The quest for profit

Superman IV: The Quest for Peace (1987)

After the failure of the third instalment in the series the Salkind's sold off the rights to the franchise, Christopher Reeve stayed as the star and Gene Hackman returned to reprise the role of Lex Luthor. As the nuclear arms race between the west and the USSR heats up Superman tries to find his place in world affairs.

What this film has going for it compared to the third film in the series is throwing out the focus on comedy and actually having a decent idea to base the film on. Unfortunately the film fails to capitalise on the idea of where Superman fits into politics by not really exploring the idea or the consequences of his decision to dictate policy. The film may have been beset by budget problems but the fact that it is the shortest film in the series probably works in it's favour. There are a lot of problems with the film but it was still an improvement on it's predecessor and not as bad as the reputation it seems to have.

3/5 a barely average effort.