Super is a 2010 American black comedy superhero film written and directed by James Gunn, starring Rainn Wilson, Ellen Page, Liv Tyler, Kevin Bacon and Nathan Fillion. The film premiered at the 2010 Toronto International Film Festival and was released in theaters in the United States on April 1, 2011 and on video on demand on April 13, 2011.^[4] The film was released unrated^[5] in U.S. theaters, and later received an R rating for its DVD/Blu-ray release.

Plot[link]

The film opens with short-order cook Frank D'Arbo (Rainn Wilson) telling the audience of the only two good memories he's had in a life of disappointment: marrying his beautiful wife Sarah (Liv Tyler), and an incident in which he directed a police officer to catch a purse snatcher. Frank immortalizes these two events in a pair of crayon drawings he hangs on his wall for inspiration.

Later on, Sarah, a recovering addict, leaves Frank for Jacques (Kevin Bacon), a charismatic strip club owner who gets her hooked on drugs. Frank sinks into depression, where he has a vision in which he is touched by the hand of God and meets the Holy Avenger (Nathan Fillion), a superhero from a public-access television show on the All-Jesus Network who tells Frank that God has chosen him for a very special purpose. Frank believes that God has chosen him to become a superhero and goes to a local comic book shop for inspiration. His claim that he is designing a new superhero is met with enthusiastic appreciation from the foul-mouthed store clerk, Libby (Ellen Page). Frank creates a superhero costume and assumes the identity of "The Crimson Bolt". Armed primarily with a pipe wrench, he begins to fight crime by delivering savage beatings to various rule breakers ranging from drug dealers and child molesters, to a man who cuts in line at the movies. The Crimson Bolt soon becomes a media sensation. Initially, the media views The Crimson Bolt as a violent psychopath, but he begins to gain public appreciation after the criminal backgrounds of many of his victims come to light. Frank later attempts to rescue Sarah, but Jacques's thugs recognize him under the costume and shoot Frank in the leg while he flees.

A wounded Frank goes to Libby for help, as his home is no longer safe with Jacques's thugs looking for him. Libby cajoles Frank into letting her become the Crimson Bolt's "kid sidekick", christening herself "Boltie" and designing a sexually suggestive costume. She proves to be even more unhinged than Frank, using her superhero guise to almost kill a man who may or may not have keyed her friend's car. Frank decides to let her go, but changes his mind when Libby rescues him from some of Jacques's thugs at a gas station. Libby soon becomes enamored with Frank, but her advances are turned down as Frank insists that he is still married. Deciding it is different when they are in their superhero identities, Libby rapes Frank while the two are in costume. Going in the bathroom to throw up, Frank encounters a vision of Sarah in the vomit in his toilet and decides that now is the time to rescue her from Jacques.

Armed with guns, pipe bombs, and bulletproof vests, Frank and Libby sneak into Jacques's ranch killing the first few guards they encounter. Eventually, they are both shot; Frank is struck in the chest, his bulletproof vest sparing him, but Libby is struck in the head and dies instantly. Devastated by her death, Frank goes into a rage, killing all of Jacques's thugs. Inside, he has a final showdown with Jacques. Jacques shoots Frank and wounds him. Frank gains the upper hand, though, and stabs Jacques to death after a final monologue. Frank takes Sarah home, and she stays with him for a few months before leaving him again. This time, however, she manages to finally overcome her addiction and uses her experiences to help others with similar problems. She remarries and has children, but Frank is happy for her and decides that the reason why God chose him was so that he could rescue Sarah and help her get on with her life.

Frank, now with a pet bunny, looks on his wall of happy memories. Frank's entire wall is covered with pictures of his experiences from his time spent with Libby to pictures of Sarah's kids, who call him 'Uncle Frank'. Frank smiles with a tear running down his cheek.

Cast[link]

Production[link]

Rainn Wilson, James Gunn and Ellen Page at the SXSW film festival.

Super was filmed between December 9, 2009, and January 24, 2010, in Shreveport, Louisiana, with additional shooting at director James Gunn's home in Los Angeles, California, (the comic book store shown in the film is a real store, ComicSmash, in Studio City, CA). Being a low-budget independent project, everyone involved in the film was paid scale (the minimum allowed by the Screen Actors Guild). Tyler Bates worked on the soundtrack.

Gunn has said in interviews that he had been working on the script for Super since 2002 but he had a hard time getting it made as producers felt that the content was too violent and esoteric. In addition, Gunn had a hard time deciding on the right actor to play Frank; John C. Reilly was Gunn's top choice, but he wasn't considered to be a big enough star for the film to get made.^[6] After Slither was made, Gunn had effectively put the project on hold until his ex-wife Jenna Fischer encouraged him to go through with it and recommended Rainn Wilson, her co-star from The Office.^[7] Wilson read the script while on set and decided he wanted to join the film, and in turn sent the script to Ellen Page, with whom he had worked in Juno, who immediately accepted the role of Libby.^[8]

Super was Gunn's second film dealing with superheroes, the first being The Specials in 2000 that he wrote but did not direct. Gunn has said that examining superheroes from a different angle interests him, and that he may do more films concerning the subject in the future.^[9]

Reception[link]

Critical response[link]

Super received mixed reviews from critics. The review aggregator Rotten Tomatoes reported that 46% of critics made a positive review, classifying it as "rotten", ^[10] while Metacritic reported the film had an average score of 50 out of 100, indicating "mixed or average". Film4 wrote, "It's not that this type of movie shouldn't be made – this type of movie could be brilliant – but it plays like every first draft idea anyone had found its way to the screen because it made someone laugh over a few drinks ... Some really interesting ideas and the odd flash of awesomeness, but overall a big old misfire with some ill-judged nastiness."^[11] Al Kratina reporting at the Fantasia Film Festival wrote, "There’s a great movie somewhere inside James Gunn’s dark comedy Super ... Super is an undeniably entertaining film. But there’s something off about it ... Super is a funny film, a twisted story, and occasionally a very good movie, just rarely at the same time."^[12] EW critic Owen Gleiberman wrote, "This trifle about a doofus who becomes a costumed superhero, even though he has no special powers, might have seemed funkier before Kick-Ass. Yet the movie is written and directed by James Gunn with a certain whimsical black-comic flair ... It's really a one-joke movie, but the joke is a good one: Frank's 'crusade' is just a geek's screw-loose revenge, which Wilson, digging into the character's misery, makes oddly sympathetic."^[13] Conversely, Scott Weinberg of Cinematical wrote, "Chock full of insanely graphic violence, awash in thoroughly un-PC perspectives, and more than willing to keep on punching long after the audience is virtually incredulous, Super is fun and funny, dark and twisted, semi-schizophrenic and certifiably insane. What I liked most was its simple audacity. And Ellen Page."^[14]

Box office[link]

Super made $46,549 on opening weekend with eleven theaters, averaging $4,232 per theater,^[3] which was considered by analysts to be "a disappointing start" for the film.^[15] Conversely, the film has fared better on VOD and has been anticipated to be the most successful film VOD for IFC so far.^[16]

Awards[link]

At the 2011 Fantasia Film Festival Super was tied with the documentary Superheroes for the AQCC Prize; "For two films that perfectly capture the Zeitgeist of our age and that present elaborate reflections on one of the biggest Americans trends, the AQCC Jury has awarded its best international film prize, in a tie, to the fiction film Super by James Gunn and to the documentary Superheroes by Michael Burnett, two strong and complementary works."^[17]

Themes[link]

Mike Stoklasa and Jay Bauman of RedLetterMedia analyzed various themes in their review show Half in the Bag.^[18]

Personal journey[link]

In stark contrast to most superhero films, Frank does not become a superhero because of a genuine interest in protecting the public, instead he uses the superhero motif to go on a journey of self-discovery. In a scene where someone cuts in line in front of him, Frank dons the superhero costume and severely hits the person for what are described as obviously "selfish" reasons.^[18] Similarly, when James Gunn was asked about comparisons with Kick-Ass, he described Super as a movie "about a guy who's on his own sort of spiritual quest and he just happens to wear a superhero costume during it. But it's really about the guy and not the costume."^[19]

Religion[link]

In the film, Frank is often inspired by suggestions from the television show The Holy Avenger (similar to Bibleman) and by visions he sees relating to the Holy Avenger. Although it is implied that the visions and thoughts are only in Frank's mind, he attributes them to God, especially in one vision where the "Finger of God" touches his brain to inspire him to become a superhero.^[18]

Glorification of violence[link]

Stoklasa and Bauman also discussed how the film ironically mocks the glorification of violence.^[18] In the film, there are many stylized acts of violence but it also has violence which is meant to make the audience "feel bad", for rooting for it.^[18] Examples of this include when Libby beats an unarmed man for possibly vandalizing her friend's car. There is a scene where Frank splits a man's forehead with his wrench for cutting in line.

Controversy[link]

Kick-Ass creator Mark Millar defended Super in light of accusations that it was copying his work with, "People have said to me, 'oh my God, he's ripping off Kick-Ass,' because it's coming out one year later, but James was doing this when I was doing Kick-Ass as well. Both projects were coming together at exactly the same time." Millar went on to screen Super at his Kapow! comic convention in London.^[20] Gunn responded to the controversy with, "It sucks on the one hand and then on the other hand, who gives a shit? There are 4,000 bank heist movies. We can have five superheroes-without-powers movies", referring to Defendor, Hero at Large and Special, in addition to Kick-Ass and Super.^[21]

References[link]

External links[link]

• Official website
• Super at AllRovi
• Super at Box Office Mojo
• Super at IFC Films
• Super at the Internet Movie Database
• Super at Rotten Tomatoes