DUPER DE SUPER

DUPER DE SUPER

Super (2010)

IFC

D. & W. James Gunn

When hearing the concept of what Gunn was going for, I knew immediately what to expect.  The St.Louis native taught me numerous times through his projects that he had a skewed vision of the world.  I heard Watchmen brought up, and that level of real world involvement was mentioned.  Bringing it down to a reality is what can set a superhero movie apart from the fantastical.  Super is great.  Super does this SO very well that it's shocking.  We're not used to seeing limbs removed, and gaping wounds, when we associate with a superhero movie.  Shit, even the Punisher movies were R-rated and fairly tame.  Endgame tried so hard to be edgy and crazy, but was simply crap and easily forgotten.  Super, and it's ultraviolence, aren't.

Rainn Wilson, who I've adored for his offbeat charm since Six Feet Under, plays a man whose wife is suddenly disappeared, and appears to be affiliated with Kevin Bacon's criminal character.  Wilson has a mental break, or a touch of God, or whatever you decide works for you, and fashions himself as The Chrimson Bolt.  He begins exploring his divine purpose with a pipewrench, and the results are grisly.  Backed even by cartoon sound effect images out of Batman, the vengeance is hyper-real.  Hell, the whole thing walks a line of realism and farce, and teeters here and there between.  Once Ellen Page comes in as the sidekick, the movie adds a whole other level.  More on that later.

Look, I've been a James Gunn fan for about a decade now.  Not just because he's from St. Louis, not just because he was once married to The Office's Jenna Fischer, not just because he's cool is hell, not just because I love his writing, but because he is so ME.  His humor is MY humor.  Slither was as mainstream as Gunn should ever come, and I think he's happy with that.  He has a vision and a comedy breed that has no vision in conventional Hollywood cinema.  He's sick, he's depraved, and he's hilarious.  He's a man who got his start with Troma, that school of low budget brilliance, guided by Lloyd Kaufmann, and though he's dropped a note or two in Hollywood there's no way he should even attempt to sell himself out.  His shit is gold, he knows it, he has his following, and that's all he needs.  That following will keep growing.  He's got fan favorites like Nathan Fillion and Michael Rooker following along, and that don't hurt.  Dudes rock.

 

 Super is fucking WEIRD.  It's disturbing.  It's sad.  It's satirical.  It's amusing.  It's hilarious.  And then it's back to disturbing.  And then it's touching????  I don't even know how to describe what somebody might get from Super.  For someone familiar with gems like PG-Porn, Humanzee, and especially Sparky and Michella, you KNOW what you're getting into.  Kevin Bacon, Ellen Page, and Liv Tyler can rope others in, but they obviously got Gunn.  Page is fantastically off the rails here, really going for the role like an actor does with a spot they believe in 100%.  Hysterical, bonkers, and as psychopathic if not more so than anybody else in the picture.  And EVERYONE in the thing is basically a psychopath.

It's as altered and violent a bit of realism as you could expect.  And those who aren't aware will go in expecting...Dwight as a vigilante?  Yeah, that's not it.  It's great for a certain dark humored audience.  I'm amongst them.  You might not be, so I warn you, but it's great indie film making.  And it has tentacles, so that's there...it's awesome, really.  But don't hold it against me if you're not on board.

Super opens this Friday at the Tivoli theater in St. Louis.

-M