People of Earth, Man of Steel is all set to steal away your summer dollars. I have seen it, and before I raise one word against Zach Snyder’s latest visual triumph, it is important to have some perspective.  Having the right baseline is the best way to experience a movie of this size.  Sure, we could just watch the recent Green Lantern, and count ourselves lucky that Warner Bros. went in a different direction for Man of Steel, but why would we punish ourselves so?  Especially when it is so much easier, funnier, and less painful to take in the Screen Junkies four-minute sardonic Honest Trailer of Superman IV: The Quest for Peace.

Fair warning: snippets of ’80s *ahem* classics such as Breakin’ 2 Electric Boogaloo, Predator, and Spaceballs, do this important examination of everything that is, was and will be the 1987 big-screen version of Superman.  The dorky duality of the 1987 Superman and Clark Kent is on full display, as is the film’s indulgence in making bratty kids focal points of the plot.

And then there is Nuclear Man.  For context, Nuclear Man is jealous of everyone in Batman & Robin, everyone.  Then there are Superman’s hitherto-unrevealed powers like “rebuilding the Great Wall of China with his eyes and lowering people with his mind.” Of course, Superman IV does hold a few things over Man of Steel including “terrible blue screen,” “really, really terrible blue screen,” and the same flying shot “over and over and over again.”

As Superman must acknowledge his birth on Krypton, so must we acknowledge that Superman IV: The Quest for Peace is still alive in a 1987 time capsule. Oh, how Superman (and Warner Bros.) wishes that he could get his 19 years back.

Get Ready for Man of Steel with Honest Superman IV Trailer