Blogorium Review: Super

In many ways, Super feels like James Gunn's response to Matthew Vaughn's Kick-Ass; Gunn (Slither, The Specials), who wrote and directed the film, seems to be taking the concept of a normal schlub turned masked vigilante in the "real" world and letting it play out without Hit Girl's and jetpacks with Gatling guns attached. The end result is vulgar, graphically violent, and at times bizarre. More importantly, it's funny, as long as your sense of humor is deeply twisted.

Frank D'Arbo (Rainn Wilson) is a nobody cook at a diner married to recovering junkie Sarah (Liv Tyler), until she leaves him for strip club owner / drug dealer Jacques (Kevin Bacon). When Frank tries to win her back, he pushes the rather reasonable Jacques to the point of unleashing his goons, Abe (Michael Rooker), Toby (Sean Gunn) and Quill (Stephen Blackheart), and a beating ensues. Unable to talk a police Detective (Gregg Henry) into helping him, Frank finds inspiration from Holy Avenger (Nathan Fillion), a TV Superhero that seems to be sending him messages directly through the show. After consulting comic book shop employee Libby (Ellen Page), Frank decides to become The Crimson Bolt, a masked vigilante who fights crime. His wave of righteous, if brutal, crime-fighting inspires Libby to join him as Boltie, The Crimson Bolt's sidekick, and together they storm Jacques' mansion(?) compound to save Sarah.

Off the bat, I have to tell you that Super is not for most people. Most of you will bristle at the violence, at the casual brutality visited on nearly every character, and the cavalier attitude towards bad taste. The tone is going to rub many audiences the wrong way - it's a little weird, a little sentimental, and a lot cruel. That said, if you loved Slither, or have a soft spot for Troma Team releases (not coincidentally where Gunn cut his teeth), you're going to love this film. We're talking about a movie that opens with an animated version of Frank's life, with a combination of melting bodies, bunny rabbits, and song-and-dance choreography, and features Rob Zombie as the voice of God*.

I understand that people really like Kick-Ass, and I don't. I hate Kick-Ass, if for nothing else than it gives up on its premise halfway through the film in order to appeal to geeks looking for something "bad ass." At a certain point, the experiment of "comic book hero in the real world" simply becomes "how many people can hit girl kill / call 'cunts'"? Instead of commenting on comic book violence, Kick-Ass settles to up the quotient and hope you forgot the premise.

Super doesn't stray into the realm of "unbelievable," aside from one of the strangest instances of "divine inspiration" you're likely to ever see. The film itself may be weird (and that's the best way to put it), but in terms of its premise, it keeps the rules clear. The Crimson Bolt loses his first fight, decides to research what non-super-powered heroes use, and settles on a wrench. Imagine a vigilante that runs up to criminals and smashes their head in with a wrench, and you have some idea of what kind of movie you're in for. The wrench hits are, shall we say, visceral, although it's far from as graphic as some violence gets later in the film.

It wasn't until after I finished Super that I realized the news coverage about The Crimson Bolt followed the same direction that The Toxic Avenger did, almost directly - the "victims" of The Crimson Bolt (and later, Boltie) are eventually revealed to be the pedophiles, drug dealers, and thieves Frank already knew they were, and somehow the public tide turns in his direction, just like Toxie. That this follows an expletive-laden "announcement" from Bolty about the dynamic duo makes it all the more amusing. Really, if the movie hasn't won you over by that point, Ellen Page's shift from Libby to Boltie will tip the scales in a big way.

Rainn Wilson's Frank D'Arbo** is a believable schlub; Wilson plays the loser as a basically nice guy who has been trod his entire life and just wants a break. For the brutality he dishes out, Frank is surprisingly old fashioned in his morals - when Libby becomes, shall we say, increasingly randy, and tries to seduce Frank, he freaks out and reminds her he IS married and that he takes that very seriously. That said, it doesn't really work; I don't want to spoil too much, but it is one of the more twisted and hilarious sex scenes you'll see this year.

Ellen Page wasn't doing much for me as Libby, a character that's mostly trying too hard to be appealing in an otherwise unappealing world, but that shift to Boltie changes everything. When she puts the costume on and feels free to go crazy, not only does a wanton cruelty emerge, but Boltie can't seem to stop calling The Crimson Bolt "Frank" in front of everyone, and her enthusiasm lifts the film at a much needed juncture.

Kevin Bacon is probably the biggest surprise in the film; he plays Jacques as a sleazeball that's really trying not to be. When Frank charges up to him outside of his club (Bare Assets), Jacques tries to be the bigger man in the situation, even after D'Arbo starts hitting his car and screaming at him. I think you're supposed to hate him, but until the end I kind of liked Jacques, because Kevin Bacon is so reasonable and Frank seems so unreasonable.

Liv Tyler doesn't have much to do as the damsel-in-distress Sarah, but she's generally likable and you believe that she could fall for Frank. I honestly didn't know which of the goons was Gunn's brother and which one was Blackheart, but they were fine - the real star of that show is Rooker, whose Abe likes eating candy and listening to music when not hurting people. Nathan Fillion's stoic Holy Avenger is likely to give fans of The Hammer a great topic of discussion: which Fillion "superhero" is better (Cranpire also suggests his "supervillian" Preacher from Buffy the Vampire Slayer be part of the debate). There are a few other nice cameos I won't mention, although I question why of all of them Linda Cardellini's pet shop employee made it into the opening credits when she's barely in the movie.

I must reiterate that fans of The Office and Dwight Schrute are probably going to hate Super. Ellen Page fans from Juno and Whip It are more than likely going to hate Super. Fans of Kick-Ass are probably going to hate Super. People with an iota of good taste are certainly going to hate Super. Some critics already hate Super because of what happens to Boltie (and one of the reviews on Rotten Tomatoes flat out spoils it). This is not a film for everyone, even if the posters are quite clever and it puts The Crimson Bolt's catchphrase ("Shut up, crime!") to good use. I think people are expecting a more kitschy, indie comedy and are getting something much more demented.

Super is mostly going to appeal to a) people who were underwhelmed with Kick-Ass, and b) existing James Gunn fans. If you liked Slither and Tromeo and Juliet, or the off kilter tone of Scooby Doo, Dawn of the Dead (2005) or The Specials (which he wrote) , then this is going to be right up your alley. You can take James Gunn out of Troma, but you can't take the Troma out of James Gunn, and this is certainly a more polished version of a Troma superhero movie. If that sounds like something you'd want to see, I feel strongly you're going to really enjoy Super.


* I did not realize this until looking it up on IMDB, but considering the film, its wholly appropriate. *Which, by the way, is suspiciously similar in spelling to Frank D'Amico, Mark Strong's character in Kick-Ass.