Rating summary

Movie		3.0
Video		4.5
Audio		4.0
Extras		3.0
Overall		3.5

Super Blu-ray Movie Review

Less kick-ass than Kick-Ass, but perhaps more defensible than Defendor.

Reviewed by Casey Broadwater August 11, 2011

Let’s address this up front. Yes, Super bares some more-than-passing similarities to a whole slew of recent movies about makeshift superheroes with no powers--Kick-Ass most of all--but director James Gunn’s follow-up to his much-beloved B-horror revival Slither is most definitely it’s own film, with a dark, often funny, religiously twisted take on the citizen vigilante genre. It’s ultra-violent and goofy, and it celebrates the underdog dork who becomes more powerful that he could’ve ever possibly imagined. I wouldn’t be surprised if it attained a limited, niche cult status for a certain subset of superhero fans who relate to Rainn Wilson’s character, The Crimson Bolt, a lifelong loser turned red-suited, wrench- wielding, self-appointed savior. Here’s the thing: this kind of scares me. The movie asks us to empathize with and root for a protagonist who, at best and no matter how well-intentioned, is a murderer who believes God has called him to brutally injure or kill criminals. (And not even particularly evil criminals. One guy butts in line outside a movie theater and gets a wrench blow to the skull that leaves him bleeding out on the sidewalk.) I can’t quite tell where Gunn is drawing his satirical battle lines, or if he’s drawing any at all. At times the film seems like it wants to challenge our expectations or comment on the genre, its audience, and religious violence, but it also feels haphazard and unsure of what it’s really trying to say.

The Crimson Bolt

But let’s go back to the beginning. Wilson plays Frank D’Arbo, a thirtysomething shlub and short-order cook at a greasy-spoon diner. As he tells us in a voiceover prologue, he’s had only two perfect moments in his continual embarrassment of a life--the time he helpfully pointed a cop in the direction of a fleeing thief, and the day he married his wife, Sarah (Liv Tyler, miscast and underused), a recovering alcoholic and junkie who looks too gorgeous to be slumming with his sorry ass. Sarah starts hanging out with her old druggie pals again and one day Frank comes home to find all of her clothes and belongings gone. She’s left him for Jacques (Kevin Bacon), a shark-like strip club owner and mid-level heroin dealer, but Frank--unable to accept that Sarah would leave of her own volition--believes she’s been kidnapped. Here’s where it gets odd; depressed and watching hentai tentacle porn, Frank turns the channel to the All-Jesus Network, where he takes inspiration from the adventures of The Holy Avenger (a hilarious Nathan Fillion), a cheesy Christian superhero who seems to speak to him directly out of the TV. Later, in a vision, octopus-y arms restrain Frank on his bed and saw off the top of his skull--like that scene in Hannibal--so that the finger of God can reach down from heaven and touch his brain. Really. Believing he has a calling, Frank researches superheroes without powers at his local comic shop, where he meets his soon-to-be sidekick Libby (Ellen Page), a kind of manic pixie dweeb girl who will become the diminutive Boltie to his pipe wrench-toting Crimson Bolt.

It’s easy to cheer for Frank during his initial crime-fighting montage, when he takes out corrupt drug dealers and pedophiles and the seemingly deserving. This is all pretty funny, and it reminded me a bit of the vigilante extremism of last year’s Hobo with a Shotgun. But there’s a fairly drastic shift in our perception of Frank when he clubs that queue-jumper outside the movie theater. The guy’s a jerk, yeah, but he doesn’t deserve a blunt hunk of metal to the forehead. Worse yet, Frank lands a blow on the guy’s date, just for giving him some attitude. Suddenly, our hero isn’t just a dork in a costume; he’s an obsessive, delusional Travis Bickle type on a mission from God to clean the filth off the streets. Frank initially questions whether what he’s doing is right or not, but after a second sign from The Holy Avenger, he goes whole hog in his transformation, stockpiling guns and ammo and learning recipes from The Anarchist’s Cookbook in preparation for an attack on Jacques’ compound/McMansion. “Boltie” is just as deranged. Ellen Page is utterly batshit crazy in this role. At first she seems like your average comic shop clerk--snarky and geeky in equal measures, maybe a little aloof--but when she discovers Frank’s secret identity and presents herself as a perfect sidekick, the Robin to his Batman, she reveals an inner psycho who cackles at a recently maimed criminal, “It’s called internal bleeding f--ker, and then you die.” Did I mention she basically rapes Frank, at one point, in a scene that starts sexy and gets progressively more and more uncomfortable?

The Crimson Bolt and Boltie are very clearly anti-heroes, and you could--if you were bored enough to do it--sit down and write a paper about the film’s subversion of superhero tropes, it’s commentary on how crimefighters can be just as bad as criminals, and the movie’s gambit to condemn the love of violence in action films by ironically celebrating it. But I don’t think James Gunn put nearly as much theoretical thought into Super as you would’ve put into your hypothetical essay. I don’t really think he has anything coherent to say about the genre or the kinds of people who enjoy it. The director seems more concerned with simply making a dorky-cool movie targeted specifically to Comic-Con crowds. And in that sense, he delivers. Super is fun, full of references the audience is apt to get, and gleefully anarchic in all regards, from its cringe-inducing violence to the way it switches from comedy to melodrama at the drop of a hat. (Mask?) The anything-goes tone and splatter-gore effects make Super feel like a bigger budgeted Troma movie, which makes sense considering that Dunn co-wrote and co-directed 1996’s “transgressive comedy” Tromeo and Juliet. Dunn’s so-so story is bolstered by a great cast. Rainn Wilson’s geek cred is cemented here, and he’s really the ideal actor to play Frank-- homely in an attractive way and capable of being both pathetic and heroic. Kevin Bacon, looking particularly gaunt and resembling a mid-1990s Ethan Hawke, steals every scene he’s in, and Michael Rooker--of Portrait of a Serial Killer infamy--commands attention onscreen as Jacques’ right- hand henchman, despite having relatively few lines. Page, as previously mentioned, is funny and weirdly sexy and blessed with some hilarious, borderline Tourette Syndrome dialogue.

Super Blu-ray Movie, Video Quality 

Shot in 4K with the Red One digital camera, Super transitions easily to Blu-ray, with a 1.85:1-framed, 1080p/AVC encode that looks fantastic. Given how your usual superhero movie is a big-budget, CGI-laden effects-fest, Super's realistic, relatively lo-fi indie aesthetic is a great visual change of pace. (There are a few computer-assisted shots, of course--most related to Frank's supernatural/deranged visions--and these are handled well.) Much of the film was shot hand-held, and this accounts for some of the softness you may notice in the screenshots. Super looks much better in motion, with a satisfying level of clarity that brings out fine detail in facial features and clothing textures--see the stitching on The Crimson Bolt's suit--especially in close-ups. There are a few legitimately soft-looking shots, but I suspect this derives from focus and lens quality, rather than any issue with the encode. (Besides, these are few and far between.) In terms of color, the image is slightly stylized, with stronger than normal contrast and some intentional desaturation in select scenes. Bolt and Boltie's costumes are bright and vivid, backgrounds usually feature a rich palette of neutrals, and black levels and skin tones are pretty much exactly where they need to be. Finally, there's no evidence of excessive noise reduction or edge enhancement, and there are no noticeable compression problems. Oh, and expect lots of lens flares.

Super Blu-ray Movie, Audio Quality 

Super can never upstage Iron Man or The Dark Knight in the sound design department, but the film's lossless DTS-HD Master Audio 5.1 surround track is excellent on its own merits. The Crimson Bolt gets himself into quite a few scrapes, and these are usually accompanied by some punchy, full-bodied effects. Loud gunshots pop off, ping, and ricochet through the surround channels--when they're not making meaty impact-- while body blows hit hard and wrench swings land on skulls with a sickening, watermelon-splitting crack. Pipe bombs trigger LFE explosions and fire rushes through the rears. When God reveals himself to Frank, Frank's apartment groans as tentacles creep through the cracks in the wall and whip through the air. Of course, you'll also hear some quiet ambience in key scenes, from outdoorsy sounds and party noise to the boiling of a tea kettle off in the kitchen. Along with Tyler Bates' score, there's a lot of rock/power-pop on the soundtrack, and the music sounds great, loud and dynamic. Dialogue is always clean and easy to understand, and there are no distracting hisses, crackles, or pops. The disc includes optional English SDH and Spanish subtitles.

Super Blu-ray Movie, Special Features and Extras 

• Commentary with James Gunn and Rainn Wilson: Gunn and Wilson have a love for this project that's nearly infectious. Their chat is brisk is and filled with details, from the film's own origin story to the casting, the special effects, and the low-budget shoot. Worth a go.
• Trailer (1080p, 2:13)
• TV Spot (1080p, 00:33)
• Deleted Scene (1080p, 1:08): A single deleted scene between Rainn Wilson and Liv Tyler.
• Behind the Scenes (1080i, 18:37): A great behind-the-scenes piece, with lots of on-set footage and interviews with director James Gunn and the film's stars. Best bit: Michael Rooker taking Rain Wilson to a shooting range to learn to shoot from the hip.
• Making of the Main Titles (1080p, 4:51): Animation supervisor Shad Petosky guides us through the creation of the title sequence.
• How to Fight Crime at SXSW (1080p, 3:59): The Crimson Bolt walks around Austin during SXSW, surprising people and stopping petty crime.

Best Buy Exclusive DVD: Additionally, if you pick up the film at Best Buy, you'll find a bonus DVD with a few exclusive features.

• Emerald City Comicon Panel Discussion (SD, 1:00:23): The entire panel discussion, pretty much unedited. Rainn Wilson and James Gunn sit down at the Emerald City Comicon to discuss the film and take questions from the crowd.
• The Making of "How to Fight Crime" (SD, 2:07): Yes, a making-of featurette for the already brief featurette on the first disc. Pretty funny, though.
• Inside the World of Super (SD, 4:10): An EPK-style promo with quick soundbyte interviews, clips from the film, and some behind-the- scenes shots.
• SXSW Premiere (SD, 25:18): An interview with Rainn Wilson and James Gunn at SXSW, talking about the film's premiere.
• Extended Scenes (SD, 3:41): There are two slightly extended scenes here, one with Kevin Bacon and one with Ellen Page.
• Poster Gallery (SD): Twenty-seven, count 'em, twenty-seven poster designs for Super.

Super Blu-ray Movie, Overall Score and Recommendation 

I'm still not quite sure how I feel about Super. It's gleefully perverse, excessively violent, and occasionally very funny, but it also seems unsure of what--if anything--it's trying to say. Is it a satire of superhero movies? An attempt to subvert audience expectations? A test to see how clearly mentally unstable and morally confused a character can be and still gain our sympathy? All of the above? None? I have a feeling this one will fall into the love-it-or-remain-totally-indifferent-about-it category. Regardless, Super looks and sounds great on Blu-ray, and comes with a few decent special features, including an enjoyable commentary with director James Gunn and actor Rainn Wilson. Worth checking out if you're a fan of the nascent indie- superheroes-with-no-powers genre.