James Gunn’s Super is, quite frankly, one of the best movies I’ve seen in a while.
What? Are you serious? Didn’t you see Kick-Ass? It was so much cooler.
That is neither here nor there because I liked Super on so many levels that comparisons are futile. Let’s dive in, shall we?
"Crime doesn't pay...but plot sure does!"
Story vs Plot
Okay, so let’s boil it down. Super is about a schlub named Frank who helps get a hot chick off drugs, marries her, only to lose her back to drugs. After a bout of depression, our schlub resolves to save his wife and get her back off of drugs.
That’s the story. Pretty simple, right? I mean, shit, it’s…a love story. It’s got love, loss, depression, sacrifice, suffering, redemption. Good stuff.
So what’s the plot? Remember, story is the route. Plot is what happens along the route. And in this case, our schlub chooses a very interesting way of heading down that road to save his wife. His choice: become a superhero.
Actually, I should back up. Our schlub (played by Rainn Wilson, by the way) is actually told in a vision by God to save his wife. You see, our boy needed a kick in the ass. And because a Christian super hero also appeared in the vision (great cameo by Nathan Fillion), Frank puts two and two together. God wants him to become a superhero and save his wife.
That’s the plot. Everything that Frank does and everything that happens to Frank en route to saving his wife. And boy is it a fun one. A dark one, to be sure, but fun. And enlightening, if you’re receptive.
"So, you want to get to know my...character? Hmmm?"
Characters
The only way this kind of story works is with great characters. Nobody gives a shit about some everyday person deciding to become a super hero. Or a person who’s already awesome deciding to become more awesome by wearing a costume. Nor do they care about some forgettable character dealing with love and loss.
We gots to have depth, man. And we have to have characters who “fit”. So, Frank is a schlub. Works the grill at a diner. Little to no confidence. Has a history from childhood of being shat upon. Then he gets a chance at a hot chick. A chick that needs help. A chick who sees goodness in Frank and knows he’s the one who can help. And he does. Because he’s simple he’s able to see her need and fulfill it.
She gets clean. They get married. All is well. Until it’s not. Kevin Bacon enters the fold, playing a rather charming drug dealer, who gets Frank’s wife to not only jump off the wagon, but to jump out of his life all together.
So we have a schlub who is simple and good and wants nothing more than to have a nice simple life with his wife. But he can’t unless he does something about it. As mentioned above, he gets sent on a mission. A mission from God. To save his wife.
Thus, the Crimson Bolt is born. Now if Frank had always been cool or even normal, this transformation wouldn’t resonate. But because he was a sad sack of shit, this new found confidence is…believable. Maybe it’s new found confidence. Maybe it’s a bit of insanity, but it makes sense for his character to go down this road. The character fits the plot and is layered with depth, simple depth, that resonates throughout. But it is this simple depth that leads to simple justice. Brutal justice. So, what was born out of a desire to do pure good leads to a twisting of it. Is it because his mind is twisted or just his view of the world?
Speaking of twisted, every superhero also needs a sidekick. Enter Ellen Page as the comic book store employee, expert on all things superhero, and just a tad bit insane. Enthusiastically insane. Her sidekick name: Bolty. And where Frank finds confidence and justice in donning his costume, Bolty finds indulgence and vengeance. Where Frank wants to affect good, even if he doesn’t see the harm he’s doing, Bolty just wants blood. She wants payback. And she wants to indulge her fantasies: whether they be getting the asshole who keyed her car to having super hero sex. She is a product of her time where violence and sex are glamorized and human beings are reduced to play things.
"Smashing skulls is serious business. It's not a game."
Both fool themselves into thinking what they’re doing is good. But they’re doing good by doing bad. Using violence against violence. Stopping pain by unleashing pain. If their mission is good, they route is twisted. Hell, their route is perverse.
Which leads to the next point-
Realism
This movie is real. Where comic books use violence as an entertainment, this movie uses violence to reflect a grim truth: vigilantism is ugly. Yeah, cutting in line is bad. But the punishment for it shouldn’t be hitting the offender in the head with a wrench. And this movie shows what a wrench does to a skull.
I found myself laughing at some of these scenes. Specifically, when the Crimson Bolt gets the drop on a guy molesting a little boy. Who doesn’t want to beat a scum bag like that with a wrench? But then when it got to the scene of beating the guy and his wife for cutting in line, I didn’t laugh. Kind of smirked but I started to get that uncomfortable feeling. Like, yeah, this isn’t right. Then it clicks. This doesn’t solve anything. Hell, this is wrong.
And there it is. Comics are cool. But comics aren’t real life. Want to know what a real superhero looks like? Want to know what a wrench can do to a skull? Want to see how violence begets violence? Keep watching. Remember, Batman is basically a sociopath on the side of good. Same goes for these cats.
Bolty doesn’t see that, though. She thinks it’s fun and games. A bullet wound. Beating a guy with a statue. Hitting somebody with a car. It’s almost like she’s playing a video game with people. Completely detached from reality. And through this detachment, Frank finally sees where he went wrong. He lost sight of the mission. He indulged and perverted his quest. He hurt people and got himself damn near killed. He, in a way, corrupted a troubled young girl by allowing her to play superhero.
"Wrong movie. This is a different corruption."
Let me rephrase: he sort of sees it.
Because he quickly loses sight of it when he goes on a kill or be killed mission to save his wife, bringing Bolty along with her new claws. Explosions. Shootouts. Lots of killing. Death, death, death.
So why do this? Why have Frank see all this only to toss out the lesson and further indulge in mindless violence?
Because, for Frank to do what he feels he has to do, he needs the world to be black and white. Not gray. It’s the only way, he believes, he can save his wife. So, these drug dealers are bad and made the choice to be bad and stole his wife and now he’s going to unleash righteous hell on them to save her and make them pay.
Frank even illustrates this point when he’s got Kevin Bacon cornered. Kevin points out that what Frank is doing is no better than what he’s done. To which, Frank replies:
“You don't butt in line! You don't sell drugs! You don't molest little children! You don't profit off the misery of others! The rules were set a long time ago! They don't change!”
See, black and white. Now, spoiler alert, Kevin further asks if killing him is really going to change the world? To which, Frank replies:
“I can’t know for sure unless I try.”
Again, black and white. All to ensure his wife’s safety from here on out.
The right way? No. Frank has a good point about the rules but he doesn’t understand why the rules were written in the first place. And it’s the only way to bring them back. That’s the only way to change hearts and minds: by making people understand why. Otherwise, it’s purely rule through fear.
"I'll show you fear. Ooops! Wrong movie again."
I love the ending of this movie. Because Frank is a flawed human being who still makes the wrong choice in the end (in my opinion). Because he still succumbs to the solution of violence. Because he refuses to acknowledge that the rules are only rules if people still believe in them. His actions are those of the frustrated and desperate. Who doesn’t feel like that? But in the end, he still loses.
You see, it’s not a happy ending. Frank gets his wife back but loses her again. Not to drugs this time. But to the love of another man. She goes off and marries someone else and has kids. And Frank accepts this. Even believes this was the way it was meant to be. She’s happy. And he’s satisfied.
It’s a real ending. Cathartic. Frank isn’t sorry for what happened. And he doesn’t think what he did was evil. At the same time, he isn’t indulging his own frustrations anymore. He did what he did and saved his wife. He learned something along the way. Most importantly, in his mind, it was worth the sacrifice to save her, even if it meant his soul. Black and white. Whatever happens to him, doesn’t matter in his eyes. As long as she’s alive and doing well, he’s perfectly at peace with all the good and bad things in his life, with an eye toward the good moving forward.
A simple and yet deep ending to a simple and yet deep flick.
"I like deep endings. Damn it, wrong movie again!"


























