You'd think after the last film, they would have thrown in the towel. The director(s) were pissed they couldn't do the movies they wanted. The studio was disappointed that their schlocky, wannabe kid's film of Superman 3 fell flat.
Guess what. They DID give up.
Word has it, that Reeves still wanted to do a Superman flick, and the original showrunners said, "knock yourself out."
So they got.....GOLAN GLOBUS!? Oh, boy. We're in for a ride, aren't we?
Let's watch!
It's no surprise that this film arouses some serious misgivings in people. It's...not a great film. Much of the budget was allegedly stolen to make....Masters of the Universe. Yes, that one. The one with Glam-i-tor.
The effects in the cold open really show off the cheapness. The overlays are awful. The props are awful. If I had watched this out of context, I might have assumed this was the first or second film. Key effects and even full shots are reused multiple times. The plot, from what I recall, is also a huge cheese fest.
And....I don't care. I want the cheese. Give me the cheese.
Irresponsible reporting for the sake of profit!? In these United States!? Surely you jest!
Even in this film, we can't seem to avoid the preconditions nascent in USian culture that led us to...well, today. Historically, journalism was stilted, opinionated, and did outright lie to suit it's political position. Look it up if you like:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Yellow_journalism
The idea of journalism being objective or impartial is a relatively new idea historically. It's arguable that it never really attained that ideal. The primary A plot in this film is motivated by the Daily Planet leveraging a nuclear crisis to drive sales, using their connection to Superman to, in modern parlance, "sell clicks". It would be an unthinkable 80s invention, but we've seen in reality in the last several years. It's hard not to watch even this cheesy film and not hear the creaking of the Overton Window in motion.
@socketwench - One of the things I absolutely love about Nuclear Man is that Gene Hackman provides the voice for him. It really lends credence to Nuclear Man being an extension of himself.
@socketwench - Parts of it almost were! In the original Mario Puzo draft, one of the mini-sodes was Superman getting sick and nearly dying from radiation.
@dolari I wish this was the plot of Superman 1.