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    DVD REVIEW

Oliver Harper's Review

This film was always considered the worst Superman film, because of the poor special effects and the dodgy script. Christopher Reeve took most of the blame for Superman IV, it was his idea from the begining so what was the main problem behind the film?. The original script for the film was very promising it had the heart of Superman the movie and the respect and it wasn't full of campy humour like Superman III. It dealt with serious issues that could effect the world we live in today. The film was centred around Superman destroying the nuclear arms race and Luthor who had created two Nuclearmen. This was how the film was supposed to be about but upon release all of the footage that was shot for the first Nuclearman ( Clive Mantle )was cut giving the film a very short running time. All the other Superman films ran to about 2 hours long. Superman IV seemed way to short.What you get on the DVD is 89 minute version that was only released in the US and Canada. The rest of the world recived the Cannon cut that ran to approx 92 minutes long. This version contained the Russian scene where Superman has to stop missile from going off and rescueing a little girl in a tornado. These scenes can be found in the TV version that is aired in America and the Japanese widescreen LaserDisc.

Picture:
The picture for the DVD is excellent much better Superman II and III. I suppose its a newer film. The old VHS copies suffered from alot of dirt epesically on the close ups of Superman and Nuclearman fighting. The dirt has seemed to have been removed. This is the first time Superman IV has been available in America in widescreen format. It is a big improvement over the Pan and Scan. There is some nice touchs of the full frame use. In the Metropolis battle scene where Nuclearman shoots all the cars the cars are framed very well and look very nice giving much more enjoyable look to the film. Alot of the flying scenes that repeated are all centred so you would think that Cannon already new that Superman could be easily put onto video. back to the picture, the colours and contrast hold up well for a NTSC disc. Superman shines through out the picture even though the film is on a tiny budget Ernest Day did manage to get a decent look to the film making it standout on its own against the other Superman films. The old static Warner logo at the begining of the film has been replaced with the new logo that has Warner studios in view and zooms out to the WB sign. Below is nice example of the decent transfere Warner has given Superman IV.
 

Sound:
The DVD has the same encoding has Superman II and III, but the surround mix is alot better. At the time Dolby Stereo mixs where improving and giving a better sense of surrounding to the film. The sound is not very compressed so you don't have to have the volume up at high blast. comparing it the LaserDisc the DVD does have a better discrete surroundings but the centre, left and right speakers aren't as loud as they should be compared to the LD. But its not that much difference, Im just being abit picky. Superman IV would have been awesome in DD 5.1, it looks like Warner have decided to go the cheap way out . Typical Warner.
 
Extras:
There is so much missing from this film, Warner could have done a excellent DVD that would of boosted sales. At least they could have included the European version with runs to 92 minutes instead of Warners shoody cut. Fans of the movies have all been dieing to see the longer cut of this film which ran to about 125 minutes but it seems Warner have wasted another good oppotunitiy to make a hit. All the film includes is a pretty good trailer that is well put together and is alot better than that shite Superman III trailer. If you watch carefully you will see scenes that are not available in the DVD. Check out Superman Cinema for the other trailer that contains more footage from the original cut. Also there are a few Bios. Warner again have taken stills from the uncut version and used them for backgrounds. Warner what are you doing?, if don't want anyone to know about it then why are you clearly showing footage from the original cut!, dum asses!. The menu screen is very cool, its just static background of the main cover with Alexander Courages main theme of the top. Not bad.

Overall:

Picture **** out of 5
Sound *** out of 5
Extras * out of 5

Total *** out of 5.

There are alot of Superman IV fans out there. I'm a fan too, the film just seems to grow on you. Most fans of the Superman films would of brought the box set. But if you don't have four go buy it just to see the tacky effects. On a good note the film is a big improvement in widescreen and Christopher Reeve gives a the audience a typical excellent performance.

Adam Berry's Review

For the first time we see Superman IV released in widescreen (apart from the very rare Japan Laserdisc) and the picture quality is a vast
improvement over the VHS release.  Gone are the annoying black spots that frequently showed up on the video release.  The sound quality is pretty good and is much better than both Superman II & III although it is only Dolby Digital 2.0 instead of the 5.1.

Extras:

Just a trailer (although a good one) and cast biographies.  Some great photos, a lot of shots that are from the extended version of Superman
IV. Of course none of the 45 minutes of extra footage that was cut from the film. I think that this DVD is a worthwhile purchase considering that the picture quality is far better than the video release.