James' Review of SUPERHERO MOVIE (2008)

 

Ah, superhero movies. The greatest of our time, right next to sci-fi space adventures and war movies. You've seen Marvel movies, and DC movies, but to see a superhero movie that isn't associated with those two is quite rare. And then, we have the parodies, especially the Movie movie stuff.

2008 was a big year for superhero films. Iron Man came out, kicking off the MARVEL CINEMATIC UNIVERSE, alongside THE INCREDIBLE HULK, and then, there was THE DARK KNIGHT, the sequel to 2005's BATMAN BEGINS. And, among the many other superhero films, there's this movie...

SUPERHERO MOVIE.

Made by the same folks who made the SCARY MOVIE, er, movies, SUPERHERO MOVIE is a spoof of the pre-MCU Marvel films that were out at the time with some elements of DC. It spoofed Spider-Man, Batman, the X-Men, and you get the idea. The movie tells the story of Peter Parker parody Rick Riker, who gets bit by a dragonfly and, after being in a coma for five days, he learns that he has super powers. After his uncle, a parody of Uncle Ben, gets shot, Rick becomes the superhero Dragonfly and fights injustice. Before long, he is battling the threat of HOURGLASS, an obvious Green Goblin parody, who is ought to drain the life force of almost everyone in the city to sustain himself.

Drake Bell plays Rick Riker, who is based on Tobey Maguire's Spider-Man from the Sam Rami trilogy with a bit of Christian Bale's Batman from BATMAN BEGINS and THE DARK KNIGHT, and, like Peter, he's a high-school student with a crush on a girl who is his neighbor and lives with his aunt and uncle. Fun fact, years after the movie's release, Drake actually went on to voice Spider-Man himself in the Ultimate Spider-Man and Marvel's Heroes.

Now, this movie is really, really crazy, and not just for being a spoof of Spider-Man and the other Marvel (and DC)-related movies. Throughout the film, you'll be encountering sex jokes and bathroom jokes galore. And for crying out loud, the reason Rick gets bit by a dragonfly is because his bully pushed him on top of animal dung and he tried to wash off the stain with some liquid that attracted a bunch of animals to the kid (complete with a dog humping his leg). The film is crazy for sure, but I don't think too much of things like blood, violence, swearing, sex jokes and I'm twenty-five years old!

Anyways, if you wanna watch a funny superhero movie and you're into juvenile humor, go ahead and watch, well, SUPERHERO MOVIE. Its an 8, and it can be fun, but don't expect to see Wolverine do any hero stuff. And by the way, light spoilers, the Uncle Ben parody survives, and its the Aunt May-type character who dies, which kind of predicted that Aunt May would get killed off in a Spider-Man movie years later.

Be safe out there.

-James M