Defendor

Let me be clear. This is not your average super hero movie. This isn't an action packed, explosion every three seconds, battle royal type of movie. It's about what a superhero could like in our everyday lives. It has nothing to do with super powers, but what a man can do with what he has been given. It's about what it might cost to have an impact on the world. Small acts of heroism can and do save lives. Defendor isn't the strongest, the smartest, the richest, the toughest man to challenge wrong-doers, he just happens to be the only one challenging. He doesn't do what is right because he can, he does what is right because he should. He is a man who has nothing and yet risks everything.

Arthur Poppington/Defendor isn't a complex man at all. He is more of a child than a man anyway. He sees the world as black and white. Where as adults fill in the blacks and whites with gray to help them cover up their own moral inconsistencies. In the normal world he feels weak and unimportant, but when he dons the backpack, helmet, and baseball bat he becomes the bravest hero his city has ever seen.

The movie is mostly told from the view point of Arthur (Woody Harrelson) telling a psychiatrist why he fights crime and so as we go throughout the recent history of his life with a few hints of his early childhood, we figure out why he's fighting "Captain Industry." His arch enemy is a drug dealer he personally calls Captain Industry, but he doesn't know who he is, where he is, or have any clue on how to defeat him. After he battles with a couple guys in an alley way caught beating up a young graffiti artist, he only survives by Katerina (Kat Dennings), a young and drug addicted teenager, scraping him up off the pavement and doing her best to take care of him. A new friendship starts to blossom as Defendor's tactics grow increasingly dangerous to catch Captain Industry. The closer he gets to finding the truth the more trouble he finds himself in. As the tension mounts all those around him plead with him to stop and to never again resume vigilantism. The law comes down on his head even though he only had the best intentions at heart. Without any support, he continues on his crusade.

Even though this movie could have been extremely cheesy, it ended up being the right mix if comedy and drama. Woody Harrelson is simply astounding. His portrayal of Defendor is both hilarious, and innocently dramatic. It is staggering how he can make a man-child like Arthur Poppington and turn him into Defendor. What makes this story so compelling is that the city doesn't need him. At all. For most of the movie it seems as if he is causing more harm than good. All we see is Defendor finding people that need his help and then watch him take on thugs who outnumber him, outmuscle him, outgun him, and simply outmatch him. And yet, he stands his ground. Time and time again. He can barely defend himself and here he is trying to save people. Arthur is an amazingly complex character despite people mistaking him to be simplistic.

With an excellent script, cast, and editing, Defendor definitely needs to go on everybody's "to buy" list. It's a great movie to just watch when you're out on a date, or just want to sit at home and relax. It delivers plenty of laughable moments along with a couple tearjerkers. In order to get the full impact of this movie, don't watch it with people who love to talk during movies or with a large group of friends that really only want background noise as they catch up on each other's adventures from the week.