So this is Frank’s sad story. He has a pretty wretched life, which has only had two high spots to date. Marrying Sarah (a stripper and former junkie) and pointing a policeman in the right direction of a fleeing suspect. However after just a couple of months Sarah leaves him to move in with Jacques, her shady crooked boss, and Frank is devastated. He has some sort of vision which he is convinced is a sign telling him to not to only fight to get his wife back, but also punish anyone else committing crimes. He dons a silly red costume and becomes the Crimson Bolt and sets out on a violent vigilant rampage. At the local comic book store he meets Libby a nerdy nutcase who soon uncovers Frank’s alter-ego and successfully pleads with him to be his Kid Side-Kick ‘Boltie’.
The story is really quite ridiculous and its humor was all over the place, and at times not funny at all. It’s one redeeming feature was the inspired casting : Rain Wilson (The Office) who was pitch perfect as Frank the loser, and Ellen Page as Libby showed once again what a superb comic actor she is. However it’s excessive use of very graphic violence made it a bloody spectacle that really is not my thing and totally ruined any potential the movie may have held for me.
It was the frequent comparison with ‘Kick Ass’ (which I loved) that drew me to this new parody about superheros, but it is simply not in the same league. The clue that I missed was in the Filmmaker’ James Gunn’s resume to date that includes such classics as ‘Slither’, ‘Dawn of The Dead’ and ‘Scooby-Do’ !! If only I knew that beforehand, I could have saved myself 90 minutes.
Posted by queerguru at 14:32
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