A low-budget Indie film, “Super” stars Rainn Wilson as a boring schmoe who decides to become a crime-fighting superhero. The general concept has been done before, such as in “Kick-Ass,” but this is kind of a different take on it. Starring as it does a tubby guy best known for comedic roles, it’s no surprise that the movie has a lot of humor and the hero “The Crimson Bolt,” gets his ass handed to him rather a lot. But the movie is a bit schizophrenic… it starts off seeming like it’ll be a goofball comedy, then turns into a violent action flick and delves into the depths of despair.
“The Crimson Bolt” starts off unarmed, and gets beat up. He then arms himself with a pipe wrench, which he uses to lay some serious smackdowns on badguys (and some people who are only kinda-sorta badguys, and may not be badguys at all… “The Crimson Bolt” is not the sanest of fellers), and by the end winds up with guns and bombs. And while for most of the movie you are rooting for him and his truly psycho sidekick – Ellen Page as “Boltie” – by the end you just… feel really bad for him. It does not have a Hollywood ending… sometimes the hero charges in, takes lots of damage, saves the damsel in distress… and winds up on the losing end of the deal. Having the best of intentions and trying your damnedest doesn’t mean that anyone else has to give a crap about you.
It does have a number of good lines. In context, “I can’t know that, for sure… unless I try” ranks up there with the best superhero movie lines.
Still and all, it is a pretty entertaining movie. It has Kevin Bacon as the main badguy, Liv Tyler as Rainn Wilsons wife, and Nathan Fillion (Mal his own damn self from “Firefly”) as the goofiest made-for-religious-TV superhero you’re likely to see this year. If you like goofy, perverse, violent superhero movies without wacky superpowers, this one is worth a watch.
————–
