SUPER, a peculiar 2011 film directed by James Gunn, brings together two emerging actors I very much enjoy.
The first of these is Rainn Wilson (Dwight Schrute of The Office) who plays a cook named Frank D’Arbo. Frank sees himself as a real loser. In a particularly authentic scene, the viewer is given a glimpse of a prayer Frank offers: “Other people have goodness. They have good things; they have love and tenderness, people who care about their lives. They’re not humiliated at every turn. Other people have things God.” Frank owns only two moments which have brought him pleasure, and one of these, his marrying a recovering addict named Sarah, has unraveled.
In fact, the happenings of SUPER are precipitated by the sudden departure of Sarah. Previous to her leaving Frank, Jacques (played by Kevin Bacon) arrives on Frank’s door. Jacques asks for Sarah’s whereabouts, and Frank, oblivious to the fact that Jacques has succeeded in luring Sarah from him, agrees to share his breakfast with the man. Film critic Roger Ebert, while no fan of SUPER, nonetheless congratulates Bacon for his performance, noting his is a character “who visits as if an ambassador from another, better, movie.”
It’s a great line, and perhaps it’s true, but SUPER is not a bad film. It’s “pretty dark, it’s pretty messed up, [and] it’s got a twisted sense of humour,” to quote Rainn Wilson, but it is not a bad film. The violence is strong and bloody, the language is pervasive, and in at least one scene, sexual in nature, there is a certain moral ambiguity. If features such as these are beyond the toleration of a particular viewer, then Super will be also. This film is not for everyone, but it’s not a bad film.
However, it is difficult to say how good it is. What redeemed SUPER, for me, was the remarkably dark turn the film took in its last fifteen minutes or so (and Wilson’s performance during these moments), but what makes SUPER difficult to evaluate, overall, is that the intention of writer and director James Gunn, against which his final product should be judged, is not the easiest to discern.
This is not your typical superhero movie. Upon losing Sarah, something really does seem to snap in Frank’s brain. A religious experience motivates his decision to become a superhero. I mentioned that SUPER brings together two actors I very much enjoy, and noted the first of these is Rainn Wilson. The other is Ellen Page. Frank’s decision to make up his own superhero brings him into contact with Libby (Page’s character), a clerk at a local comic book who is in need of even more psychiatric attention than Frank. Frank settles on a red spandex suit and a large wrench to sport as a weapon, and thereafter brings his brand of vigilante justice to his surroundings.
If you have seen SUPER then pass along your thoughts. This little post serves more to bring attention to the film, to those of you who haven’t seen SUPER, than to engage critically with its themes.
K.
