The Return of Captain Invincible

The US government's latest secret weapon is stolen, and the only man who can find it is an alcoholic ex-superhero. Captain Invincible returned to obscurity in his native Australia after a nasty run in with HUAC...

Captain Invincible is a hilarious, rock-opera parody of DC/Marvel superhero comics. To give away too much of the ridiculously ramshackle plot would be to spoil it, but you suspect this film was inspired by Christopher Lee's lament that he never starred in a musical comedy.

Lee steals the film as the dastardly arch-villain Mr. Midnight, belting out his numbers in a fine bass-baritone, as scantily clad slave girls massage his jodhpured thighs. Unforgettable.

This is a film that could have become a cult classic with better editing. Some bits just don't work - in the BBC TV showing these were edited out; if you can, get that version rather than the full version on DVD. If you do have the DVD version watch it once through then just skip the bits that left you cold.

The humour is mostly pretty low-brow, with some appalling puns, but there's more than one level; if you're a fan of DC or Marvel comics, watch sci-fi movies or know Australian and American politics and history there are some fine little gags buried in here.

There are also some very subtle sight gags - a film to watch the backgrounds as well as the foregrounds...

My particular favourite is what Christopher Lee eats in the film; watch the meal scenes and you'll see what I mean.

Don't worry too much about the plot - it is there and it makes sense, but it's a comic-book plot not a big story. Also, don't worry about some of the odder characters - they are ALL there for a reason, but if you haven't read/seen the right things you'll never work them out.

The songs are generally very clever and, despite the singing not being the best, well delivered. "Drinking Song" is probably the highlight, with Christopher Lee doing what he does best - showing his teeth and megalomaniac glare, although his "singing" is on a par with certain other actors (William Shatner and Telly Savalas come to mind). "Mr. Midnight" is also funny; shot as two scenes; Chris with leathers and whip, surrounded by scantily-clad dominatrices, Alan on a train trying to be anonymous whilst singing and dancing.

This is also Terry Pratchett's favourite film - I actually have one of his books signed "to the OTHER person who likes Captain Invincible". So there are at least *four* people in the world who loved this film - granted, the other two are my kids and they may be humouring their old man.

Christopher Lee is, apart from a demigod of horror and an amazing human being altogether, a very strange and unpredictable individual… Not that long ago I saw a film called "Meat Cleaver Massacre" and Lee allegedly wanted to sue the producers for using footage of him that he wasn't aware of. He wanted to go to court because he didn't know he starred in a not even that bad film, yet he voluntarily starred in THIS totally bonkers and jaw-dropping flamboyant Aussie flick?!? What the hell kind of career-swings are these?

Anyway, "The Return of Captain Invincible" is one gigantically delirious and extravagant cinematic conglomeration of Sci-Fi, comedy, musical, superhero-action and satire. I probably never would have known this movie existed if it wasn't for the recently released documentary "Not Quite Hollywood: the Wild, Untold Story of Ozploitation". I swear, I've stumbled upon a lot of crazy and obscure Aussie stuff since the fine day I watched that film, but this puppy is undoubtedly the craziest of them all! The set-up of "The Return of Captain Invincible" is a lot more clever and original than you might think, actually. One could even claim that it's a forerunner of such popular films like Pixar's "The Incredibles", "Spiderman" and "Hancock", as this movie was the first to depict the powers and responsibilities of a superhero more as a burden rather than as a blessing. The film opens marvelously with a series of newspaper clippings and black-and-white flashbacks illustrating the glorious rise and immediately subsequent fall of superhero Captain Invincible. He saved the world from Nazi terrorism but then the media soiled his reputation linked him to a communist network. The disappointed Cap retired from New York to Sydney and spent many years drinking and drifting around. Now the world desperately needs him again, as the evil Mr. Midnight plots to take over New York, but Captain Invincible is reluctant to save the hypocrites that exiled him and – moreover – he forgot how to fly…

"The Return of Captain Invincible" is the prototypic example of a 'hit- and-miss' film. Many of the conceptual ideas are terrific and several sequences are both very creative and downright hilarious, but at the same time the film suffers from numerous defaults. Practically every great scene and/or moment of ingeniousness is followed by an irrelevant and dull scene or a needlessly mushy musical interlude. The film is very uneven in its set-up, exchanging absurd jokes and singing evil masterminds with moments of sentimental romance. It sometimes even feels like you're watching two entirely different films; especially when you're watching stoned like I was… The biggest entertainment value of "The Return of Captain Invincible" lies in the smaller details. Christopher Lee's sidekick, for example, looks like an evil version of Yoda with a Fu-Manchu mustache. The undeniable highlight is, as a matter of course, owned by Lee himself when he sings a hymn glorifying evil activities. Lovers of offbeat musicals might be very interest to know that nearly all songs are reminiscent to the soundtrack of "The Rocky Horror Picture Show". Overall, this definitely could have been a much better film if certain parts were cut and others had been more elaborated, but it's nevertheless a unique and strangely exhilarating film. Thank you, crazy Aussie people, for yet another wondrous piece of cult legacy.

The Return of Captain Invincible It seems a law of nature that a certain percentage of movies just don't age very well. Some can be viewed decades later and still impress the first-time viewer, others you have to had seen during it's time in order to appreciate it later. Unfortunately, "The Return of Captain Invincible" belongs to the latter category.

It's not a bad film, by no means. "TRoCI" comfortably between Superman-spoof, musical satire of the US- / Australian way of life but unfortunately it's also a little too 'harmless' for most (modern) viewers. A little less slapstick and a little more grittiness / realism could have made "TRoCI" a comedic predecessor of Zack Snyder's "Watchmen".

Like with most of his roles, the performance of Alan Arkin is beyond criticism. He remains the world's most funny unfunny man. He seems to conjure up comedy as through magic and almost unexplainable. And as what is commonly known as a "Christophile", an ardent fan of Sir Christopher Lee, I consider it blasphemous ever to write a negative word in the same sentence. Indeed, "Citizen Cain", "The Godfather" or "The Seven Samurai" are all good pictures, which only have one fault: neither of them stars Christopher Lee.

Thinking what directors like Robert Altman, Blake Edwards, Jim Abrahams or David Zucker could have made from this material, the films weakest link remains the director. Philippe Mora seems more at home with schlock-horror flicks, rather than either comedy or musical. On the comedic side, his direction is restraint while there seems an almost desperate attempt to be the next "Rocky Horror Picture Show" – it isn't; by the standards of a musical, it's "Shock Treatment" at best. The songs are simply neither strong nor memorable enough, with the exception of "Name your Poison", performed by his highness Sir Christopher himself. The line "There's nothing sicker in society than the lack of liquor and sobriety" is worth an Oscar itself and makes one dream: what if Richard O'Brien had written the songs, what a musical it could have been.

I have to admit, I have a hard time giving a film that features either his eminence Sir Christopher Lee or Alan Arkin a bad rating – an old habit that I have broken only for "Star Wars II – The Clone Wars". That said, the 7 out of 10 points I'm giving should probably been a 6 or 5 ½. Oh well.

I just saw the film for the first time tonight, so these are some brief impressions.

This virtually unknown little movie is a weird, goofy, silly, and touchingly sincere experience. The very premise of the film is fascinating, and though we've seen the "old-time hero in the modern world" premise before and since, this is one effort that really delves into the potential of that idea. The script keeps dropping in bits of social satire and commentary; the evil villain's plot is essentially the inverse of "white flight", seeking to "purify" New York by luring all the minorities to the suburbs and then killing them. The implication that he's also the supreme evil force in the universe adds a neat mythic touch. The Captain's quest to re- capture the spirit of America that inspired him to begin with is rather sweet, and Kate Fitzpatrick is charming as the spunky heroine. (Arkin and Lee are great, but aren't they always.) The songs are generally fun, even when predictable- despite being written by a number of different people (including Richard O' Brien!) they've got a nice consistency.

It's a flawed film in many ways- the humor is uneven, ranging from the clever to the silly (often at the same time- though "Amazing Computer Brain is Stuck!" got a laugh from me.) The finale is so abbreviated that I'm convinced there were scenes that were either cut or never filmed. And, this isn't really a criticism, but I do wonder why Australians were making a movie about the American spirit.

Still, this movie doesn't deserve the sheer obscurity it seems to suffer. It's undoubtedly a unique film, and as such provides a truly fascinating experience.