Semisonic
Indeed, if he was an orphan and lived in a crime-filled depressive slum of a town, becoming Defendor could be Mr Gump's idea of upholding the good. Both characters are mentally stuck in their childhood and are haunted by the traumatized past in their present.But Defendor is no Forrest Gump. And it's definitely not Woody Harrelson's fault, because portraying a brave and righteous but weak-minded and ultimately very vulnerable Arthur Poppington was definitely a step up on his acting ladder.The real problem is the film's mood. Forrest Gump was more or less a fairy tale. In a Grimm'esque sense of course, with dark and sinister twists and turns, but with an overall feel-good vibe and a sad but happy ending. Defendor, on the other hand, is no fantasy but rather a child's perception of the adult people's real world's problems. You see it from the get-go that there's no chance for this story to end well, and only a lucky combination of unlikely events allows the protagonist to get that far.In that sense Defendor is more like Observe and Report with Seth Rogen, where he's a glaring opposite of his typical easy and wisecracking slacker roles. That movie is no less sad than Defendor, but at least it dares to show the misery of a person lost in the maze of his mind and his life realistically. Rogen's Ronnie, a shopping mall security officer obsessed with making himself important, is a mirror in which lots of us, who have lost hope for a brighter future, could see themselves. While Defendor, with its heroization and optimism grounded in nothing, is as real as a burnt sugar lollipop: dark and bitter but nonetheless cloyingly oversweetened.
FlashCallahan
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 Arthur Poppington doesn't understand........... or belong in, but is committed to fighting when he changes into a vigilante super-hero of his own making.Calling himself Defendor, and with no power other than courage, he takes to the streets to protect the city's innocents......Even though it was made before, this film is overshadowed by two other films in this little sub-genre, Kick-Ass and Super, and to be fair, they are far superior to this.Kick-Ass was better written and directed, and the much needed humour was excellent. Super was just a bludgeoning short of Grindhouse, and its in your face violence and performances made it stand out.Here we have Harrelson, as good as ever, but the script is poor, and it's playing the mental health card way too many times, just to play it safe, and in the end, it's treating the audience like morons.But Woody is as reliable as ever and makes the film just worth watching. But you'll have a sense of déjà Vu if you see it.
LadyCeara
********SPOILERS********While I will acknowledge Mr. Harrelson's great acting, this movie is a downer from start to finish. It is not a comedy - unless you find laughing at and making fun of the mentally retarded comedic. Mr. Harrelson plays a man who IQ is so low he is barely functional and believes himself to be a superhero. He tries to fight bad guys but is constantly being beaten up and ridiculed. He does "win" his first encounter which introduces him to the crack whore who becomes his friend. His reason for becoming Defendor is to avenge the death of his mother, who is shown through flashbacks as also being a crack whore. This eventually leads him to taking on an Eastern European drug lord and sex slave trafficker. Throughout the movie, his co-worker and others either ridicule him or attempt to get him to stop being Defendor. Only at the end of the movie, when he loses his life getting the bad guy does society praise him for his actions.Movies that are depressing and do not have happy endings should not be billed as comedies.
Liam Blackburn
Even though WH pulls off his character, this movie just doesn't pull you in completely. There's just something missing in it. I can't quite figure out what it is....but it may have started with the music. From the very first scene it has this over the top old school crime fighting music. The first scene is just underwhelming and the rest of the movie continues to underwhelm. Prostitute co-star does a great job in her role, and EK is great as usual. I think naming it defendor and having it all revolve around that is a fail. It should have been named after the main character, and not had a name attached to the super hero persona, it just gets tired and silly, especially with the defendOr spelt incorrectly. The actors hold your attention to the end, but there is nothing else very good about it.
AD
