SUPER

Year: 2010
USA: IFC Films
UK: G2 Pictures
Cast: Rainn Wilson, Ellen Page, Liv Tyler, Kevin Bacon, Michael Rooker, Andre Royo, Sean Gunn, Stephen Blackehart, Don Mac, Linda Cardellini, Nathan Fillion, Gerardo Davila, Grant Goodman, Paul T Taylor, Connor Day
Director: James Gunn
Country: USA
USA & UK: 96 mins
USA Rated: Unrated
UK Certificate: 18 contains strong bloody violence
USA Release Date: 1 April 2011 (Limited Release)
UK Release Date: 8 July 2011 (Limited Release)


Synopsis

"He'll totally f**king beat evil."

No stranger to rebel filmmaking, James Gunn cut his teeth writing for Troma before making his directing debut with 2006's SLITHER. In a similar vein, his follow-up feature combines absurd humour with balls-out violence to create something that is both unashamed and inimitable. But this time Gunn adds a new ingredient, one that is dark, dramatic and subversive to the core.

Frank’s (Rainn Wilson) world implodes when his ex-addict wife, Sarah (Liv Tyler), is taken in by a seductive drug dealer, Jacques (Kevin Bacon). But he quickly decides to fight back under the guise of a DIY superhero called Crimson Bolt.

Kitting himself out with a hand-made suit and armed with a wrench, he teams up with a crazy sidekick named Boltie (Ellen Page). The Crimson Bolt beats his way through the mean streets of crime in hopes of saving his wife. The rules were written a long time ago: You are not supposed to molest children, cut lines or key cars; if you do, prepare to face the wrath of the Crimson Bolt!

Filmmaker James Gunn (SLITHER) has written and directed SUPER, a dark comedy, which could be described as the definitive take on self-reflexive superheroes.