Super is a mean-spirited, cynical film that crosses lines so entrenched in preconceived audience tolerance, it seems to dare its viewers to enjoy it. Those willing to take the challenge (and possessing the right amount of emotional detachment from the confines of good taste) will find that Super might just be one of the best movies of the year.
Combining the best parts of Kick-Ass and Observe and Report, Super is like an untreated gunshot wound in the gut — its infection tickling the insides of your innards and causing you to cry in what either could be laughter or extreme pain.
Rainn Wilson stars as Frank D’Arbo, a mild-mannered loser whose two great achievements in life are marrying Sarah, the love of his life as played by Liv Tyler, and once helping a cop to catch a criminal. Beyond that, Frank has led a pretty mundane life and it finally catches up with him when his wife, a recovering drug addict, falls off the wagon and leaves Frank for someone far more interesting — Jacques, a slick drug dealer played by Kevin Bacon.
Frank’s wife leaving him proves to be the straw that breaks the sad sack’s mind — sending Frank into a vision-tinged stupor where the voice of God (as portrayed by Rob Zombie) commands him to don a costume and fight crime as The Crimson Bolt.
When it comes to films about real-world crime fighters attempting to become superheroes without the benefit of powers, Kick-Ass may have gotten their first but Super goes much farther down the rabbit hole of bad taste than Matthew Vaughn’s film ever dreamt of.
Frank is a borderline psychopath — wielding a giant wrench and bashing in the brains of any he deems rule breakers. Whether they are selling drugs, molesting children or just cutting in line at the movie theater, Frank’s punishment is the same.
If Frank, as the Crimson Bolt, is slightly unhinged, the young woman who attaches herself to his hip and becomes his “teen” sidekick is full-blown insanity crammed into spandex unitard and a domino mask.
Ellen Page steals the movie as Libby AKA Boltie — The Crimson Bolt’s youthful ward. Attracted to Frank’s derring-do, Libby blends her thrill for adventure and adrenaline with a highly-charged sex drive — causing her to alternate between wild mood swings that have her slashing people’s apart with Wolverine-inspired claws one minute and the next physically raping Frank after he declines to have sex with the young woman.
Foul-mouthed and even fouler-minded, Libby may not have the skills of Kick-Ass’ Hit-Girl but she more than makes up for it with the willingness to inflict deadly harm onto any would-be perp.
Super features a pretty diverse cast of well-known actors in supporting roles including Gregg Henry as a detective who uncovers Frank’s secret, Michael Rooker and Sean Gunn as henchmen working for Jacques, Andrew Royo as a co-worker of Frank’s, and Linda Cardellini as a pet store owner. Nathan Fillion also makes a very brief cameo as The Holy Avenger, a bible-themed superhero character on TV whose sudden appearance while Frank is flipping channels proves the catalyst for the burgeoning hero’s holy quest for vengeance.
Make sure you arrive early at Super so that you don’t miss the incredible animated sequence that accompanies the film’s opening titles.
Super is a raunchy, ultra violent, surprisingly dramatic masterpiece. Funny, outrageous and never afraid to piss all over good taste, Super is a film that comes extremely recommended — provided, of course, you don’t blush at the idea of watching Rainn Wilson get tentacle raped by God.
