SUPERMAN IV
A film review by Jeff Meyer
Copyright 1987 Jeff Meyer
I really shouldn't be surprised; in fact, I should have avoided this on principle; but I really enjoyed SUPERMAN and thought SUPERMAN II was adequate, and seeing Gene Hackman's name on the roster (and David and Leslie Newman's names off it) gave me some hope that we might have something up to SUPERMAN II, something corny but with enough grit to keep my attention.
Instead, we have BATTLE OF THE FLYING WRESTLERS. Others in rec.arts.movies have listed the stupidities in this film; while I don't expect Superman movies (in fact, I don't expect *any* movies) to be a lesson in Natural Laws and How They Work, this film shrugs off absurdities like a rhino with a valium habit. And, as stated elsewhere, the special effects (which have never been a strong point with these films) has sunk to bargain basement levels --I'm suprised we didn't see any spaceships with sparklers attached to the rear.
Most disappointing, though, is that Supes is played as something of an assh*le. The only feature that has any appeal in this thing is Margot Kidder as Lois Lane; many of her scenes with Clark have some real charm. However, Superman spends his time either trying to avoid her (especially the ridiculous "how can Clark and Superman be in the same room at the same time?" scene, which is so old and stale that it seems to crawl out onto the screen and die), or he uses the "amnesia-kiss" displayed at the end of SUPERMAN II (boy, what those yellow sun rays will do to a Kryptonian male...) to erase her memory after each revelation that Clark is Superman. This must leave Lois with an unconsicous resembling a Unix(tm) core dump, and it makes you wonder what kind of a relationship Ol' Supes feels he can have with a woman he's in love with.
Really, not a shred of interest, even to comics completists. Go see ROBOCOP instead (it's worth the viewing, but it could have been just as good (or better) with only half the violence. Ick, melting people...).
Moriarty, aka Jeff Meyer
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