Review: 'Defendor'

In a world full of selfishness and sadness with evil lurking behind every corner this world is in desperate need of a hero. Someone who will not just fight crime but be a beacon of right, a symbol of what we should strive to be. Defendor is that hero. Woody Harrelson stars as the black clothed vigilante who by day holds a sign at a construction site and fights crime at night. If Bruce Wayne shows us what a person can do with a sense of right and a billion dollars, than Defendor shows us what we can do with a good idea and about 37 bucks. Outfitted with jars of bees, marbles, a WWi trench club and a helmet that records his exploits via a VHS player in his backpack Defendor takes to the streets to stop the bad guys all the while searching for the ultimate evil villan, Captain Industry! Every hero has a back story and Defendor is no different…ok, he’s a little different but that’s part of his charm. Defendor aka Arthur Poppington did not have it easy coming up. His mom was a drug addict that left town, leaving him with his somewhat verbally abusive grandfather. He’s left to deal with all of this as a child coping only through his own mind and the comic books that help him escape. Oh yeah, almost left something out Arthur is not exactly MENSA material with an IQ hovering somewhere around 80. These are the ingredients in a Defendor salad. He doesn’t have to go it alone though when he saves and befriends a crack addicted prostitute named Kat played by, appropriately enough, Kat Dennings. A tale of superheros, crime lords, crooked cops, and an undying sense of what’s right does Defendor fly high or fall flat?

Well I guess it would be best to start by saying that this flick was NOTHING like I expected. I went into this expecting a goofball comedy and what I got was entirely more fulfilling. Woody Harrelson is amazing in the title role creating a character that brings you through an entire range of emotion. You will at times want to root for the underdog that he is and five minutes later you’re feeling teary eyed when you find out what makes him tick. Kat Dennings is always charming, even in this as a crack smoking prostitute there’s something endearing about her. Her character really should be one you hate as she inititially takes advantage of our hero under the guise of friendship but somehow Dennings makes her likeable even at her worst. The real feeling of the story comes in Defendors scenes with his court appointed shrink, played by Sandra Oh, really bring the emotion as you find just how far into his fantasy Arthur has gone to escape the realities of his life. Oh, who I usually can’t stand, is completely tolerable in her role. I’ve talked a lot about the emotion of this film, but that’s not to say it’s void of humor…quite the opposite actually. While the film is certainly not end to end laughs there are some really funny parts with a lot of decent chuckles in between. All of this and you even have a decent story of police corruption underlying. Elias Koteas plays Dooney an undercover cop who has been under too long and forgotten what side of the law he’s on. He’s always great if you ask me, very underrated, and he doesn’t disappoint here. While his performance is far from Oscar worthy he does a good job as Defendor’s main nemesis. I really have to give it up to the writers on this one, its damn hard to make a movie this emotionally complex. You’ll laugh, you’ll cry, etc etc. you’ve heard that before I wouldn’t say it for this film because it was so well written. What I mean by that is Defendor is supposed to take place in our world and the way it was written is very down to earth. I think this is part of the reason it got to me on an emotional level, you could believe that this story could really happen…it may sound funny to say but given the exact circumstances this movie is pretty plausible.

I think this real world view makes up for some of the downsides of the film, including the lack of a complex story. Usually I would say it’s not bad to have a simple story but here it seems in some parts that they wanted a much more complex story than they delivered. This is mostly apparent with the Captain Industry storyline. It seemed like they sacrificed some details or elaborations in order to put even more focus on Defendor. You don’t get to know as much about the criminal element due to this but part of me thinks they did it on purpose, like you weren’t supposed to know any more than Defendor did. I also could have done with a little bit more of the funny, even if it meant the movies runtime was a little bit longer. They had a real gold mine of hilarity with a superhero that fights with bottles of angry wasps and handfuls of marbles. I wouldn’t want the theme of the movie changed too much, perhaps just a longer opening with Defendor busting some low level bad guys. Again, as I write this I’m second guessing my logic…Defendor gets his ass kicked every time he goes out, but now I’m thinking this was to show his resolve, that he didn’t care what happened to him if he could just help others.

Final verdict? See it…rent it the second it comes out. For some odd reason this movie was denied a US theatrical run, but that just means you can see it for cheaper. A real tour of what a good person really is and, really, what we should strive to be more like Defendor is a great movie with a greater message. I can only best describe this flick as saying it’s like ‘Forrest Gump’ meets ‘The Dark Knight’ with a dash of funny. Fight Back!

4 Guttenbergs