Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #99167 in DVD
• Released on: 2001-05-01
• Aspect ratio: 2.35:1
• Formats: Anamorphic, Closed-captioned, Colour, DVD-Video, NTSC, Subtitled, Widescreen
• Original language: English, French
• Subtitled in: English, Spanish, French, Portuguese
• Number of discs: 1
• Dimensions: .25 pounds
• Running time: 90 minutes

Customer Reviews

A Sad end to an excellant franchise
For all those familliar with the quality of the 3 previous movies then this film will become a bit of a shock.
From the moment the beginning credits start to roll, you sense that there is something badly wrong. The credits try mimic the title sequence of the preceding movies but in a less effective and evidently cheaper fashion, this sadly foreshadows what is to come.
Everything about this film, apart from the performers, reek of bargain basement.
For a movie that is just turning 20 years old, the special effects are awful. Long gone are the cutting edge effects of the previous movies. When Superman is in flight it is either an extremely poorly matted Christopher Reeve nearly static flying through badly shot background footage. Or we have him flying with painfully obvious wire showing. Worst still, an obvious doll is substituted in some scenes.
Although it's meant to be set in America it's obviously been filmed in the UK. Tight close up shots and a scattering of American cars and signs attempt to disguise this without success.
I am a huge fan of Christopher Reeve's performance as Clark Kent and Superman and it is sad to know that this was his swansong in the part. He and the rest of the cast deserved better.

Cut-Price Superman
With new producers, the director of the Ipcress File, all the principal players back and the leading man co-writing the script here was an opportunity to erase the terrible memories of the third film and come up with a return-to-form.

What a waste. The rumour is that only half the budget Cannon Films/Golan/Globus were given to make this fourth instalment was actually used. So instead of a big epic Donner-like revival of the Superman franchise, you get a film which feels like an above-average tv movie.

There are pluses. Christopher Reeve and Gene Hackman make the film come alive when they are on screen and Margot Kidder's Lois Lane is as gorgeous as ever. Also the attempt to make the film relevant to what was still a very real concern regarding the arms race is a brave one.

And that is it as far as the pluses go. Jon Cryer as Lex Luther's dimwitted nephew is annoying, Mark Pillow's Nuclear Man is a cardboard cut-out and Metropolis has been reduced to stock footage of New York and actual footage of an industrial estate in Milton Keynes.

The one major set piece on a Metropolis street is ok but not thrilling and the special effects just don't match up to the original film which was filmed nearly a decade earlier.

A film with a big heart is destroyed by plastic effects and poor editing, knocking the franchise back twenty years in the process. If there is such a thing as the fabled Superman `curse' than it had a field day with this movie.

Absolutely appaling film.
I am amazed that anyone could give this film more than 1 star when it doesn't really deserve that. This film is a bit like the movie equivalent of finding a fallen man in the road and nicking his wallet. The first two Superman films were outstanding. However Superman 3 was very average and a real let down. I didn't think the series could go any lower but then this one came along. As John McEnroe, ( I hope I have spelt that right), might say, "you can not be serious". Everything about this film is cheap. The effects are appaling, the acting is not much better and the feeble super villain was dreadful. Compare the three super villains from Superman 2 with the brainless 'nuclear man' from this film and you will see what I mean.
The only thing any good about this movie was the idea of Superman ridding the world of all nuclear weapons and forcing the world to live in peace. There was promise there however it was badly realised in my opinion.
Though I didn't really like Superman 3 there were some good set pieces, my favourite being the battle between the good and bad Superman. The fire at the chemical plant and the final fight with the supercomputer weren't bad either. In Superman 4 there are none at all.
Did my eyes deceive me or at the end when Superman saves the girl, was he really carrying her in his arms through outer space!!! That's alright then, so maybe all those astronauts don't need expensive spacesuits to protect them and feed them oxygen etc... I know that we there is a certain amount of leeway with fantasy films but there are limits. I can't believe that an error like this can get through, as it submits the film to further ridicule.
There is no doubt about it in my mind this film was just a cheap, cash in on the success of the other movies and should never have seen the light of day. They should have stopped after Superman 3, or preferrably after Superman 2. This movie demeans the memory of the first two.