El triunfo de los campeones justicieros

Masked wrestling movie in Spanish concerns small people from space trying to take over the world and the masked wrestlers who try to stop them. It all takes place around a circus so we get scenes set in the circus. The villains also turn their slaves in to a green goo when they wish to dispose of them. I'm not sure what I think, its an amusing 80 minutes if you know what you're getting. Certainly this is lower budget and more silly than the black and white Santo films they used to run dubbed on late night TV and on the USA network. I liked it, but I wish that the fights didn't seem as staged as they do. Perhaps this may have been better had it been dubbed or subtitled, but I think not. I some how think this is just a very silly, but entertaining, film aimed at kids.

This is the last movie on the Campeones Justicieros trilogy and was shot entirely in Guatemala, in 1974, by a Guatemalan director, Rafael Lanuza. If you don't know it, this kind of movies are objects of cult in various countries and belong in their own genre: Luchadores (westlers). Filmed mainly in Mexico, in the 50's through 70's, this motion pictures feature legends of the ring like El Santo, Blue Demon, Mil Máscaras, Superzan and the likes. The movies are still so popular that they are constantly re-released in DVD format for a hungry public who never get enough of them. That was how I found this film, of which I didn't know anything.

Like its two prequels and others films of that era, El Triunfo is a complete exercise on absurdity. There are not a fixed plot nor theme and I am ready to call this a naive film. Of course, you shouldn't expect anything from a film like this. Just to be entertained. In other words, the film is bad, although within this peculiar genre is better than most. But everything, since the main idea, midget aliens trying to conquer the Earth, to the bad dialogues and acting, is below standards.

You'll see people with no background on them, scenes with no relation to anything and a constant lack of unity in the whole damn thing. It seems as if it was shot just to take advantage of the popularity of the genre back in the day but overall it fulfilled the premise of entertain whoever bold enough to watch it.

If you don't care about crazy and unrelated ideas, because there are not a plot, bad acting and lack of good effects, you might get away with it and even enjoy it. It features Blue Demon and that might be enough to endure it. Or not. Just don't be too harsh with it. Have in mind that people in Europe and the USA are willing to pay hundreds of dollars for a copy of this and other movies. Maybe you are fortunate if you come across this film.

Unlike the impetuous and frenetic direction by Curiel, Rafael Lanuza was much more traditionally static, more interested in the loony sets, kooky wardrobe and wacky effects. He delivered a film of extravagant framing and outlandish art direction, with comic-booky plots along the same lines (but approached differently) as the ones Curiel diffused with his touch.

While Superzan and the Space Child (1973) had a rather unorthodox execution, Lanuza adapted himself quite well to the wrestling subgenre with this outing, implementing the strange deviations, cartoony logic and artificial visuals the genre demands.

The clash between the styles of both filmmakers regarding the Campeones trilogy is quite evident. That which Curiel captured in a distant and alienated way, almost in an improvised manner, Lanuza instead directs it with a lot more shots thought a priori, more prominently using close ups and inserts. What Curiel saw from a distance Lanuza shoves it in your face and rejoices in it.

This third entry mixes some of the more prominent pillars of popular entertainment, not only the typical superhero comics or the sport and spectacle that's wrestling (both of them being already in the genre's DNA), but Lanuza in this picture adds the circus to it's combo, reimagining these battles involving masked heroes as a deranged circus act instead of a spectacle derived from the ring, making it's characters interact with circus scenery and having an audience present to be delighted by the battle antics. Perhaps because of this refreshing recontextualization, El triunfo de los campeones justicieros comes off as one of the most interesting cocktails of vulgar and common entertainment for the masses.

Incomprehensible science of unreal logic, jumping between dimensions and cheaply teleporting between spaces, taking advantage of its colorful paper mache backdrops and overall zany madness. The oddity of the genre unfolds with efficiency in this indescribable film that's one of its high points.