Day 161: "Wanna go fight some crime? "

A direct, blatant, and unapologetic rip-off of Kick-Ass, Super nevertheless, does many things right.  Another in a series of "regular people go superhero vigilante" Super takes the violent, funny formula and ups the ante.  The main issue I had with this movie was its "mean" nature.  In other movies like this, the heroes distinctly go after crime, and real evil-doers.  here though, the protagonists attack anyone who might offend them, making this a more vicious film.  If the filmmakers were trying to say something about vigilantism being indiscriminate in its morals on what might or might not be considered evil, OK, fine, but when The Crimson Bolt is mercilessly bludgeoning a citizen for cutting into a ticket queue, it just looks mean spirited.  The story begins when Frank D'arbo's recovering addict wife leaves him for her dealer.  He decides through a series of flashbacks and self-realizations that in order to get her back, he must become a superhero, battle evil, and confront the dealer and his gang.  Along the way he picks up a sidekick, who is even more enthused to have an excuse for rampant mayhem.  Super could have, literally, taken place in the same universe and time frame as Kick-Ass, that's how closely  the movies parallel each other.

Rainn Wilson is Frank/Crimson Bolt, playing the inept hero with the bravado of a man who believes himself invulnerable.  As Frank, you feel for the guy; a loser who has eked his way through life, while being crapped on by the world, now empowered as Crimson Bolt to right those injustices.  Ellen Page is Boltie, his sidekick.  A complete bundle of every kind of twenty-something energy that there is.  She is so gung ho in the role, it's a blast to watch.  Kevin Bacon is the epitome of evil in Frank's world, and does a great job as Jaques.  Liv Tyler, Michael Rooker, Nathan Fillion, and Greg Henry fill out the remaining large roles.

Super really is a lot of fun, poking fun at the superhero genre as often as it does itself.  I only wish the filmmakers had not aped Kick-Ass so closely and gone for their own style of over-the-top violence and humor.  Give it a spin around the block, you may not be disappointed.  It earns it's R rating, as the violence is splatterrific, the language coarse, and there is some sex as well.  8/10.

See you tomorrow, and GO WATCH A MOVIE!!