A superhero comedy movie with Dwight Schrute as the lead? Sounds ideal. Spoiler alert: it is far from it.
Yes, I just finished my first ever full run through of The Office and YES I watched this movie because I missed Rainn Wilson. Don’t @ me. Wilson surprisingly has relatively few film credits to his name, so on paper, this seemed like the ideal movie to cope with my Schrute withdrawal. The film tells the story of an every day guy who transforms himself into a superhero known as ‘Crimson Bolt’ after his wife (Liv Tyler) falls under the spell of a seedy city drug dealer. Of course, he lacks any sort of superhuman skill, and recruits an apprentice (Elliot Page) to aid him on his missions.
Basically, I fully blame James Gunn for doing everyone a disservice with this shoddy writing. This cast (particularly Wilson, Elliot Page and Linda Cardellini) all deserve better. The story is basic, rarely funny, and it’s a shame that Kick-Ass came out the same year because it’s pretty much the poorly executed cousin of Matthew Vaughan’s movie. It’s hard to believe that Marvel trusted him to direct Guardians of the Galaxy after this abysmal effort.
I’m sure there are people who this movie will appeal to. Unfortunately, the target audience seems to be nerdy white comic book guys sooooo yeah. Not for me. I’ve got to admit that the soundtrack is super fun… but what’s with all the rape scenes?! Gross. It’s really quite disappointing that Rainn wanted anything to do with a script that contained such gag-worthy material, even if it’s sort of evident what Gunn was attempting here.
I’ll be candid about this one: it’s difficult to think of any praise for Super. Even the camerawork looks shoddy, which is something that Gunn is typically not bad at. The tone throughout is utterly baffling and it’s only funny when Rainn Wilson squeezes some humour out of literally nothing. Worst of all, Kevin Bacon shows his face as the villain and casually blurts out the N word. In 2010. But you know what I really didn’t need? The fucking vomit in the toilet scene. Seeing as I watched this movie at 10am, it’s not what I expected from a superhero comedy starring one of my favourite comedic actors.
Alas, I can’t blame a post-Office Rainn Wilson for trying his luck here – the fault is completely in the hands of the film’s director.
How would I describe Super? Predictable, messy and only fleetingly entertaining. Please just know that I’m giving this 2 Qs purely for Rainn and Page… and the soundtrack I guess.
Super is available to stream on Amazon Prime Video in the UK.
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