Superman IV: The Quest for Peace 4K Blu-ray Movie

Rating summary

Movie		2.0
Video		4.0
Audio		3.0
Extras		2.0
Overall		2.0

Superman IV: The Quest for Peace 4K Blu-ray Movie Review

Reviewed by Jeffrey Kauffman May 8, 2023

Note: This version of this film is available as part of Superman I-IV 5-Film Collection 4K.

Both the small screen and big screen adaptations of Superman have had some notable tragedies, two of them rather weirdly involving men with rather similar last names, as has been discussed ad infinitum by some more devoted conspiracy theorists. George Reeves, beloved star of television's Adventures of Superman, met a rather ignominious and some would argue mysterious end which decades later became fodder for its own film, Hollywoodland. Christopher Reeve of course was victim of a horrifying riding accident which left him paralyzed, a situation that probably inarguably led to his own early demise. Part of George Reeves' problem may have been that he was so closely identified with the character of Superman that he felt he couldn't escape (few even remember his film career, which included a memorable bit in the very first scene of Gone with the Wind ). Christopher Reeve was able to evade if not totally elude the formidable shadow cast by the venerable superhero, which perhaps only added to the feeling of melancholy after his accident and later death. But even if Reeve was able to contribute rather memorable performances in any number of non-Superman outings ranging from Deathtrap to Somewhere in Time, in his own way he'll probably be as firmly tethered to the character of Superman as George Reeve is/was, and this new collection of 4K UHD presentations of four or five Christopher Reeve Superman films (depending on how you want to count things) should provide fans with some memories of happier times when things like Kryptonite seemed to be the only threats to safety and well being. Those happy memories may nonetheless be intermittently interrupted by some kind of odd choices Warner has made with this release, which will be discussed in the various individual reviews.

All of the films in this collection have had previous 1080 releases (and in some cases several previous 1080 releases). Anyone interested can find some older individual reviews for some of these in the database, which may (or may not) suffice in terms of providing plot summaries, in case anyone actually needs those by this point. However, they stem from the nascent days of the site and I'd frankly personally recommend those interested in prior reviews and especially technical analyses of the older 1080 releases stick with Ken Brown's The Superman Motion Picture Anthology Blu-ray review, which also has a detailed list of supplements on the 1080 discs. Ken's review is one of our "old style" reviews which combines all the discs from a bundle into one review, and in this particular case, that means citing just one review rather than several, and that may hopefully suffice for many, and maybe most. You may note that my scores for various 1080 presentations and overall films may vary slightly from Ken's, in just the latest example of my mantra "different reviewers means different opinions".

Superman IV: The Quest for Peace 4K Blu-ray Movie, Video Quality 

Note: Note: Screenshots are sourced from the 1080 disc included in this release.

Superman IV: The Quest for Peace is presented in 4K UHD courtesy of Warner Brothers Home Entertainment with an HEVC / H.265 encoded 2160p transfer in 2.40:1. I'd rate this film's 1080 presentation as one of the better of the Superman series, but that ironically may mean that any perceived improvement in this new 4K UHD version may not be as dramatic as in the two previous entries in the series. That said, I certainly found this version to offer a much more vivid palette, at least in the more brightly lit outdoor material, and HDR has added any number of highlights at both the warm and cool ends of the spectrum. Fine detail is at least marginally improved, though once again the overall increased resolution is not always "friendly" to old school composited effects. As a result, there are some definitely shoddy looking moments here in terms of being able to easily spot the seams in composited shots. Grain is once again pretty highly variable, as this film like its predecessors is chock full of opticals.

Superman IV: The Quest for Peace 4K Blu-ray Movie, Audio Quality 

Superman IV: The Quest for Peace features a Dolby Atmos track, which would on its face seem to be a significant upgrade from the older DTS-HD Master Audio 2.0 track, but which has one of the more curious issues in recent memory, where some of the theatrical version's cues have been replaced with other, earlier, takes that were re-recorded before the film saw the cinematic light of day. Now some regular readers of my reviews know I make part of my living as a musician, and so I'm perhaps more attuned (no pun intended) to music in films than "casual" viewers/listeners, and while this is obviously a mistake that never should have happened, I will say based only on my listening (so your mileage may vary, obviously) that the differences are not huge in my estimation. I've long said that all of the major studios/labels should offer diehard fans the chance to get screeners to assess technical issues like this, because a dime will get you a dollar that your average "fan" will spot more mistakes than any number of technicians that may work on any given release. With all of this information now pushed momentarily to the side, the Atmos track does offer some nice improvements over the old stereo track, with much more immersive sound effects in some of the big action sequences, and at times a much more robust low end. Had this not had the score error, my score (again, no pun intended) would be higher, and despite the fact that dialogue and effects and "wrong takes and everything" score are all presented without any actual fidelity issues, a mistake like this can't be ignored. Optional English, French and Spanish subtitles are available.

Superman IV: The Quest for Peace 4K Blu-ray Movie, Special Features and Extras 

4K UHD Disc

• Audio Commentary is the same one from days of yore, as mentioned below.

1080 Disc

See Ken Brown's The Superman Motion Picture Anthology Blu-ray review for a complete list, including information on the commentary.

Superman IV: The Quest for Peace 4K Blu-ray Movie, Overall Score and Recommendation 

Superman IV: The Quest for Peace is often cited as the nadir of the Reeve Superman movies, and its reputation is certainly not going to be helped by issues like switching out soundtracks. It will be interesting to see if Warner offers any kind of replacements, though I reiterate that at least for casual listeners, there may be no real problem. Aside from that perplexing screw up, technical merits are generally solid.