Review: Super

Grade: A+

Frank D’Arbo lives a simple life as a cook in a diner and he is happily married to his wife, Sarah. One day, he comes home to find his wife missing, along with all of her clothes and belongings. Frank finds out that she has fallen back into the world of drugs and is now living with Jacques, a drug dealer in the city. After pleading with wife to come home doesn’t work and the police don’t care, Frank begins to lose his mind. He then has a “vision” and becomes convinced that god wants him to be a super hero. He creates “The Crimson Bolt” a masked superhero who beats criminals with a wrench. He meets Libby, a comic store employee, who decides to become franks sidekick, Boltie. The two fight crime together and come up with a plan to get Frank’s wife back.

Super is an incredible movie written and directed by James Gunn (Slither). It is a crazy good an intense dark comedy. I would really like to put an emphasis on the dark part of that. It is definitely funny but you quickly come to realize that the two main characters are sociopaths who probably have some serious psychological issues to deal with. The movie is unrated but I would like to mention that this movie is hyper-violent and loaded with language and an… interesting sex scene. It is funny, but sometimes you’ll be laughing and you won’t quite know why as what is happening is rather disturbing. The movie is extremely well written and the ending is great, but as a warning, it doesn’t really leave you with a good feeling. It took me a little while after I watched it to get back and truly realize how genius this movie is.

The movie stars Rainn Wilson (The Rocker, TVs The Office) as Frank D’Arbo. Wilson is surprisingly perfect for the role and amazing in it. He really did an amazing job with this part and was extremely convincing in the role. Ellen Page (Inception, Juno) plays the role of Libby, who becomes his sidekick. Page is absolutely hilarious in this movie and had some of the best lines, however, she is also pretty disturbing at times too. Liv Tyler (The Incredible Hulk, Jersey Girl) plays the role of Sarah, Frank’s wife. Tyler isn’t in the movie too much, but she is pretty good in it. Kevin Bacon (Frost/Nixon, Death Sentence) plays the role of Jacques, or Jock as Frank keeps calling him. He was really good in this movie and pretty funny, glad to see he is kind of making a comeback. The movie also features Michael Rooker, Sean Gunn, Nathan Fillion and more.

Super is a great and extremely well made movie. It is dark and intense while having great comedic sensibilities as well. It definitely falls under the dark comedy category. If you are one of those people that Super is just like Kick-Ass, trust me, it is not, at all. The only similarities the two movies have is that somebody decides to put on a costume and fight crime, other than that, they are miles apart. I really cannot recommend this movie enough, go see it as soon as possible.

Great quote: “SHUT UP, CRIME!”