DVD Review: “Super” (2010)
In the wake of, shall we say, an interesting turn of events, Rainn Wilson’s Frank D’Arbo, who has christened himself a crime-fighting superhero called Crimson Bolt, rushes to his bathroom and throws up. I nodded. That’s how your movie made me feel too, Rainn.
Written and directed by James Gunn, Super feels a bit familiar in the beginning, even if ominous warning signs of where it will eventually go crop up continually. Wilson’s Frank is a socially awkward, geeky and devoutly religious line cook who married Sarah (Liv Tyler), a recovering drug addict, because he seemed good-willed and willing to help her keep on the right path. This doesn’t last long. She returns to drugs and turns to crime in the form of the film’s villain, Jacques (Kevin Bacon, suitably over-acting), who whisks her away. Frank goes after her. It doesn’t end well. But he doesn’t end there.
He catches a few TV episodes of The Holy Avenger, a superhero story with decidedly Christ-leaning overtones. This leads to a moment in which, more or less, Frank receives a message from God, a message that he intuits to be that it’s time to go out and kick ass and save Sarah. He goes to a local comic book shop to do research and meets the young, equally geeky but extraordinarily foul mouthed Libby (Ellen Page). She opines as to why no one has ever attempted to be superhero. Fancy that.
Frank makes himself a crimson-laden costume, fashions a seriously souped-up wrench and goes on the attack. Sort of. Even when he succeeds in beating the tar out of a drug dealer he is sloppy about it. But things get worse when he not only bludgeons an irritating man who has cut in a movie line, but bludgeons his girlfriend too. And the movie grows darker. And continues to grow darker as Libby forces her way into Frank’s existence as Boltie, the Crimson’s Bolt kid sidekick.
Still, the movie grows darker. And weirder. And unpleasant. As the movie progressed the less it came across like a twisted take on the superhero genre than a subversive commentary on mass murderers who more often than not seem deluded in the sense they are representing some sort of greater good, that they are on a mission from God, etc. If this is truly the case then Super is entirely effective. Which is why I found it so grotesque.
On The Lars von Trier Scale Of Unsettling I give Super eight out of a possible ten dog collars. The movie totally has the right to exist, I just wish I could wash the memory of its existence from my mind.
C -
16 Comments
So is it literally Dwight Schrute moonlighting as the “Crimson fighter”? Seems like Wilson didn’t really have to extend that far out of his current range.
Rainn Wilson does have range. There’s a movie called Peep World where he’s really good, except that no one else likes the rest of the film but me.
There certainly are some Schrute-isms. I suspect part of the problem is many of those Schrute-isms might just be part or a variation of his real personality and so it’s difficult to do away with them unless he’s disappearing into a completely different role.
It’s pretty dark and very disturbing but this film has a moving story behind it and works as a showcase for the great talents of Rainn Wilson. Good Review Nick!
Thank you!
It had a bunch of tonal issues, and it is a very dark and disturbing film. However, on a Lars van Trier scale an 8 out of 10? No way. If Antichrist is a 10, then this movie is more like… a 4 or 5. I’ve seen far more violent and/or disturbing films.
Also, despite how disturbing this movie can get, it actually does have some good writing behind it. I still don’t know if I liked the movie or not on the whole, though.
Touché. I probably was exaggerating with the whole Von Trier Rating System but I like to exaggerate for effect. And I agree, too, that there is good writing behind it. I mean, for the most part it succeeds in what it wants to do. I don’t dispute that at all. I just personally didn’t care for what it did.
I really don’t get the appeal of Rainn Wilson at all, sorry. I think The Office is funny mostly because of Carrell but I just can’t stand Dwight, so this is definitely a skip for me.
Yeah, if you’re not a Wilson fan then you might not want to see this. In fact, you might like him even less simply because he might frighten you.
I really liked the different tone of this movie. When you start watching a superhero movie you have specific expectations of it, when it plays with those it surprises. Sure it is very dark towards the end, but I liked the fact that it wasn’t afraid to shock you and makes you believe that this guy thinks it’s ok to fight crime this way. Enjoyed it a bit more than you did.
I love it when movies don’t conform to expectations and so in that sense I certainly respect it. As I said above, I just didn’t personally care for how it upsurped those expectations.
Weirdly, I saw this on Sunday and absolutely loved it. I thought it was well done and very dark. Very violent, more than I thought it was going to be but I still very much enjoyed the show.
I normally can’t stand Ellen Page but I thought she did pretty well in this one!
Just my opinion
Well, there are other people who certainly have seemed to enjoy it, and more power to you. That’s the comparison I was trying to make with The Lars von Trier Scale. There are definitely people that enjoy his work. I’m not one of them. Just how it goes sometimes.
very interesting and unexpected review. the trailer made me want to watch it for the expected laughs, but the more I hear about the film, the more I want to not watch it.
thanks for the review!
Well, if you want to be sufficiently disturbed, I say watch it. If not…
What? You didn’t like the midnight rape? Dude getting bludgeoned with a wrench for skipping the movie theater line? What a strange movie… It definitely starts slowly but the ending is epic and there is scenes here and there that are too awesome to miss.
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