Super Review

SHUT UP CRIME !!! When those are the first words out of a superheroes mouth just as he begins to cave in somebodies skull with a pipe wrench, you know something went wrong somewhere. But that's what Super does so well, it exemplifies the truths that come with an ordinary person donning a costume and dishing out justice as they see fit. Kick Ass similarly tackled the notion of average people taking the law into their own hands, but while Kick Ass hid the realities of its concept in stylish action and ridiculously over the top antics, Super is a rude awakening in the most gleefully perverse sense.

Beware Crime: I'm in your "hood"

Rainn Wilson plays Frank a loser and utter sad sack, who in his apparent forties has only had two moments in his entire life of any significance, and after being humiliated by having his wife stolen from him by the towns local crime boss, played wonderfully by Kevin Bacon he decides to fight back against injustice. The spark that ignites his decision to become a vigilante is hilarious and disturbing, but the fact that it comes out of left field makes it all the better, so don't expect me to say what happens. Suffice to say Frank decides to become the Crimson Bolt armed only with a pipe wrench he begins dishing out justice in some of the most disturbingly violent ways. And this is where Super goes a little screwy, between the awkwardly uncomfortable scenes and amid all the genuinely funny moments of Wilson being a pathetic loser there are some of the most disturbing acts of violence or sexual perversion that actually made me uncomfortable, and I normally relish in sex and violence in films. The problem I feel is that the movie plays most of its action and even its comedy pretty flat, sort of striking this mix between dark comedy and disturbing realism. Rainn Wilson who truly does a fantastic job in this film, is sometimes too serious and sociopathic making it extremely hard to sympathize with a character who is already pathetic and then goes on to violently and sometimes unjustifiably beat people to the brink of death.

That's inappropriate (not in this movie)

Ellen Page plays a comic book store employee who discovers Franks secret identity and then proceeds to become his sidekick under the guise of Boltie. Page who as far as I am concerned is an absolute revelation in anything she does continues that streak here, with the portrayal of a character so depraved yet so charged up and bull headed that she becomes endearing even when she forcibly rapes Frank. Super has a lot of problems with its tone, dancing almost incoherently between straight relationship drama, outrageous situational comedy, superhero parody, and a disturbing graphically violent action movie. I have no doubt most people will be very turned off by this movie, especially once its characters become almost irredeemable in their actions. But there is something strangely appealing about a movie that unapologetically paints its characters in the most raw realistic light possible, even once the violence levels reach cartoonish levels and proceeds to sprints past that level while holding a severed head with a bladed dildo sticking out of its mouth and laughing manically.

Don't molest kids ... also Shut Up 

Super catches you by surprise, even when you think you have the movie figured out it takes a sharp left turn and challenges you to reorient yourself. Its that jarring tonal shift that might throw many people off, as you try to figure out if your supposed to be laughing, wincing, or disturbed. Its not for everyone but it sure is like nothing else out there. Give Super a chance if you think you can keep up.

(3 out of 5)