Friday, August 26, 2011

Super

I don't know Rainn Wilson, but judging by his performance in "the Office" and this film I have to say he's the master of low wattage creepism. He doesn't do a full out Peter Lorre but you just get a vibe off him that says, "he's not a well man." That's pretty much the truth of it in "Super" a film by James Gunn. Here Rainn is keeping a fingernail grip on reality. This grip slips when his wife leaves him for drug lord Kevin Bacon. After a few humiliating encounters he has a vision and decides to become a real life super hero called The Crimson Bolt.

Trouble is, real life is a lot more messy than comics. Folks refuse to just roll over with the POW and BIFF. Rainn finds his weapon of choice in a simple pipe wrench and his warrior cry of "SHUT UP CRIME." You can tell this is hardly Captain America material. This film goes surprisingly dark, specially since James last superhero film was the fun "The Specials." It's a very fascinating shade of dark though and the viewer gets really caught up in it all. There's real tension in viewing this film. On the one hand we want the fairy tale. We want Rainn to beat up Kevin Bacon (hey, who doesn't?) and save his wife. We though are aware though that Rainn's character is really certifiable and he's more likely to get a lot of people killed. I will say the ending does a very good job in sorting it all out in a believable way. Definitely worth a view if you can handle weirdness and violence.

No comments:

Post a Comment