johnlink ranks SUPERHEROES (2011)
My first documentary of 2012 is one which seemed to have a pretty cool premise. See, there are people out there, in the real world, who dress up in costume and go out at night to try and stop crime, or generally make the world a better place. Sounds like these people might be crazy. SPOILER ALERT: Many of them are.
I watched SUPERHEROES (2011) on 2.17.12. It was my first viewing of the film.
As you can imagine, this is not a movie packed with costume-clad vigilantes beating up would-be rapists and clashing with some costumed nemesis. Granted, we do get to see costume-clad vigilantes, but there are no grand moments of action or violence. Major moments include a guy telling a drug dealer (easily twice his size) to leave the park (which he ultimately does) and a team of four heroes keeping a drunk driver from driving home.
The personalities of these people are varied. Some of these guys are little more than street performers, wandering the street in costume for attention. Others are determined to make things better. The New York Initiative, the foursome who stopped the drunkard, go as far as to send out bait to try and get someone to attack them. Of course, this never works. But they are looking for the action.
Most of this film seems to work as an attempt to make some of these people look pathetic, which is sort of counter productive to its ultimate thesis. There is a hierarchy here wherein the film wants to differentiate between the legitimate and the ridiculous. But everyone involved is degrees of both.
The final scene of the film shows San Diego during Comic-Con as thousands of people make their way to profess their love for geeky shit (that isn’t a criticism, I’d love to go to Comic-Con). Meanwhile, this team of ‘heroes’ is a mile away passing out cold water and survival supplies to the homeless. This is definitely a nice note to end on, but seems to also question why these people need to dress up in order to do this.
This movie was destined to not be as cool as it could be because the reality could never live up to our expectation. Regardless, I still give it credit for showing me a part of society I never knew existed.
SCORES
FILM: 3; MOVIE: 6; EFFECT: 5; WRITING: 6
My documentary rankings eliminate the acting element, and replace it with the effectiveness with which the film conveys its thesis.
3+6+5+6+0=20
FINAL SCORE: 5
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