Supersonic Man

...if you're a lover of bad cinema. From the horrible credit sequence which desperately tries to copy SUPERMAN, to the super cheesy flying sequences, to scenes of hero lifting up things like an incredibly fake looking, wooden (yes, wooden) bulldozer, director J.P. Simon delivers the goods yet again! The man who brought you PIECES and SLUGS doesn't disappoint. If you have no life, viewing this film is a must!!!

Me and my high school dog pack caught this movie by chance one late night on Channel 44 in the Bay Area. Perhaps by devine intervention, I hit the record button and got the whole film on tape. It provided us and our respective families with endless laughs. We even composed a song/chant out of some of our favorite lines that we would recite religiously in the park at night (This is true San Jose-style recreation!!) Highlights? The terrifying killer robot that displayed the speed and swiftness of a cheetah! That devastating glare of Supersonic's evil nemesis as he monitors his underlings' treacherous deeds. The timeless beauty and personal complexity of Supersonic's love interest, Patricia Morgan. And the special effects -- especially the balsa wood steamroller, realistic-looking toy helicopter and the seamless camera work the director achieved whenever Paul morphs into Supersonic. To the uninitiated: May the forces of the universe be with you in your quest to see this movie!!

Dr. Gulik (Cameron Mitchell) is an evil mastermind bent on . . . well, I'm really not sure what he was bent on. I watched the entire movie and still have no idea what Dr. Gulick's plan was. In between all the gibberish Dr. Gulick spouts, I don't believe he ever laid out what his ultimate goal was (if he did, I missed it). I don't believe I've ever seen a movie with a more confusing plot. Or, maybe the plot wasn't confusing, but, instead, the movie didn't have a plot. That's my guess.

Beyond the plot, everything else is a disaster. The special effects are the worst, the music is beyond annoying, and the acting is atrocious. Usually I can watch a movie and enjoy it regardless of the dubbing. That's not the case here. The voice actors are terrible. And why was there a need to dub Cameron Mitchell with a ridiculous, over-the-top English accent? And then there's the robot. This movie was made in 1979, not 1939. Just plain stupid. The only reason I haven't given the movie a "1" is for all the lackeys in the matching, multi-color jumpsuits. Watching these guys run around as the island blows-up is worth a point.

Supervillain Gulik (Cameron Mitchell) kidnaps a scientist in search of a powerful weapon which shall make him ruler of the world. When the scientist asks him why he wants to become ruler, he just shrugs and says: 'Aren't we all driven by something?' In other words, he has no clue, but the movie needed a super-villain... Enter the superhero: somewhere out in space, Supersonic Man comes to the rescue, his cape fluttering happily in the airless emptiness, accompanied by the even happier doodleeedoo soundtrack. Supersonic Man can stop bullets, lift heavy machinery, and he can turn into Boring Guy with a 1979 moustache, so the scientist's daughter won't discover his secret identity, but the moustache disappears every time he turns into Supersonic Man. Everything you thought was silly in superhero movies is right in here, so if you love bad movies with ridiculous special effects, don't miss the hilarious "Supersonic Man"!

This is two movies in one. The first is a 1-star bad movie and a 10-star RiffTrax movie with the voice-overs. How do you rate a movie like this?

The actors involved try hard, but in the end the plot and script drag it down. Cameron Mitchell as always delivers a fine performance in low-budget movies given what he has to work with.

Is it worth watching? To me on it's own, no. But with the RiffTrax crew working their magic was well worth my time and quite entertaining.