Super hero films are fraught with perils. The suspension of disbelief is put through the ringer in this genre and any misstep can just destroy the entire piece. That it attracts folks in Hollywood who think with their special effects budgets doesn't help. Which is why the Specials is so fun, it's a super hero film with some heart and nearly no special effects.
It's the story of the 3rd (or 4th) best superhero team. If this was the Marvel Universe they'd be the Defenders. I can't think of an example for DC except maybe the Outsiders but they have Batman which always ups the cool factor. At any rate, our special heroes are finally feeling they are going up in the world as they are being honored with action figures which is the super hero version of the Oscar. Unfortunately, internal strife and incredibly insulting toys lead to a watershed moment where the team might just split up.
The characters are well drawn being both familiar archtypes but with their own personalities. I like how there are little sub cliques within the team. The two bad boys, Weevel and Amok, tend to pal around for example trading snark on their team mates. The leader is a pompous ass who is not too bright, but on the other hand who else could lead a team of ex villains, people with unspecified bird powers, idiots with super strengths, and idiots who claim the be the world's smartest man. In the end, even though they are extremely dysfunctional they are also something of a family.
Definitely worth a watch, specially if you are going to watch James Gunn's OTHER superhero film "Super."
STRANGE SPANNERS being an accounting of strangeness of the warp and woof of my mind For those of you new here, think of this as 1/2 "Night Gallery" Our Motto: Nos somnium quisnam es futurus fatum quod insolitus tutus vos!
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