Super

Director: James Gunn
Writer: James Gunn
Starring: Rainn Wilson, Ellen Page, Liv Tyler
Release Date: TBA
Length: 1 hour 35 minutes

From the screenwriter of Dawn Of The Dead and director of Slither, comes another truly gruesome, gory, crude movie, but this time it isn’t a horror movie it’s a comedy. Rainn Wilson stars in James Gunn’s Super, the only film I saw at Midnight Madness of this year’s Toronto International Film Festival. After his wife, Sarah (Liv Tyler) leaves him for a drug dealer, Jacques (Kevin Bacon), Frank (Wilson) creates his superhero identity, Crimson Bolt. His intentions are to kill Jacques and his followers and get his wife back, however he decides he needs to publicize Crimson Bolt first so they fear him. Therefore, Frank goes around with a heavy wrench, killing or extremely injuring anyone who does anything bad, which includes selling drugs, keying a car, or even butting in line. When a young comic book junkie, Libby (Ellen Page), figures out that Frank is the Crimson Bolt, she demands that he make her his sidekick, Boltie. He agrees and the two head off to fight crime and get back the love of his life. This movie did not turn out as a copy of the film Kick-Ass. It was very different, in that it had violence worse than that of a Tarantino movie. Maybe on the scripted page, hitting people with a wrench for butting in line seems quite humorous, but on screen, it becomes disgusting and unnecessary. I could tell I was one of the few who didn’t enjoy those parts at the midnight madness screening because every time there was a good amount of blood on the screen people groaned and laughed, where I almost vomited in my mouth. Although sometimes hilarious, this is a movie for true horror movie fans, not superhero fans. However, I really appreciated the humor incorporated into this movie. Sometimes when Frank would notice something going wrong, he would go back to his car and awkwardly, slowly change into his crimson bolt outfit, which everyone could clearly see through the window. The way Super captures the fact that this super hero has no real talents or powers is much more realistic than the movie, Kick Ass, which had a similar premise. By the end of the movie, Frank had added so many weapons and protection to his outfit that he just looked like an overly prepared FBI agent and a completely fake superhero. Of course, Rainn Wilson generated a good portion of the laughs for this movie because he is hilarious, just like he is as Dwight in The Office, but the person that saved me from hating Super was the lovely Ellen Page. Her performance as Boltie was beyond ridiculous, immature, stupid and insane. We are used to seeing her as a mature and intelligent young lady, so this performance was quite refreshing. She has a strong enough fan base now, so that she can completely humiliate herself on camera and we will love and commend her for it. When I say she humiliated herself, I really mean it. There were some scenes, I couldn’t even watch her in. Then, for her to sit and watch that in a theatre full of people and go up on stage for Q&A afterwards takes some chutzpah. I give her kudos for just accepting this role in the first place. All in all, I really respect James Gunn for making such an off the wall, funny, disgusting, even heartfelt superhero movie. If horror is your genre, you will love everything about this movie, but it wasn’t my cup of tea.