Super (2011)

"Super" has been defined as a comedy by the mass, but it surely will likely leave you in doubt. At first we are led to the introduction as Frank being a kind pathetic soul, only to end up believing that he's a deranged man fueled intentions more deadly. This is far from anything that can classify as hilarious. It is assumed that director/writer James Gunn intended it to be comical but once the camera focuses on a wannabe girl superhero's face annihilated, there's really nothing to laugh about.I guess it all sums down to one's particular tastes into what they think is funny and what they think is downright sickening. Seeing that Ellen Page of "Juno" fame is co-starring her, we're probably not expecting things high above the intellectual ratio. Most viewers can't stand stuff based on irony or predictability. I guess to approve of this movie one would have to expect something funny will come along only to realize that the supposed comedy is too dark very cruel in its delivery."Super" stars Rainn Wilson as Frank Darbo, a mundane short-order cook who is married to the very flexible Sarah (Liv Tyler). He's a loser who shows no signs of ever changing his ways. He is also observably stupid and oblivious as he's an easy sucker to slick drug dealer Jacques (Kevin Bacon). Sarah is recovering drug addict and seems to have a fine level of sweetness until she is mesmerized to the lowest denominator of the human species that is Jacques who also runs a strip club.When Jacques comes to Frank's humble abode looking for Sarah, the naive Frank asks no questions and serves eggs to his rival host (eggs with a side of Bacon, get it?). The comic timing would be all over that particular scene it has the ability to go in various directions leaning towards laugh out loud moments. Too bad it chooses not to.Jacques kidnaps Sarah and Sarah's drug habit has returned and utilizes her inauspicious unknown purposes. This puts Frank in a state of depression. While tuning into a cheesy religious channel, he gets inspiration from a superhero character and tries to emulate his traits. In search for more inspiration to being a vigilante, Frank goes to a comic book store and there he meets a pretty little clerk named Libby (Ellen Page) who claims she's 22 but has the mindset of someone much younger.Frank in his mind thinks Jacques is like a superhero villain and has now adopted the alter-ego as The Crimson Bolt who wears a cheap looking superhero costume that resembles The Flash that he patched together on his wife's sewing machine. His weapon of choice is a pipe wrench which may look small, but very lethal enough to cause fractured skulls when hit on impact. In one particular funny scene he takes himself to place of consummate behind dumpsters on the lookout for oncoming crime doers and after getting pounded mercilessly by thugs, he takes his trusty wrench and goes after the thugs nearly killing them. The Crimson Bolt is now a local news feature and when Libby finds out that Frank is the Crimson Bolt, she decides to pair up with him as his sidekick, Boltie.Even though the synopsis is leaned towards satire, it really lacks in anything humorous. Sure Wilson and Page bring a level of satirical intentions with them and Kevin Bacon acts like he's in a bigger, better picture where is talent isn't wasted, the film has more dreariness than what it was intended for. But there's still a lot I like about Wilson's performance. He plays a rather ditzy klutz and succeeds in keeping it real by thinking he's not trying to be funny which is really effective. If only the script would have given him that ability keep on this trend, the film would've passed off as an effective satirical comedy-drama.Even though the set pieces of satire can be seen though the villainous role of Jacques (his mansion, his goons, his drugs and his evil intentions) but is he any more evil than our protagonist who feels his defensive mechanism is to incapacitate his adversaries by fracturing their brains with a wrench while claiming that he's a wrath from God? I don't think so! When The Three Stooges used to bop each other, that was funny, because it was intended that way. But when more realistic characters doing the same thing, it's not that funny."Super" falls victim to a desperate state of immoral intentions by the time you get to the third act. Not in the sense of black comedy because it's not a comedy. Do all films have to have an organic level from start to finish? Not necessarily, but it's shameful when the viewers get hoodwinked into expecting something only to end up becoming short-changed.I'm all for films that have some levels of intensity and a lot of them have that as a way to keep us on the edge of our seats. "Super" has the making of a film who's mindset is on dark satire with an original take on the superhero film, but the purpose rests on a more destructive impulse designed to mess with our brains.

I've been a fan of James Gunn since 2006 when I first saw Slither and when I saw how complete it felt, I thought right then that the director had great things ahead of him. Unfortunately for me that promise didn't come to fruition until 2014 when he made Guardians of the Galaxy. Both movies sent me on a mission to spread good word of mouth to everyone I knew. Both just have the same kind of feeling of perfection. They blend romance, action, comedy, suspense, everything you could want in a movie and not one of those elements misses the mark. They just seem to offer so much that I walked away from both thinking, how can anyone not like this movie?I did not feel that way about Super. Not at all. I didn't tell anyone about it, mainly to remind myself of its existence as little as possible. I'm pretty dark as a person, my sense of humor is a bit twisted, I don't scare easily... dark themes are usually more of a draw than a deterrent. Super isn't just dark... it is depressing. It focuses on one character and ends with an immensely unfulfilling ending for that character. It puts a mentally ill person on an adventure where delusions are amped up and obstacles are removed sometimes by little more than luck and randomness. Sickness thrives and becomes all encompassing... and then just for a brief moment the audience sees the potential for the character being happy, being loved by someone for who he is instead of obsessing about someone who doesn't love him back. Someone loves him despite knowing all about his illness, he doesn't have to hide it she embraces it. If he can just stop thinking about something he'll never have and just focus on what he does have, maybe there's hope for clarity and an end to the insanity that at this point is spiraling out of control. And then Super takes that hope that it just gave you and completely smashes it in the most irrevocable and horrific way possible. And in the end our "hero" ends up right back to where he was, completely cut off and alone and empty and not even his fantasies to comfort him. He still loves someone who left him and never loved him back and she still dominates his thoughts. He stares off at pictures on a wall that tell a story of the great life she is having without him while the rest of his apartment is completely empty. He has nothing. It comes across as though we are supposed to feel good about this, about his acceptance and how he must truly love her if he wants her to be happy even if it's not with him and oh my isn't that wonderful. It isn't happiness. It's loneliness. She is still obviously all he thinks about except now he doesn't even have his fantasies to comfort him. The girl that did love him, she's gone now, because of his mission to save someone who very clearly does not deserve it. She's happy, gets to have a family, and he has nothing now having given everything for her to have that. I know there are some religious overtones here, and that he has faith and all, but I must have missed the part where he decides to embody Christ himself. A horrible person gets everything they want, the hero ends up with nothing... It completely destroys the film. It felt like a gut punch. It still stands out to me today because of how depressed I was when it was over, that's what I took away from it. The Aviator and Donnie Darko are the only two films that come to mind when I think of movies that hurt me like that. Lingering pain that you take with you for awhile, that's what Super has to offer people. James Gunn is a great storyteller and I'm happy he turned out to be such a huge success. In my opinion he's given us maybe the only legitimately good film out of the entire barrage of Marvel Studios movies that have come out so far. Guardians of the Galaxy couldn't afford to be mediocre. Absolutely no one knew who those characters were. The movie had to earn the audiences respect and keep them entertained and there isn't a single scene that is wasted. It never drags on because it couldn't afford to. For a director that doesn't waste screen time when he's on his game, I'm wondering if Super was a waste of his time. If there's a message to get here, if that was the point, I either missed it, or if I am right and this selflessness IS the message... I don't know, maybe I'm weak or I'm a bad person, but that's not a message I would ever care to learn.

James Gunn is a fantastic writer and up until 2014, I thought this was his best script. With James Gunn, I've always felt like he has great ideas but can never fully serve the story with each plot point. In my opinion, there are specific moments that cross the line a bit of why? I think it's hilarious how James compares being touched by God to tentacle porn. It's fantastic. The more specific moments in which he goes overboard? Libby's Death. Her character did not need to die and I am aware that it adds to the realism of it all but realistically, Frank would've died before Libby hit the "goon" with his car. The film's goal is to look at what a realistic superhero story would look like which is something Kickass attempted to do but forgot about realism towards the end. The end of Super felt very rushed. After being raped by Libby, he decides to kill Jacques. This scene was quicker than Sarah's rape scene that would've been more effective and disturbing if just hearing the cries for help while showing Michael Rooker's facial expressions. I will admit that the last twenty minutes of the film make me uncomfortable but I'd have to say that it's because of Libby's Death. She's the most likable character in the film and I feel as if at this point, once you see her face, you stop caring about the outcome. The film tried extremely hard to be twisted when there was no twisted plot points except for Sarah's drug addiction. The opening sequence tells you exactly what's going to happen and it takes away the mystery. James then attempts to throw you off by shoving in gratuitous scenes of bloody and sexual violence almost as a distraction. Another thing that caught my eye was that for a moment there, it tried to comment on today's society with the man calling Frank a C$&t in the comic book shop in front of his son. This film was a mix of Kick Ass and God Bless America and didn't know which one it wanted to be. Every time it became unrealistic, a gratuitous scene would arrive. It didn't know how to consistently stay realistic. Realism and gratuity don't go hand and hand. The saving grace of the film was the spectacular performances all around. Overall, I think it's an entertaining film that needed a bit of work.Dorian

Even after my first viewing of James Gunn's Super, it is safe to say that it is definitely a love it or hate it film. And based on my rating, you can probably guess which side i'm on. Yes I really do love Super for many reasons, but it honestly is not an easy film to like. Re-occurring themes of rape, ultra violence, sadism and nihilism makes the majority of moviegoers uncomfortable, which is the reason Super maintains its cult status. It really is a matter of personal taste and your capability to see the the meaning behind seemingly random violent and sexual themes.Super is a bold, shocking and sometimes quite disturbing film. While it is mainly marketed as a "dark comedy", the violent overtones outweigh the comedy for the majority of the film. Don't get me wrong, when Super is funny, it's pretty funny, but the comedy aspect is supposed to be found within the violence, which is very subjective overall. There are many shockingly violent scenes in this movie, and the victims aren't always the bad guys which seems to be many people's issues with the movie. Many people that aren't fans of this movie would agree that the tones of the movie were not well balanced and Gunn wasn't sure about what kind of film he wanted to make. Oh he knew what film he wanted to make alright. Super is basically a collection of all the darker aspects in a super hero movie that we never get to see. He added some of his own messed up thoughts and created an extremely effective and memorable experience.The cast is a star-studded one, including my favorite actress of all time, Ellen Page, in a lead role. The chemistry between her and Rainn Wilson's character makes some of the best scenes in the film. They form a strange, yet endearing, relationship together and seeing their psychotic fits of violence break out is very entertaining. Kevin Bacon is great as the "villain" along with Liv Tyler as the starry-eyed recovering drug addict. The characters overall are well formed and they all had something to love about each one of them. The script and story is witty and fun, bursting with energy and flair. The thing with Super is that it is nearly impossible to get bored watching it. The story moves rapidly and rarely stops to give the audience time to breathe, but this rapid story telling also remains focused and shows us what we need to see and tells us what we need to know. The definitive "anti-hero" story.The action is also done very well. While certainly not a straight action film, the third act contains almost all the action within the film, revolving around one final bombastic set piece of bloody violence and explosions. The effects look surprisingly good as well, budget considered. There is a lot of grisly imagery that almost always looks quite realistic, giving the film a down-to-earth feeling. If strong violence isn't something your stomach can handle, I recommend skipping this one. There is simply too much in this film to just fast forward through.There is one main issue I had with the film and that involves the death of one of the characters within the story. This character was crucial to the story and I think the death of this person wasn't quite handled properly. The film gave the person a brutal death for seemingly no reason, and while violence is one of the main themes of the movie, there was very little dignity or sincerity involved with the scene. It felt like Gunn needed a quick and easy way to get this character out of the story and stooped to a lower quality of storytelling for this character's departure. As a huge fan of this movie, I can understand why many do not like Super. It's extreme violence, careless handling of suggestive themes and the identity crisis involving tones make Super hard for some to stomach. But for those who can, Super will provide you with a dark, satirical and endlessly entertaining look at a fairy tale/super hero story. And it's pretty darn awesome.