February 18, 2012
By Nick Galasso

Super

Release Date: April 1, 2011

Director: James Gunn

Starring: Rainn Wilson; Ellen Page; Liv Tyler; Kevin Bacon; Michael Rooker; Nathan Fillion

Production: This Is That Productions, Ambush Entertainment, Crimson Bolt

Runtime: 96 minutes

 

Remember how I said earlier how there were a few films this year destined to be cult classics? Well, here’s the film that fits that mold the best. Like The Skin I Live In, this is another film that is sure to divide most audiences, with much of its humor stemming from some brutally violent moments. The film serves as a more low-key indie counterpart to last year’s big cult film Kick-Ass. They both follow the same basic premise of an ordinary person running around as a costumed vigilante and beating up criminals. Although Super is the sort of costumed vigilante film that Kick-Ass would parody, although yet even within the film itself there’s a great sense of parody.

The protagonist, Frank D’Arbo (Rainn Wilson), probably wins the prize as one of the most pathetic characters this year, as he dresses up as a superhero solely because his wife (Liv Tyler) leaves him for a drug-dealer (Kevin Bacon) who doesn’t even look to harm Frank when the film starts off. This one action of infidelity leads to Frank, armed with a wrench as well as an overactive sidekick (Ellen Page), going around beating up everyone committing everything from actual crimes to petty injustices such as cutting lines at a movie theater. I had a lot of fun while watching this and laughing it up all the way to its explosive finale, although its moments such as the aforementioned scene of a man getting brutally attacked for cutting the line that will leave you coming out of this movie either having a lot of fun or being immensely disturbed (or both, for that matter). But either way, Super proves for one of this year’s most interesting experiences.
 
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