Defendor (2009)

While Hollywood has been making superhero movies for a long time, they've been especially big business over the last decade or so. It seems like you can't go a year without seeing two or three movies based on characters owned by Marvel Comics, with a lesser handful of movies coming from rival DC Comics. But on occasion, you'll see some filmmakers who instead create their own superheroes, ones unburdened by the preconceived notions of built-in audiences. This concept has brought us movies like The Incredibles, My Super Ex-Girlfriend, Hancock, and Sky High, as well as the topic of this particular review, Defendor. It's not a movie most people have heard of, but it's a movie that's definitely worth seeing.

Arthur Poppington (Woody Harrelson) is a slow-witted, socially awkward man who has grown sick of the crime plaguing the city he calls home. He's so sick of it, in fact, that he has adopted the superhero persona of "Defendor" in order to combat it. Clad in a cheap costume and shoe polish mask, Arthur arms himself with low-budget weapons (a trench club, marbles, a jar full of angry wasps) and hits the streets. His primary target, though, is a crime kingpin he calls "Captain Industry." He doesn't know where or even who Captain Industry is, but Arthur is convinced he's out there, needing to be taken down.

Arthur soon befriends a young woman named Kat (Kat Dennings), a drug-addicted prostitute who's been living on the streets. Kat initially exploits his kindness, promising Arthur information about Captain Industry in exchange for money to fuel her crack habit. But the two eventually bond, however, over stories of their troubled childhoods. But little do they know that Arthur's attempts to find Captain Industry have made him an enemy of corrupt cop Chuck Dooney (Elias Koteas) and drug lord Radovan Kristic (A.C. Peterson). 

Defendor had a rather troubled road to release. It was initially written in 2005, but no studios wanted it. The script eventually found a home in Canadian production company Darius Films, who aimed to start filming in 2007. Ellen Page was even rumored to play Kat at one point. But more and more delays resulted in not only Page dropping out, but production being pushed back several years. The movie was finally filmed in January 2009 and had its world premiere the following September at the Toronto International Film Festival.

Sony Pictures acquired the distribution rights for much of the world after the film festival, but opted not to give Defendor a theatrical release in the United States. Why, I don't know, but it prompted Darius Films to distribute it themselves. It was a very small release — Box Office Mojo says it played in no wider than four theaters for two weeks last February — but at least it did see American movie screens before Sony dumped it on DVD as an afterthought a few months later. It's a shame that Defendor didn't have the opportunity to build a wider audience, because it's a great flick from start to finish.

The movie was written and directed by first-time filmmaker Peter Stebbings, whose work with both facets was top notch. His direction is stellar, as he puts the editing, David Greene's cinematography, and John Rowley's fantastic score to use in such a way that it makes Defendor a real treat to watch. While Stebbings didn't have the budget to do anything visually enticing like most superhero movies, he makes the best of it.

Since the movie can't match the visuals of its cinematic brethren, Stebbings makes up for it by letting the story and characters take over. Defendor is very much in the vein of Don Quixote, as its title character has an extreme fondness for comic books and a belief that he can be a superhero no matter how ludicrous it may seem. But while there've been more than a few movies that have approached this farcically (Blankman and Kick-Ass immediately spring to mind), Defendor has a sweet earnestness to it that makes it really charming. It's not a zany spoof of self-styled superheroes like Blankman or Kick-Ass, but a blend of drama and black comedy. Stebbings uses this to make we the viewer really care about the title character and those who surround him, which I liked a lot.

But helping this is the cast, the wonderful cast. The cast is nothing short of fantastic. However, they're all overshadowed by Woody Harrelson. Harrelson is captivating in the role, drawing the viewer in with every second he's on the screen. He plays Arthur as incredibly naïve and seemingly unaware of his own ineffectualness as a superhero, yet very lovable. There's a scene where a pack of goons start mocking Arthur's attempt to issue an intimidating threat, and the look on his face — like he's embarrassed to the point of tears — is so heart-wrenching and so convincing that you'll believe that you're really watching Arthur Poppington, Wannabe Superhero instead of Woody Harrelson, Actor.

That's not to say that the movie is a one-actor show, though. Okay, it kinda is, since Harrelson nearly carries the entire movie by himself. But he's complimented by a very good supporting cast. Kat Dennings is the real standout among the ancillary cast, managing to provoke anger as her character exploits Arthur and sympathy as you realize just what complete mess her life is. Dennings imbues Kat with a sense that even though she's flushed her life completely down the crapper with drugs and prostitution, she still has the potential to live a better life. Her performance is so richly layered that I'm surprised Dennings doesn't get more work as a serious actress. 

Defendor has flown completely under the radar and will probably take several years to develop any sort of solid cult following (if it's lucky). But it's a movie that is worth the effort to track down, because it's a tremendous flick. Even if superheroes aren't your thing, Harrelson's brilliant work here is enough to warrant a viewing. Defendor was proof enough to me that you don't need hundreds of millions of dollars and the backing of a major studio to make a great superhero movie. And not only is it a great superhero movie, it's a great movie, period. So do yourself a favor and go check it out. Defendor gets four stars and a proud recommendation. And if I ever become a superhero, I'm totally getting jars of wasps to attack people with. 

Final Rating: ****