Defendor (2010)

Cop - "Who writes your dialog? Superman?"
Defendor - "No, I write my own dialog"

I am a huge fan of the 'home made superhero' genre. 'Mystery Men' is still one of my favorite films. One of the heroes threw forks, FORKS. How can you not love that? After seeing the trailer for Woody Harrelson's new film 'Defendor', I knew I needed to see this film. Of course casting the delicious Kat Dennings does a movie NO harm (she plays Kat, a young prostitute - sigh). It's also a Canadian film so that just doubled my love.



The premise is simple - "Arthur Poppington is a regular but delusional man who believes that he is a superhero named Defendor. He combs the city streets at night in search of his arch enemy, Captain Industry, befriending a young prostitute in his quest". (Wikipedia)


The script is darkly funny and clearly demonstrates why 'superhero' is not a valid career choice as much as many of us would like it to be. Low tech or high tech you are gonna get your ass kicked.



Woody is very good in this movie. When you give him a good script he rules the screen like few others. You really root for his character even though, like Pooh, his is a 'bear of very little brain'. When the police just let him go from the interview room, he treats it like a grand escape and believes he blew out the lock with some bubble gum and a firecracker.

His 'batmobile' is an old cherry picker truck.

Elias Koteas is good too as a grubby disgrace of a cop on the drug squad who gets in the way of our hero and his 'mission' He has many run ins with our hero and always comes off on the losing end from Defendor's low tech gadgets like marbles and lime juice.

After a night of getting himself beat down, Defendor meets Kat, a prostitute who rescues him. She reminds him of his mother who left him when he was very little. In his search for 'Captain Industry', she is like his street contact and she gives him a focus for his activities. He also treats her with respect. Something she is not used to.

His family tries to look out for him and his nephew Jack is his biggest fan.

I liked how the film doesn't gloss over the fact that while good hearted, Arthur is crazy. He can't save the world and he can't save Kat and he will get himself killed for messing with very dangerous people. When he accidentally learns information that he shouldn't have heard, he is targetted by a viscious drug dealer and must 'up' his game to stay alive.

It's a fun little story with some nice character moments. If you are a fan of Woody's you will like it.