Review of Defendor (2009) by Lorenzo V — 20 Apr 2010

"An unexpected hero will rise.".

A comedy centered around three characters: an everyday guy who comes to believe he's a superhero, his psychiatrist, and the teenager he befriends.

REVIEW.

It is too bad that Woody Harrelson was nominated for best supporting actor for The Messenger; he should have been nominated for best actor for this, his role as a mentally unstable man who likes to pretend that he is a superhero called Defendor, and who lives out his dream by actually fighting crime. There are some brilliantly funny and memorable moments in Defendor ("Oh, no, please, not the lime juice!"), but this is not a comedy in the strictest sense. It's actually a pretty serious drama slash crime thriller. The only glaring flaw in Defendor is the character of Kat played by Kat, a character who is much too together and with it to be a crack addicted prostitute, but the wide range of emotion in her acting makes up for the implausibility of the writing she is dealing with. We almost want Defendor to go a little farther in his wacky vigilantism involving swarms of hornets and marbles, but in some ways it's good that the movie doesn't stray too far away from reality. In fact, we get the sense that Defendor isn't as crazy as everyone thinks he is, that he's actually well aware that he's really just a normal guy play acting, which makes his heroism all the more potent. Three cheers for Defendor!