At its onset Super seems like just another in a list of current films depicting losers of the real world choosing to don a disguise and live out misguided delusions of heroism.
Starring Rainn Wilson (of Office fame) and Ellen Page, I expected a laugh out loud comedy full of sardonic wit. What I got instead was something much darker and twisted, that me left me feeling unsure and ill at ease at its ending.
The film begins with Wilson as Frank. A fry cook at a diner whose happiest moments in life are telling an officer which way a criminal went and his marriage to Sarah, played by the ethereal and unnaturally beautiful Liv Tyler. A recovering alcoholic and drug addict, it’s her descent back into addiction and abandonment for her enabler that serve as his catalyst.
After some prayer and a bizarre scene involving tentacles and the finger of God, he decides it’s his mission to save her and become the Crimson Bolt. Using a wrench as his weapon, Wilson roams the streets handing out some very mean and graphic street justice.
Research for his role leads him to Libby (Ellen Page), a hyper active and seemingly ADD addled comic book store clerk, who eventually becomes Boltie, his kid side kick. Whoever’s familiar with the world of comic books knows that a kid sidekick often serves to subdue the mean streak of of our caped crusaders. Boltie seems to do the reverse for the Crimson Bolt, however.
With her inclusion, Super descends into a frenzy of unflinching violence and hard to watch moments. Super’s ending involves a lot of rationalization, done in voice over. Not a happy ending by any means, the film suggests that those are sometimes necessary in order to help others find the endings they deserve.
Sarah McBride, pop-culture enthusiast. Her thoughts on music, film, lit and life can be found at sarahism.com. You can follow her on twitter@sarahism.