Director: James Gunn
Cast: Rainn Wilson, Ellen Page, Liv Tyler, Kevin Bacon
Certification: 18
Super is out Friday 8th July
Synopsis: Frank Darbo is a less than average Joe but is content with his life and job as a diner chef, that is until his wife leaves him for a playboy drug dealer. In a moment of deep despair Frank is inspired by religious TV superhero The Holy Avenger and believing he is chosen by God takes on the mantel of The Crimson Bolt. With the help of his trusty side-kick Bolty and his sturdy wrench Frank serves up some brutal justice to evil do-ers and tries to rescue his wife.
SUPER is not what it appears to be – not by a long shot. From its trailer one is lead to believe it is a quirky blend of Kick-Ass and Juno – well dear readers prepare to be shocked as SUPER is an emotional mish-mash of drama, brutality and a comical underbelly darker than Satan’s ass crack. Hilarious at times moving at others and ultimately ending on disturbing, it’s a curious little movie well worth a watch if only for it’s sheer gall to be different.
Wilson's Crimson Bolt
Writer/Director James Gunn is a man with some impressive credits including the delectable sci-fi/horror Slither and the 2004 re-make of Dawn of the Dead. With SUPER Gunn has assembled an excellent cast to tell a superhero story that breaks the mould – not in it’s approach to the character motivation or plot – but by fusing such an array of emotions which continuously shifts the audience’s expectation of what will happen next. Within the space of a single scene (e.g. Frank’s teary prayer to God) we hop from laughter through drama and then to tears – although an interesting approach this sometimes creates an awkward distancing from full immersion into the story. However these intentional emotional flips do keep the movie refreshingly unpredictable and create an off-beat tone sure to make it a cult hit.
Page as the fun but disappointing ' Bolty'
There is nothing new here in the story, it really is Kick-Ass meets Defendor (a highly underrated movie – watch it if you haven’t seen it) with tonal sensibilities of a film such as Youth In Revolt. There are also some visual and comical devices that don’t fit in with the movies low-key and well-observed idiosyncrasies; The Crimson Bolt’s costume for instance is a ridiculous patch-work affair that only a retard would believe was acceptable (although you are led to question Frank’s sanity) and Ellen Page’s audition for the role of side-kick, which consists of poorly executed punches, flying kicks and cartwheels is painfully unfunny. In the final sequence which has a couple horrific moments animated ‘Kapows’ flash on screen, this hasn’t been a strong enough motif throughout the movie to play on it at this late stage and so it feels a bit strange – it also detracts from the violence and spoils an otherwise excellent scene.
A super appearance from Nathan Fillion
The film’s big successes lay in the charming subtleties of characterisation and scripting. Rainn Wilson presents a doughy faced innocence of the down trodden and flexes the usual comic chops that make him great in the US’ version of The Office. He also portrays the tragedy of a man on the edge believably as his concept of right, wrong and injustice are as infallible as Michael Douglas’ in Falling Down – much comedy is derived from his outrageously violent punishment of bad guys, occasionally bludgeoning the distinction between funny and disturbing. Kevin Bacon sizzles in this movie and is so much fun to watch as the sniggering, arrogant bad guy. Liv Tyler plays a fairly small role but is believable as a strung-out recovering drug-addict. The excellent Nathan Fillion also pops up from time to time as a chincey Christian superhero from a low-budget TV movie and each appearance is a joyous occurrence (watch for the demon’s flickering tongue – genius). The most disappointing turn in this film is definitely Ellen Page. Normally a THN favourite, Page is completely miss-cast, she is far too pretty, well-known and type cast as a wise beyond her years teen, to play quite a weird and geeky kid. Saying this her sadism in the film provides some great laughs and her crazy cackle is an enjoyable soundtrack to certain scenes.
There is no doubt about it SUPER is an odd movie – so odd in fact it stops elevates it from an enjoyable but average superhero satire into the territory of being a filmic curio. It is rare that THN is shocked by a film – we were genuinely stunned by some of the violence in this movie, and at times we could feel an air of discomfort move through the audience – prepare for a wholly un-erotic sex scene that verges on man-rape! The end sequence creeps into the realms of the disturbed and makes Taxi Driver’ look like Mary Poppins.
SUPER shakes up the conventions of a lot of movies you’ve seen and blends them together with a mixed bag of success. There is plenty of fun to be had here but overly you’ll probably leave the cinema in a bit of a quandary as to whether Frank is actually a nut-job and if the ‘pay-it-forward’ moral of the ending actually made any sense at all when our hero never gets either credit or comeuppance for his violent vigilante antics.
Refreshingly original if not a little disjointed. An interesting cinematic experience definitely worth a watch.
SUPER is out Friday 8th July
