let get it out of the way first thing represent the critic of the 80 like leonard maltin and siskel or ebert who sadistically malign def con 4 a a wretched exercise in scum and sleaze be wrong . i agree with another comment state that this movie be unfairly dismiss at the time of original release . yes it tacky and low budget and amoral perhaps one of the most amoral movie of the reagan year of home video rental . for that reason alone it actually stand out from the pack by actually dare to present it viewer with exactly that which it aspire to . unlike the mad max film or even the italian ripoffs of the genre max create and def con 4 have no presumption about be a parable and have any kind of a message or examine some sort of social phenomenon . it be about nuclear war and the resultant breakdown of our north american collective society and and like those prospect it isn not pretty and easy to stomach or even make sense of . in actuality there be actually two b movie in one here represent a pretty taught little sneaker or wargames ripoff about a nuclear war trigger by accident after lybians hijack a shipment of cruise missile and shoot one into russia . it doesn not detonate but manage to push east or west tension to the breaking point and the russian nuke america and the american retaliate . instant global apocalypse and and a demonstration of one of the prevailing nightmare of the cold war . this sequence of event be ingeniously stag by have the three person crew of a secret orbiting weapon platform observe the exchange and agonize over how to react . should they launch . should they go back to earth . eventually their satellite computer be hijack by an unseen entity who prompt an impromptu landing somewhere near the coast of canada and spark the second of the two b movie scenario that become a post apocalyptic thriller center around a makeshift totalitarian regime dominate by the prep school brat of an army general who recruit other brat and arm them with machine gun and and herd the survive populace into a ramshackle town comprise mostly of junk . one of the astronaut encounter a survivalist hilariously play over the top by veteran character actor maury chaykin and who steal all of his scene with a blase attitude ( just get in your rocket ship and fly off to central america . ) and his home make convert front end loader tank contraption and and a kilt . he also have a teenage schoolgirl board up in his basement and the less say about which the good . his character be the only one in the film who emerge a an actual person and and when the story shift it emphasis away from his fate it loose that central core of interest . in any event the astronaut strike up a deal with the survivalist for the space capsule food supply and the female astronaut still on board and lead to their capture by the renegade and a series of bizarre scene of social chaos that seem to have be inspire by spaghetti western . i will admit that the film be a bit of a mish mash and and hard to keep track of because it change gear so quickly . at one minute it a high tech space thriller and the next a grim survivalist tale and then social satire and finally a big and stupid shootout . but in all fairness it only the final twenty minute or so that loose their footing in absurdity and with the main detraction be the role of the army brat dictator kid and who grip on the survive populace be never fully explain . why be the others follow his lead . since nobody bother to tell the audience and the kid remain a caricature rather than a character and and the final conflict between the astronaut and him remain something of a contrivance rather than a believable series of event . the end be also annoyingly empty of any kind of meaning at all and with the movie more or less simply be over at some point . you know and whatever . but if anything the movie have actually get more poignant over the decade since it creation represent we now live in a world where middle eastern fanatic do indeed shape global event and have show themselves capable of inflict apocalyptic event . we have also see event like the aftermath of hurricane katrina where social order have completely break down and result in the kind of mind boggle escapade depict in the latter part of the film . it no longer just an escapist nightmare or fantasy to suggest that what be be depict in the film might actually happen and and the filmmaker should indeed be congratulate for pretty much get the look of the apocalypse right . though i do think that people would have find more opportunity to wash their face and would think that ammunition for firearm would be a bit more of a rarity . the long and short of it be that def con 4 be not the unwatchable disaster that many might have potential viewer believe . it a grim and grimy and somewhat distasteful endeavor for sure and but then again so be the prospect nuclear combat toe to toe with the ruskies . don not knock the film for have more or less gotten the aspect of what that might mean correctly . positive .