(USA, 86 min.)
Written and directed by Nick Love
Starring: Stephen Dorff, Eddie Griffin
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| Stephen Dorff and Eddie Griffin in American Hero. Search Engine Films |
Superheroes don't seems all that interesting anymore after
the colossal letdown of Batman v.Superman, so audiences might find a thrill in the adventures of
ordinary supermen. American Hero
tells the story of an average Joe named Melvin, played by Stephen Dorff, who
rises to the challenge and does extraordinary things to better his community.
It helps that Melvin, a deadbeat/lowlife/drug addict, has telekinetic
powers and can do some of the snazzy tricks that caped crusaders may perform on
the streets of Gotham or Metropolis. Transfer these skills to the streets of
New Orleans post Hurricane Katrina and one finds a very different kind of
justice.
American Hero
plays with conventions of the comic book flick by making its crime fighter a
petty thug. Masked marvels are often reluctant heroes and it takes an ample bit
of coaxing for Melvin to use his skills to fight the hoodlums on the
streets, rather use than to catch crooks in the act and steal their loot
or finger a girl with grade-A creepy telekinesis. American Hero humorously implies that many of the audiences flocking
to superhero movies would probably do the same if given the choice between
hedonism and goodwill. Dorff is gruff and doggish in the part and as far from
Ben Affleck’s suave Bruce Wayne as one can get.
The Robin to Melvin's Batman, similarly, is the
paraplegic and androgynously named Lucille, played with lots of sass by Eddie
Griffin. Lucille plays the narrator too, as American Hero employs a faint mockumentary style as director Nick Love
chronicles Melvin's offbeat transformation from stoner to superhero.
The realist style of the film, which boasts a budget of less than $1
million, plays like a first for the world of heroes with supercool/superhuman
powers as CGI floaty things show up only when Melvin stretches his telekinetic
muscles. The baddies aren't pixelated monsters. They aren't giant
video game beasts, otherworldly enemies, or Jesse Eisenberg. These villains are
street thugs, drug dealers, and petty bugs that infest poverty-stricken
disaster zones like N'awlins and prey on the vulnerable survivors.
While American Hero
misses in the comedy department more often than it hits, and some random
moments in which the film breaks the fourth wall don’t do the film any favours,
Love gives something fresh and new to the superhero world—a universe that
looked dead in the water only weeks ago. As American Hero uses the plight of real world survivors, rather than
a fantastical plot of world domination, to fuel the hero’s grasp of his powers,
the film marks the absence of powers used to help ordinary people in a tragedy
like Katrina. On the other hand, the mockumentary style of the film and Melvin’s
underdog charm suggest that anyone can be a hero with the right heart. Batman
and Superman aren’t the real superstars: the true heroes are everyday folks who
stand up for what’s right.
American Hero is hits VOD and digital HD on April 15 from Search
Engine Films.
It lands on DVD April
19.
