The worst sequel of all time - Superman IV?

 

I was discussing the other day online the worst sequels ever made which is a tough call but I think Superman IV just pips the post.  The effects are clunky, Nuclear Man is wooden having more or less no lines and the lack of money is on the screen.  Some of the pecuniary problems could be overcome by a better script but that's all over the place.  It's nice to see Lois back but a lot of the Clark & Superman never being able to meet jokes have been done before.  The nuclear weapons dilemma is never really resolved with Superman saying you have to sort it out yourselves which is a cop out.  Reeves complained at the lack of location filming such as using an industrial park for the United Nations when "everyone knows what the UN looks like".  Well, do they though? I loved in Surrey when it was released and would have no idea what the UN looked like beyond stock footage in Bond films.  Bond never actually went to the UN either - interior sets were rebuilt at Pinewood.  Actually, having been to the UN myself it's a fairly pedestrian concrete building inside with a minimum of distinctive furnishings for diplomatic reasons.  The most interesting thing to see there is some metal welded into strange shapes by the Hiroshima blast ... Gene Hackman returns alongside most of the original regulars but somehow it fails to come alive.  I could nominate another film as the worst sequel but I feel in order to qualify for the title a film must be somewhat watchable rather than unwatchable.  I remember going to see this cycling over from Caterham to Oxted because no one else wanted to go ... But it was clinging onto to the big screen just.  I think we have to exclude films that never had a wide release.  This I keep coming back to Superman IV.

One of the problems with Superman is he's so physically powerful who do you put him up against?  Superman - Lex Luther who's of rival intelligence.  Superman II - General Zod and two other Kryptonians of equal power ... the odds stacked 3 to 1.  Superman III - A Supercomputer and play it as a comedy... Then they tried Supergirl who seemed to be up against black magic and Peter Cook?  By Superman IV they're back to Lex Luther again but although Gene gives it his best the dialogue clunks rather than sparkles.  What's so frustrating about Superman IV is there's a good film in there trying to get out... It just doesn't.  It's trapped... Entire chunks such as Lex building a prototype of Nuclearman were apparently thrown on the cutting room floor too so it's clearly been butchered in the editing due to presumably negative test audience reaction.  It is a watchable failure full of the sadness of it never reaching what could have been ...