Sparks - Avengers from Hell

Well, "Sparks" is not your typical superhero movie, and that is one of the better things about it. There is something more dark in the deeper layers of this movie. And instead of having picture perfect superheroes, then the superheroes in this movie were every day people with every day problems (more or less).

The story told here was adequate and did have some interesting aspects. But it was somehow dropped on the floor because of some questionable effects, and the entire movie had the feel of being shot in front of a green screen and not enough money was used for the effects. That really struck a terrible blow to the movie.

"Sparks" did have potential for something grander, but it wasn't properly utilized, and that was kind of a shame.

As for the acting, well I will say that they had adequate talents to portray the characters in the movie, but the heavy load of the entire movie was resting on the shoulders of Mr. Clancy Brown. And he did do a good job, just a shame that he didn't have more time on the screen. It was also nice to see William Katt on the screen again, I haven't seen him in a movie for a long, long time.

Whereas many superhero movies today are driven by CGI effects, "Sparks" is driven by the story.

However, I started to slip because of the suppressing feel of being shot in front of a green screen, and that left the movie at a below average experience for me. As such, I am rating it 4 out of 10 stars.

Okay, if you're looking for "The Avengers", or even "Watchmen", forget it.

This is a shoestring indie film and it shows. Most of the special effects are crude, the acting is a bit wooden, and some of the props just don't fit in well (Jake Busey's mask and the like stick out, literally, being somewhat cockeyed whenever he's wearing them).

Still, for what it is, the film isn't half bad. Sure, it can seem a bit campy or schlocky. But, as Grindhouse (and its legacy films) have shown us, there is still room for that sort of thing in cinema.

If that's not your cup of tea? Go get a coffee.

This story is about a young man who's motivated to do good, but in many cases winds up making all the wrong choices, or being given false choices. He dances back and forth over the line between good and evil throughout the film deciding what he really wants, and then going for it with no remorse.

All in all, not a perfect film. But I enjoyed it.

I've seen stage plays in church basements more interesting than this. Terrible just terrible. Bad acting, poor narration. below fan fiction costuming and dreadful camera work. Don't bother.

From reading other reviews on this film, I feel a lot of people have misunderstood the film and are comparing it to the more prominent superhero films. You can't compare it to Superman, Spiderman, Batman, The Avengers, Captain America. It's dark, it's moody and it's very violent. It's a true old classic-style pulp action hero film that should be taken as such. It's similar to Kick Ass, Defendor and all those films with wannabe superheroes that have no powers whatsoever. They're everyday people armed only with self-made costumes and a passion for fighting crime. I really enjoy these dark 'superhero' films and I thought it was a great indie flick.

As for Miroslav Houdek's review on this film... you can't rate a film lower than what you actually think it's worth in order to bring the rating down so that it's closer to your actual rating. That's just nonsense, manipulative and extremely unhelpful. How is it that your opinion is more valid than all of the people that have rated the film higher than you?

Anyway, go into this film with an open mind and you'll enjoy it for what it is and not for what it isn't.

I like movies. I like a bit of cheese. I'll forego big budget effects all day long if you're ready to give me a bit of fun dialogue, a neat story, even just some good facial expressions and clever timing with the cuts.

This film is just bad. I'm sorry. It's bad.

So why did it have an IMDb rating of 7.3 when I decided to give it a whirl?

To be fair, that rating is now down to 6.7 a few days later. But there were THOUSANDS of 8, 9, and 10 reviews according to the breakdown link. For a movie with, I'm sorry, very amateur acting, a derivative storyline that's half Watchmen, half Kick-Ass, and none of the goodness of either. GLOWING user reviews written and then "found useful" by dozens of others.

I... I think the producer got all his friends and family to write nice things. :( I feel sorry for him, I know it can be hard to break out into the larger world with a small budget movie, but the first thing you need is SOME QUALITY, dude. Look at Primer. Look at Pi. Look at The Man From Earth.