Three out of
Five stars
Running time:
81 mins
Entertaining and frequently hilarious documentary that plays like a real life Kick-Ass.
What's it all about?
Directed by Steve Sale, Superhero Me is a micro-budget British documentary that opens with various comic fans discussing what it takes to become a superhero. Narrowing the basics down to “Look good in spandex, learn self-defence, get a costume, a lair, some gadgets and a vehicle”, filmmaker Steve Sale sets out to become a superhero with the help of his extremely supportive girlfriend (and later wife), Charlotte.
With various friends operating the camera, the film follows Steve as he gets fit, learns self-defence, acquires a costume, names himself SOS, gets a theme song, tests his sonic weapons (i.e. personal alarms) on his dogs, postpones his honeymoon to fly to Florida and hang out with real life superhero Master Legend and finally graduates to fighting crime as SOS on the mean streets of Sutton and Epsom. Along the way he discovers, amongst other things, that velcro is incompatible with ninja-style stealth and that flying isn't as easy as it looks.
The Good
As indicated by its title, Superhero Me is heavily influenced by Morgan Spurlock's Supersize Me, but it's also extremely similar to last year's A Complete History of My Sexual Failures. What all three films have in common is an extremely likeable director-slash-protagonist who's willing to throw themselves wholeheartedly into the project, even at considerable personal risk.
For the most part, Sale keeps things moving at a decent pace (arguably, the film spends a little too long with Master Legend in Orlando), ensuring that there's a decent laugh every few minutes. Highlights include: Steve solving the problem of how to go to the toilet and eagerly demonstrating the suit's easy-access panel, Steve discussing his crime-fighting adventures on the phone to his mum and an amusing cut to Steve beating up some thugs, quickly followed by the caption “This didn't really happen”.
The Bad
The only real problem with the film is that it leaves the community of real life superheroes frustratingly under-explored - you sense there's a whole film waiting to be made there. Similarly, there's a slightly uncomfortable moment where Steve attempts to use his powers to, er, evict some squatters. You'd never catch Batman doing that.
Worth seeing?
Superhero Me is an entertaining, frequently funny documentary that marks Steve Sale out as a talent to watch. Worth seeing.