Image via WikipediaI read this comic and enjoyed the heck out of it. It was almost a treatise on if superheroes did exist, what would it be like. How would one go about it and what would really happen. So I was pretty excited to see the movie.
Dave, our protagonist, is set to find out what happens when one tries to become a superhero. He wonders why no one has ever dawned the mask and went forth to set fear into the heart of evil doers. The problem that strikes me and that is meant to strike all viewers and readers is that Dave has no superpowers and no martial training. What he does have are two batons in the comic and escrima sticks in the movie.
In his training montage, you find out that Dave has absolutely no idea how to use his weapon of choice and it becomes even clearer when he tries to save the day the first time. It is at this point that the comic and the movie really start to diverge.
The true star of this movie is Hitgirl. Very Cassandra Cainesque, she is a child trained in the art of killing. Her father has trained her in weapons and hand to hand. She is a force to be reckoned with. Whereas Dave has absolutely no training and skill, Hitgirl has an abundance of both. I was mesmerized by the knife work in a knife fight scene. Whoever choreographed it, knew a thing or two.
Other than changing the story so that it was more of a storybook ending the only problems I had with the movie were costuming and the casting of one character. Big Daddy and Redmist are not costumed well. Big Daddy is made to look like Batman and Redmist looks like an emo Robin. These characters where not dressed this way in the comic and I am not sure why the decision would have been made to change the costumes for the movie. The kid that played Redmist wasn’t right for the part. Everyone else was spot on, but he just wasn’t the Redmist from the comics. The car was still cool though.
Overall it was a decent movie with some great action sequences. The changes to the story did not make it better. The comic was, kind of, more realistic in its portrayal of life of a superhero. In the comic Dave comes home beat up several times. The movie goes a little bit over the top with the action. While fun to watch and look at, it doesn’t come across as what would really happen. Of course the love story is story book and not at all as realistic as the one in the comic.
The comic was at about 4.5
The movie come in at 3.5
Not recommended for children due to language, graphic violence, and sexual situations. People looking for hardcore martial arts should look elsewhere. Fans of action movies should get their fix with this one.
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