Dir: James Gunn, USA, 2010, 96 mins,
Cast: Rainn Wilson, Ellen Page, Liv Tyler, Kevin Bacon
Review by Francesca Neagle
Super draws inevitable yet superficial comparisons to Kick Ass: last summer’s big blockbuster exploring the “reality” of being a superhero. But this film is no mainstream action comedy: It’s brutal, dark, and sad, punctuated by witty one-liners. Frank D’Arbo (Wilson) is a socially inept cook in a diner, whose beautiful wife (Tyler) has left him for local drug-dealer Jacques (Bacon). Inspired by a superhero on a teen religious television show, The Holy Avenger, Frank dreams that Jesus has chosen him to right wrongs. As The Crimson Bolt, he’ll eventually try and get his wife back, whom he believes has been kidnapped, but in the meantime he’ll practice violence on everyday wrongdoers and criminals, aided by his enthusiastic “kid sidekick”, comic shop employee, Libby (Page).
Gunn’s “comic book” style direction and writing, together with some inspired casting, keeps his audience disturbed but laughing for a long time, albeit increasingly uncomfortably. But at some point you have to decide if it’s acceptable to still laugh at the witty one-liners, when a grieving, essentially mentally ill man is clubbing someone to death with a pipe wrench for queue-jumping or stealing a handbag. Even if it is an alter-ego built under the guidance of a manically brilliant Page, this process is more than a bit stressful and ultimately quite unenjoyable. Libby’s almost childlike bloodlust simply outgrows comedic value, particularly after some pointedly dark action involving Frank in the middle of the night. But nothing can fill a comedic void in a comic strip.And while that’s probably the point, it leaves us in limbo.
A series of flashbacks attempt to rectify this later in the film. They are interspersed in a manner that Frank would describe as showing the “between the panels” scenes of the comic strip action. They help reflect Frank’s emotional journey, the theme of which is central to the film. But in the end it’s hard to see how he’s gained from his experience. An image of him sitting on a bed, stroking a rabbit, apparently content, is unconvincing. So despite being both idea-filled and character-rich, Super is unsettlingly unsatisfying. The “reality” is just too miserable. But forewarned is forearmed, so maybe give it a crack, pipe wrench optional.
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