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Defendor
A crooked cop, a mob boss and the young girl they abuse are the denizens of a city's criminal underworld. It's a world that ordinary Arthur Poppington doesn't understand and doesn't belong in, but is committed to fighting when he changes into a vigilante super-hero of his own making, Defendor. With no power other than courage Defendor takes to the streets to protect the city's innocents.
Release : | 2010 |
Rating : | 6.7 |
Studio : | Alliance Films, Darius Films, Insight Film Releasing, |
Crew : | Art Direction, Construction Coordinator, |
Cast : | Woody Harrelson Kat Dennings Elias Koteas Sandra Oh Clark Johnson |
Genre : | Drama Action Comedy Crime |
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Must See Movie...
If the ambition is to provide two hours of instantly forgettable, popcorn-munching escapism, it succeeds.
The film creates a perfect balance between action and depth of basic needs, in the midst of an infertile atmosphere.
The movie really just wants to entertain people.
I remember seeing this back when it first came out. About 8 years later I was reminded of the movie.I love it. It sucks you in with sharp dialogue and relatable characters who you definitely root for until the end. Not only all of that, but the story/message is beautifully done. "Defendor" isn't like other super hero movies, though. It doesn't follow the same bland pattern we all know and love (or hate). Arthur doesn't fly or have "super powers". He is simply a guy in a make-up mask who protects people with homemade weapons (he uses a jar of wasps among other things) - whose purpose in life is to capture Captain Industry. Kat Debrofkowitz isn't your regular "damsel in distress" either. She is a young prostitute who first meets Arthur when he beats up Chuck Dooney for being a "punk with a badge". The whole first half of the movie is being told through Arthur/Defendor giving his deposition to Dr. Park explaining why he assaulted Mr. Debrofkowitz (Kat's dad). There, Kat knowingly lies to Arthur telling him Radovan Kristic (played by A.C Peterson) is Captain Industry - when he is in fact not - because she figures they both want revenge so it'd be a win-win. The second half is happening in real time.At the end when Defendor/Arthur gets shot I cry every single time. I can't help it and I rarely cry watching movies. Woody Harrelson and Kat Dennings make a great team. Elias Koteas plays the prefect bad-cop-douche-bag. Sandra Oh is very believable in her role too. The whole cast did a stellar job, but major props to Peter Stebbings for taking a washed up premise and making it fresh, beautiful, inspiring, and for the ages.
Touching, funny, charming, heart-breaking, optimistic--and so little known. This film is on my special list--the one with the films and books that if folks like 'em, I know I'll like the folks. (Since you asked, another such movie is Australia's "The Castle." And, since you asked, one of the books is "Cloud Atlas" by David Mitchell) A wonderful example of a well-acted film.Haven't written a review for a long time, and when I tried to post it learned the minimum length is 10 lines of text. More words do not indicate a better composition--I should know, I taught English Comp at university.Okay--long enough now.
Part of a wave of supposedly "subversive" superhero movies ("Kick-Ass", "Special", "Super", "Hancock" etc), "Defendor" stars Woody Harrelson as a mentally ill man who constructs a superhero identity in the hopes of defeating "Captain Industry", a villain whom he holds responsible for all the crime in his city.The film is weak in places, but writer/director Peter Stebbings stuffs his script with two good ideas. Late in the film we learn that our superhero is ineffectual precisely because he imagines a singular villain (Captain Industry) to be responsible for both local crimes and his mother's death. We then learn that "Captain Industry" is really "Captain's of Industry". In other words, the entire fabric of the city – its wealth, its people, the myriad of organisations that comprise it - is its own villain. A statement like this is the antithesis to most superhero movies, where cities are typically besieged by a singular super-villain. Here the civilian, the body politic, the social superstructure, is the bad guy (the film is too dumb to explore this properly, but the idea is pointed to). It's Van Rjndt's old "Hitler dilemma": is a single cell in a murderer's body also guilty? What about 2 cells? What about an entire organ? What about a system of organs? The film updates and adapts Cervantes' "Don Quixote". Don Quixote, of course, was about a guy who read heroic tales, saw that the world was messed up, and so went out to slay its dragons. In "Defendor", Woody's character embraces the moral absolutism of Don Quixote, and like Cervantes' hero, is a bit delusional. The implication is twofold: only the mentally ill are allowed license to believe in justice – everyone else passively accepts – and it sometimes take the mad to point out the irrational.The film is well acted by Harrelson, avoids sappiness and contains some good one-liners, but Stebbings' direction is weak, his script thin and the film predictable in parts.7.5/10 - Probably more transgressive than supposedly "shocking" superhero movies like "Kick-Ass" and "Super". Worth one viewing.
Woody Harrelson is hilarious as Defendor, a dim witted, crime fighting super hero. After showing a serious side in The Messenger, the actor proves his amazing versatility in this one. A psychiatrist, Dr. Park(sexy Sandra Oh), interviews Arthur(Harrelson) who explains the reason for his arrest for assault began with a corrupt cop named Dooney, who smokes crack and patronizing hookers. Art believes that the officer works for his enemy, Captain Industry. He lives alone, and one day he meets Angel, the hooker who was previously with Dooney. He is badly beaten by friends of the cop and Angel plays Florence Nightingale. She stays with him for a while at a building depot. Defendor gets shot by Dooney's men, and survives after surgery. He learns that Angel was abused by her father and when he tracks him down, he beats him up, which explains his arrest. Dr. Park sympathizes with him. He makes the news and tries to rehabilitate Angel, while fighting corruption. Defendor is worth it for Woody Harrelson's presence alone.