Rainn Wilson (from "The Office) plays a meek and quiet suburban man whose life has been perpetually unfulfilled aside from two key events: his wedding day and pointing a cop in the direction of a fleeing 'perp'. He notices his unsuitably hot wife is becoming more distant and he walks in on her, one day, smoking pot with some strangers in their living room. One morning, a sleazy looking guy comes around asking for her. Soon, her closet is empty and she has disappeared. Turns out, she's a recovering drug addict who was pulled off the wagon by a gang of scummy dope peddlers; one of which has lured her back into the dependence of heroin... The distraught husband's world collapses leaving him with nothing but loneliness. That is, until he has a "vision" of the finger of "God" touching his brain, instilling a new purpose... Becoming a real-life superhero and fighting actual crime. He creates his alter ego, The Crimson Bolt, and becomes a hot topic among the news media after tackling drug dealers, child molesters, and thieves, and beating them mercilessly with a wrench. Eventually, he accepts the help of a female comic book nerd as his kid side-kick and they soon go after the goons who have his wife...
"Super" is an extremely weird blend of dark humor as well as a seriously depressing portrait of insanity. The "drive" to commit violent acts for the purpose of pleasing "God" is an outwardly insistent theme surrounding the main character, which I found interesting since I truly believe that religious zealousness can play a big part in the deterioration of a person's psyche... It's something I have always found fascinating. It also seems that television plays a part in his delusions - for instance, a poorly made religious super hero show and hentai porn...
As far as the unique "mood" of the film goes - a scene that satirically depicts a man frantically and hilariously trying to change into his super hero costume in the backseat of his car is quickly accompanied by a vicious double-assault with a wrench. That's the best way to sum up the unconventional nature of this film's erratic balance. However, it all works very well and, by the end, becomes quite an ingenious and challenging study of a mentally unstable man's seemingly selfish need to be loved, overall. His entire killing/injuring spree is cloaked in uncertainty as to whether he truly believes what he is doing is right and ACTUALLY done for the good of society...
All of the performances are great. Wilson nails every aspect of his character, Kevin Bacon pulls off the role of the smarmy drug dealer perfectly, Liv Tyler does... what she does and I've always found her attractive, Ellen Paige is pretty entertaining, and Michael Rooker plays a thug! Yes!
In all, "Super" is an immensely enjoyable and highly interesting flick, albeit, one of the most depressing I've seen in a while.
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