Movie Editor Greg Elias has put together his own fan-edit for “Superman IV: The Quest for Peace”, which he hopes turns it into a movie worthy of the rest of the series.
Greg explains, “I’ve always felt there was enough there, in the existing film and a couple deleted scenes, to make it shine with some creative editing. Everything about Reeve’s performance and some of the major action sequences, like the missile roundup, Statue of Liberty and Around The World Chase, are fantastic! The filmmakers included some mind-numbing stuff that really derails a compelling, challenging Superman story. Without these, the movie becomes a taut 72-minute adventure packed with action and emotion.”
He continues, “I cut out what I considered to be ’embarrassing’ or needless elements, i.e. most of the Lenny Luthor dialogue, the endless fingernail shots, the scratch-fight in space, other needless exposition (‘I will hurt people!’), and bad special effects (wires, telekinesis stuff). Removing those elements from Nuclear Man in particular makes the character more menacing and explosive. The battle in the Metropolis streets is shorter but more powerful. I did leave in one quick reminder of the telekinetic levitation that I was unable to excise, but I look at it as a nice wink.”
“There is also a shift in Lois’s story, in that it doesn’t just affect this film but the entire series. Instead of being used for support and then mind-wiped once again by Superman, I removed the mind-wipe and end the flight scene with Superman saying simply ‘Thank you.’ This changes the context for the later sequences with Lois and Clark. Also, in removing the mind-wipe, it later implies a semi-tragic twist: Superman loses the memory of his re-reveal to Lois. The memory loss is a byproduct of the Nuclear Man-induced sickness. I did not intend this at the outset and was amazed how it worked out.”
For further details on the scenes edited and those added, visit Greg’s blog. You can download the movie from DropBox or Vimeo.
The film was a massive missed opportunity. I enjoyed it as a kid, but I have found out how bad it really was as I grew older. His 50th anniversary back then did not deserve this kind of film. The Salkinds knew they had gold within their hands and they blew it by selling their rights to the Canon Film Group. Really??? Canon? The company whose financed most of Chuck Norris’s action movies? Whose Bosses are Yoram Globus and Menachem Goran, known for saving every penny on production costs. Superman of all films should have THE blockbuster of the year… Read more »
I’m excited to check it out.
Would love to read a full review of this.