (while definitely not being as great), by having the charm and whimsical (and yes, I know I’ve used that word in pretty much every review I’ve made of the Christopher Reeve-era Superman movies, but it’s so prominent that I can’t help it) feeling those movies had. I am not really a fan of the theatrical cut of Superman II and think that Superman III is straight-up awful, because Richard Lester made it clear that he didn’t understand or see what made the character of Superman so special and endearing. Superman IV: The Quest for Peace clearly knows what makes this character so special, whether it’s a good movie or not, because both the writers, one of whom gets story credit is Christopher Reeve, and the director, do in fact, know what makes him so special. His goodness, his love for humanity, and his charm, all three of which were not seen very much in Superman III.

Christopher Reeve himself actually gets stuff to do here as well. He’s the main character again, as he always should have been, and is the same lovable character that he was in Superman: The Movie and Superman II. He gets to be iconic again, and the story actually gives Reeve the ability to be, well, a character. No, he doesn’t get as much time to be as emotionally deep as before because of the runtime, but he does get at least a little bit of it anyway.

While John Williams isn’t credited as the composer for the movie, his score returns, which also helps this feel more like the first two films. I know that may be an artificial way of doing it, but still. Even aside from the reused tracks, I think Alexander Courage, the credited composer, actually does quite a great job of creating music that captures that feeling that John Williams did, though obviously no one can be as effective as John Williams; it’s just too high a bar to pass. I liked his music, unlike the slapstick and mostly empty music used for Superman III.

Bringing back Lois Lane also helps this movie. There was an absolutely missed opportunity with her character, and I actually wish that the main big scene between her and Superman was the last scene of the film, something that has made me contemplate making a fan edit of the movie for, along with a lot of other things. Margot Kidder’s charm was definitely missed in Superman III, and so seeing her again for Superman IV was one of the highlights.

And as I said before, this movie actually takes risks as well. The nuclear arms race was something pretty huge at the time, with all the Cold War stuff, and I think the movie definitely did a good job of handling that topic, though, again, its runtime limited that impact. There is definitely some silly stuff to it with how Superman handles it, but it still is impactful for me, and is honestly kind of campy in a way that I liked. The campiness was another thing that made this movie feel more like the first two, even if it did go a little over the top with it at times.

The special effects certainly weren’t great, yet another thing I’ll get to, but I definitely enjoyed the action. This is the most action-prominent of the four films, pretty easily, and I found all of the action super entertaining. Yes, Nuclear Man is a cheesy villain, but a formidable foe for Superman, which made for some really good scenes between them. I especially liked the ones in space, but even the ones with them just flying around were really cool too. Nuclear Man is far from a good antagonist, but he was cool and did have hints of being a good villain.

Now, as I said before, which is definitely obvious with this movie’s reputation, the whole thing is a mess. I’ll go back to a word I just used - “hint.” This movie is riddled with hints of what could have been not only a good but a great sendoff for Christopher Reeve’s interpretation of Superman, but unfortunately, the runtime and budget cuts kept it from being that. For one, there are lots of plot holes and things that don’t make sense because there were clearly scenes vital to the story that were cut, which shows. The main one is Nuclear Man’s motives towards the end, but also really anything revolving around Superman’s little mini-arc in the third act, as well as anything with him and Lois. They were just kind of oddities that really showed what could have been, which is so unfortunate and disappointing to me. I would love to see a full version of this movie someday, with a fully fleshed-out story.

Another thing that comes with the lower budget is yet another thing I briefly mentioned - the visual effects. Yeah, they are pretty bad and worse than the first movie despite it coming out nine years later. They reuse a lot of the shots of Superman flying (which has been memed to death at this point), and this is easily the movie of the four with the heaviest use of green screen, and it’s definitely not good looking. The budget also limits the action scenes from being as good as they could have been, even though I still really liked them.

The last thing I’ll mention and the thing I like the least about Superman IV is actually something that would have been a negative for me even if this movie was able to be completely finished, and that is the added romance with the new character, Lacy. With this being the last Reeve Superman movie, I think it was important that they put prime focus on Superman and Lois’s romance. Yes, I know how Superman II ended, but there were so many scenes in this movie between Superman and Lois that, and I’ll use this word for the very last time, hinted at a great relationship storyline. However, they decide to complicate things by adding a completely uninteresting character, and quite frankly, an annoying one too. I especially hate how whiny she is and how she refers to her father as “daddy.” Like, what was the thought behind that?

Anyways, despite how much of a mess Superman IV: The Quest for Peace is, I really don’t see why it has such a negative reputation. It’s far from good, but it isn’t just an empty and one-note feeling movie, and it could have been great, and it's a movie that I enjoy despite all of its flaws. Way better than Superman III.