Super

"Sometimes how it looks, and how it is, are two different things"

There have been a whole slew of comic books films over the course of the last two decades. This started off with Tim Burton's Batman, which pretty much sparked a whole subgenre of filmmaking dedicated to just superheroes (prior to this point Hollywood had only deemed Superman worthy of the big screen treatment), and has since expanded into a range of wildly different interpretations of comic book mythology. Thankfully this means that, alongside the increasingly carbon-copy ranks of traditional superhero movies, we're starting to see films that explore the collision of reality and comic books in less predictable ways. Super is an original 'super'-hero flick that comes at its concept by way of indie-comedy stylings. In a way it's a superhero film with DIY punk-rock ethos (as exemplified by the opening credits), with a complete disregard for the moral codes that underlie mainstream filmmaking and a need to get back to basics in a way that similar films (Kick-Ass, Defendor) only brush on.

Frank (Rainn Wilson) is an everyman character, and not in the square-jawed all-American sense. He's weird, a guy with a long history of not standing up for himself as life continuously deals him shitty hands. He begins retreating into a fantasy world (as you do) when he loses his wife to drugs and a sleazed-up Kevin Bacon. He begins having some disturbing visions of God and - fuelled by a combination of sexual repression and misdirected Christian morality - he starts descending down a slippery slope that sees him go from inspirational anti-hero to actual psychopath. Super is like a garish, superhero-version of Taxi Driver. It's Taxi Driver in tights.

Rainn Wilson is fantastic in the lead role but the scene-stealer is quite easily Ellen Page as his attention-deficit sidekick, Libby. She gets caught up in the fantasy in a big way, laughing uncontrollably whenever she hurts people like some misguided, hyperactive child. It's actually a bit disturbing, and I love the fact that Page was unafraid to take it that far. This whole film goes all the way, it's uncompromising and balls to the wall, thumbing its nose at convention and giving us the most brutally truthful 'superhero' film yet.

I loved this film. It's so blackly over-the-top and hilarious, but it's also refreshingly uncomfortable to watch. The moment where Frank's alter-ego, the Crimson Bolt, dishes out some street-justice to a queue-jumper is one of the more shocking moments I've seen in a film lately. This is the sordid reality of fighting crime as a masked vigilante... for it to work like in the comic books, there has to be some degree of psychosis involved. I mean, if you really wanted to stop a criminal then you have to be ready to use violence to do it, because the criminal you want to stop isn't going to go down quietly. This is a violent film, it makes a big point of overstepping the line to show how morally grey the superhero genre really is, and it highlights the hypocrisy of the bloodless violence that features in most comic book movies. These movies are so codified in their interpretation and depiction of morality, all too clearly delineating the differences between 'heroes' and 'villains' and the codes of honour that allow viewers to get swept up in the fantasy. And it is a fantasy. Super is all about what it would really be like if someone did decide to become a 'superhero'... to a large degree it sends up the conventions of the superhero genre, but it isn't your typical piece of satire.

DIRECTOR: James Gunn
WRITER: James Gunn
KEY ACTORS: Rainn Wilson, Ellen Page, Kevin Bacon, Liv Tyler, Michael Rooker, Gregg Henry, Linda Cardellini, Andre Royo

RELATED TEXTS:
- It's just my personal opinion, but I think this film plays as an original homage to Taxi Driver. Also see the underrated comedy Observe and Report for a similarly brilliant take on depression, mental illness and vigilantism.
- Other 'real life superheroes' films: Defendor and Kick-Ass.