A couple weeks ago, I had the pleasure of being asked to review a movie for our site by the marketing department in charge of promoting this small comic-related movie. I told them I would be happy to do it, and so here we are.
Overview/Synopsis: (from their website) David, a struggling comic book creator from Cleveland, spends his days cutting grass and his night smoking it while desperately trying to keep his superhero fantasies alive. When Robyn, his aspiring fashion designer girlfriend, makes him a Halloween costume of his original character Apama, it doesn’t take David long to hit the streets and begin blundering towards disaster. Can Robyn rescue David and save their relationship before his vigilante dreams become a four color nightmare? Does the comfort and security of her own desire offer a trap just as deadly to this comic book Don Quixote?
Let me start by saying originally, I wasn’t exactly sure what to make of this film. It’s hands down one of the oddest movies I’ve seen in a while. The character David (not to be confused with our David) has a singular obsession with his own created character, named Apama. He works a menial job so all of his mental energy can go into Apama, and he spends what little money he has on what seems to be marijuana and nachos.
His actual personality goes through a drastic change when he’s in creator mode. Most of the time he’s rather withdrawn and stand-offish, and I would even go as far to say he’s a real dick. However, when he’s in his room putting together the stories for Apama, his own demeanor changes. The glassy eyes melt away only to be replaced with that look you see on a child’s face when they’re building something from their imagination, like legos for instance. He doesn’t sit at his desk; he crouches on his stool, as if ready to pounce. And as he frantically tries to get his big break, the world around him seems to fall apart. But the world crumbling around him is entirely his fault, succumbing to bad decisions and doing things that are decidedly not super-heroic.
David is also a very lucky man, because he has a wonderfully loving girlfriend in Robyn, a woman who takes care of him, whether he realizes it or not. And if you can’t tell, he most likely doesn’t. She creates the costume of his hero for him, and she cleans up his messes for him, since he can’t or simply won’t clean them up himself. But alas, she seems to have many problems with his obsession with comics, as it causes her interests and dreams to almost take a back seat to his. It’s a shame really. She genuinely cares for him, probably a little too much.
One of my favorite things about the movie is the scenes in the comic shop. I found it extremely gratifying to see the atmosphere of the LCS remain intact onscreen, with customers helping out other ones in need with recommendations or even just making fun of each other, or giving the cashier a hard time. I know that’s legit, I do that myself, and the guy at my comic shop is actually a friend.
While it may be a coincidence, another bit of comics literacy came from the birthplace of Apama himself. While David compares him to Wolverine, he shares a birthplace with the most recognizable superhero of all time, Superman. No, I don’t mean Krypton, or even Smallville. I mean Cleveland (that is where Siegel and Shuster created Superman after all. I was a little disappointed this was never alluded to, however). The city even has its own bit of a character running throughout, with lush landscapes for David to run around while wearing the Apama get-up, as well as some nice urban scenes for indoor and outdoor crime fighting.
The movie itself is interestingly shot. There are many moments while watching where I thought “man, that’s a cool shot.” It seems like Alex Sikora (the director) did what he could to push the limits of the filmmaking he has at his disposal. No, it’s not Avatar. Is it any less satisfying because of this fact? Not in the slightest. It was refreshing to see a movie that doesn’t assault my senses for once with visual effects.
The acting in the movie is serviceable, but not perfect. I enjoyed the performance of the luminous Jocelyn Wrzosek (pronounced RO-zak, rhymes with Prozac) quite a bit as the beleaguered girlfriend who has many problems of her own. Perren Hedderson, as David, pulled off the dual nature of the character well, as I caught what he was doing with David’s personality. The others on the other hand seemed like they need more training as actors. I saw potential, but there’s a lot of work to do.
While it’s fun to watch, I think there’s a little bit of a problem with subplots being closer to plot devices to show just how depraved and desperate our dreadlocked anti- hero (David) has gotten in his quest for Apama’s big break. It also struck me as odd that in all the furor over getting Apama famous that David never thought to self-publish. It’s pretty well known that that’s how a lot of creators get their start, so why not Apama?
The ending itself is a twist that I can honestly say I never saw coming. You’re so focused on David’s quixotic path to self destruction that the second to last scene kind of hits you in the face (along with other people). The final scene, set “eighteen months later,” seems to wrap everything up far too well. I actually really liked the climax of the movie, but then the final scene almost makes it go out with a whimper rather than whatever sounds an Apama makes when it roars.
Overall, it’s a well meaning film with a few problems, but not so many that it kills the strength of the film itself. It holds up incredibly true to the comic subculture in America. And I suspect it might actually out kick ass Kick-Ass.
If you can find it, I’d give it a solid rent.
For more information, head to the official website, or pick it up on iTunes or on amazon.
