Powered By Blogger

Search This Blog

Wednesday, May 26, 2010

Defendor(2009)


This little film was an (un)pleasant surprise. From the trailer I was expecting another high-action, lowbrow laughs, super-hero movie. What I got, was a very dark comedy masquerading as a feel good movie. I am always on the fence with Woody Harrelson, he has done some good things like The People Vs. Larry Flynt and Natural Born Killers, but he has had his share of turds too. Also, I am NOT a fan of super hero movies, but Jeff wanted to see this, so here we are. I am glad that I watched this, because it goes against the grain of most Hollywood movies.


Harrelson plays Arthur Poppington, who is obviously mentally impaired in some manner, which is never explained, but seems Autistic to me. He is a city worker by day, and crime fighter by night. The whole reason that he is said hero comes from a misunderstanding when he was a child, so the whole film hinges on the fact that is he is mildly-retarded. He goes after a corrupt cop who he thinks is working for the evil "Captain Industry", a semi-fictional character, who he thinks is responsible for his mother's death. Along the way he gets involved with Kat, a young crack-addled prostitute, who loves Defendor even though she steals from and lies to him. It's impossible not to care for his character and the plight he has gotten himself into. Just don't go into the film thinking that it's something different, because it might be a real bummer. Think Donnie Darko meets Mystery Men, and you might be in the ballpark. Way to go Woody!

No comments:

Post a Comment