Super

howdy folks


Poundland has had, look you see, a rather rich run on shiny new Blu Ray discs for ₤1 a pop. This has been something of an ongoing concern, as recently highlighted here by moi with a couple of not at all bad “found footage” films what I bought and watched. Also, before Christmas, I was able to get the Blu Ray discs of the first two Die Hard Films for the princely sum of ₤1 each.

The last week or so has, however, seen Poundland vastly expand their range of Blu Ray discs. This has led to my Blu Ray collection being somewhat expanded, or at the least added to. Titles? Well, of consequence, I’ve picked up Rambo III, which is a bossvTaliban loving “Muslims are better than Commies” reminder of the 80s. Also Scary Movie V, where I didn’t know that III or IV existed and is the most successful film ever if movies are measured by a member of the Sheen family and a former world heavyweight champion who has also been incarcerated star in the fifth instalment alone. Also also I, Frankenstein, which seems to have him off of Dark Knight that wasn’t the copper or the bat or the joker. Also also also This Is It, the posthumously released look at what might have been for Michael Jackson.

And then a few more too, including Super, which we will have a look at in a bit more detail here since I, with my (considerably) better half, elected to watch recently.

What’s the plot of Super? A chap called Frank is a chef in one of them greasy spoon diners that seem to populate America. He has something of an empty, limited life – a bit of a loser, if you like. He “loses” his wife, a former or if you like ex junkie, to the local villain who, it turns out, is on the verge of a massive drug smuggling deal. In his moping and feeling sorry for himself, he has a vision (of sorts) and becomes the Crimson Bolt, a super hero without super powers that pledges to tell crime to shut up.

I had not heard of this film before seeing it for ₤1 at Poundland. It got my ₤1 because I figured how bad could a film with Kevin Bacon (he be the baddie) be, and for some reason the name of the writer/director, James Gunn, sounded familiar. Some research later suggests he was involved in the quite good Scooby Doo live action film, and was behind the uber tres good Guardians Of The Galaxy film. I gather there is a better known film called Kick Ass which covers similar ground to this, but I’ve not seen that one. \

Dealing with what I have seen, then, Super had me genuinely laugh out loud at parts. Overall it’s rather good, but probably suffered in release, reception and recuperating costs due to its footloose (sorry) and fancy free use of sexual assault as a comedy vehicle, whether it is male on male, female on male or the more conventional male on female it depicts. And depicts in somewhat attempted “humorous” ways. Also, certain scenes of violence whilst played to the ludicrous for comedy effect are shocking graphic. A wrench, after all, is not a gentle weapon. Best to get those out the way, as there are many who would not watch a film with either or both those elements in.

Although some of the stuff above is appalling, I cannot help but think that Super was a rather good film. Someone called Rainn Wilson plays Frank/Crimson and he’s excellent. Liv Tyler as the wife has about as much to do as Natalie Portman did in Star Wars Episode III but does the job. Ellen Page as Libby, the comic book shop assistant that helps Frank (kind of) is brilliant. Kevin Bacon as the baddie is superb. In fact the film is worth watching for Kevin Bacon alone, a reminder of how smart he is, or maybe was before he started doing adverts for BT or Virgin TV or Sky or someone like that.

A plus for me was the supporting cast. I got very excited when Greg Henry turned up, as I get very excited when anyone off of Body Double is in a film (I kind of wish Craig Wasson made more films, but hey). Michael Rooker, who would appear to be a James Gunn regular, was in it too – actually a good acting role from him, as he tried to develop the character of “assistant heavy to Kevin Bacon” somewhat with some decent emotional gestures in certain scenes. Also, in a smart cameo, the Greatest American Hero himself, William Katt, turned up for a few seconds.

The film is totally meant for an adult / mature audience and, mindful of the caution I voiced above, is one that I would not hesitate to suggest for those looking for a somewhat darker, more off the beaten track kind of straightforward comedy. It was absolutely worth the ₤1 I paid for it. Whilst I don’t know much about all this “streaming” stuff, I would suspect that this film is something of a staple on that sort of service, whether it be that Netfilx thing, that Amazon one or anything like that.



be excellent to each other!!!!!!!!!!!!