Masking the problem

"How come no one's ever tried to be a superhero?" That's the question at the heart of a pair of recently released new entries into the burgeoning comic book genre. Both Kick Ass and Defendor feature main characters who attempt to do just that - donning elaborate costumes and ward of evil doers in their local cities. By featuring protagonists who attempt to be superheroes without possessing any particular superpowers, both films try to seperate themselves from previous comic book films by purporting that their stories are rooted in reality while the notions of people who are faster than a speeding bullet or can shoot spider webs out of their wrists are pure fantasy. Neither film completely accomplishes this, but Defendor comes closer to making a realistic film.

Defendor was set to get a theaterical release last February, but then it got changed and went straight to DVD last week. That is a shame, because it will probably now get lost in the shuffle and deserves a better audience. Woody Harrelson stars as the titular hero who's attempting to clean up his town by eliminating Captain Industry, a villain who may or may not actually exist. We learn through a nonlinear form of storytelling that Defendor is really Arthur Poppington, a man who's had a traumatic upbringing and may not be completely sane. In his quest to find Captain Industry, Defendor befriends a hooker, (played by Kat Dennings) who sees an opportunity to play with Arthur's mental instability.

There is some strong black humor sprinkled throughout the film. We see Defendor use some creative weapons against his enemies like marbles and jars of angry bees. The film also hits all of the right emotional beats. Even if you can see the tragic ending coming, it will still move you. That is in large part due to a strong performance by Harrelson, who continues to be underrated as an actor. For the most part, the film gives an accurate depiction of what would happen if a solitary man with aspirations of heroism attempted to go against real bad guys who have weapons and evil intentions. The films greatest flaw however is its narrative structure. Instead of delivering a straightforward story, it attempts to play tricks and manipulate the audience through flashbacks and other storytelling devices. In the hands of a more capable director, this had the potential to be a very effective film.

I'm not sure if the same could ever be true for Kick Ass. Here, the story, as told to us by Kick Ass aka 17 year old Dave Lizewski, tries to sell us that this is the real world and our hero is nothing like the one you see in the movies. Too bad the film then goes on to be exactly like those films without any sense of irony about it. The film seems to want to be a satire, yet ends up merely imitating all of its predecessors. Having not read the graphic novel source material, I can't really say whether this is the fault of the source material or director Matthew Vaughn's inability to have that message translate to the screen.

Despite supposedly being set in New York City, nothing feels authentic about the world that's created in this movie. There are problems with the villains who seem to be run-of-the-mill film bad guys. The depiction of the teenagers also feels false as I don't see most of them actually behaving in the manner that they do here. Worst of all those is how the heroes are depicted. Along with Kick Ass, we also see Red Mist (played by Superbad's McLovin), Big Daddy (played by Nicholas Cage, who provides the only decent moments in the film), and his 11-year old daughter, Hit Girl. Each of them has their moments of ass-kickery in the film, depicting some truly graphic violence. This becomes problematic as the film only focuses on the glory of the kill and none of the reprecussions that would actually be associated with being a superhero in a real world setting.

None of these characters ever question the morality of their actions. They also don't give any thought as to how this will change their preexisting relationships with the people in their lives. It's just a portrayal of blind vigilantism for the sake of feeding the blood-lustful audience a huge heaping of unadulterated violence. Let it be clear that I had no problem with the violence itself, it's that the violence is not given any sort of proper context to make it acceptable. Kick Ass doesn't portray the real world, it simply puts the audience into a hyperreal video game world where everything is acceptable, so long as you're the last person left standing. It's probably apt that the film begins with the title character speaking of his penchant for self gratification because this film is one big masturbatory fantasy. Defendor: B Kick Ass: C