Review of Megamind (2010) by Shiira — 09 Nov 2010

Too bad for Hal(Jonah Hill) that the laws of physics prevent him from having an unlimited amount of do-overs, since his courting of Roxanne Ritchie(Tina Fey), a reporter who covers the Metro Man beat, theoretically, would have taken an almost infinite amount of trial runs in order for the desired love connection he covets, to come about.

When Megamind(Will Ferrell) turns the cameraman into Tighten, one chance is all the newly-minted superhero has to woo the Lois Lane-esque reporter, but he blows it, in spite of all the years he spent observing Metro Man through his lens, and that's because the superhero persona he cops isn't an organic extension to his natural make-up.

Neither heroic, nor romantic, characteristics that mortal men possess too, Hal becomes enraged and confused when Roxanne rebuffs his overtures for love, even as Tighten, because he thought the cape was the key to her heart.

If only it was "Groundhog Day". In the Harold Ramis film, the laws of physics pull a fast one on Rita(Andie McDowell), the segment producer on the Punxsutaney Phil shoot, who falls for weatherman Phil Connors(Bill Murray) without ever realizing that her heart was won over through trial and error, a time loop perpetuated by an omniscient narrator with the powers of a superhero.

Phil's subconscious, perhaps, was the one who messed with the space-time continuum, since time doesn't move forward until the misanthropic journalist wins Rita over. If only Hal knew that Roxanne and Metro Man(Brad Pitt) were not an item.

As Tighten, he tries to impress Roxanne by showing her the city from the sky, but his attempt at romantic spontaneity comes across as rehearsed, especially when Hal drops his captive audience of one in mid-air because it's what he thinks Metro Man would do.

Unfortunately, Roxanne comes closer to dying than falling in love. His forced stab at creating a backdrop for romance has the same forced tenor as the scene in "Groundhog Day", in which Phil, portraying himself as future husband material, ends up scaring away some local kids from constructing a snowman with the grown-ups.

It worked once, and Rita swoons a bit, but the second time around fails, as his every word suddenly becomes weighty with self-consciousness, giving his voice an off-kilter timbre that ends up scaring both the children and woman.

Whereas the potentiality of that snowman being built was always a reasonable proposition because of Phil's relative humanity, Hal, on the other hand, could spend an eternity aping Metro Man, flying his brains out with Roxanne in tow, night after night, and never getting anywhere near his objective.

Tighten has superpowers, but he doesn't know how to use them. He just isn't the Metro Man type, and worse yet, the disgruntled superhero abuses his gifts, when he threatens Roxanne(and the Metro City denizens) after she declines to reciprocate his show of ardor.

He's pure evil, unlike Megamind, who is like one of the famous international playboys, the last, that Morrissey sings about, because the blue man is "not naturally evil"; his plot to kill Metro Man was only a ploy to "make [him]self more attractive to [Roxanne]," and when it doesn't, the moviegoer knows how deep the blue runs.

Unlike Tighten, Phil is Superman in the sense that he puts his immortality at risk by committing suicide on a daily basis, never knowing if his latest attempt will become his last. In Richard Donner's "Superman II", Superman knowingly exposes himself to Kryptonite, in the form of harnessed red rays, as he steps into the crystal chamber, where he could easily die, as the Man of Steel tests his invincibility out of love for a woman, just like Phil, an ordinary man who does an extraordinary thing.

By killing himself, Phil explores the possibility that his own death may be the key to freeing Rita and his smart-alec cameraman from the time loop. Hal would never make that sort of sacrifice. Unlike Lois Lane, who loves Superman, and not his alter-ego Clark Kent, Roxanne's taste in men is much more idiosyncratic; she kisses Bernard(Ben Stiller), Megamind's alter-ego, not Metro Man, the man Hal aspires to be, because being the protector of man was never supposed to be the megalomaniacal superhero's gig either.

And when Megamind accidentally reveals his true identity in the middle of that kiss, a great wrong is finally righted. Roxanne is kissing the real hero. The alien babies ended up with the wrong lives, the wrong destinies.

Since apathy can be a form of treachery, Metro Man's willingness to leave mankind unprotected makes him a villain, in some ways, far worse than Megamind ever was.