User reviews

It was supposed to be a parody of an american super-hero story, it became a parody on the life in Poland in the sixties. Today a cult-film among polish viewers. Sadly it is probably not easy to understand for somebody without knowledge about life in the former east-block, so don't try it if it is your first polish comedy to watch.

For starters: a historical note. This movie was made when the so-called "small stabilization" ("mała stabilizacja," a term coined by the poet Tadeusz Rozewicz, whose brother Stanislaw, incidentally, is an acclaimed film director) was still in action, though the under-invested Polish economy was already faltering. This period was one of relative betterment of living conditions for most of the Polish people, yet the betterment was far from that which was the lived experience of people outside the communist bloc. As it was, the economy was still too unstable to perform well in the post-war circumstances and people were gathering strength for an upcoming battle with the system, occurring in December 1970 (events partially portrayed in Andrzej Wajda's "Man of Iron"). It is also good to know that directly before the student upheaval which happened in the West in 1968, Poland encountered a wave of obscure anti-Semitism, which forced many Poles of Jewish origin out of the country. Here, then, is the fruit of the loom, so to speak: "Hydrozagadka," a movie about the mysterious disappearance of water from Warsaw taps. The case, completely unintelligible for the capital's police, ends up being taken over by a Clark Kent-like figure, super-hero known as "Ace" (As). Through a course of more or less absurd obstacles, he manages to uncover the secret plot of a mad, scientist that wants to threaten the existing order (with the financial help of a "maharadjah"). That's not all, of course it isn't; but I'm not sure a non-Polish speaking viewer can grasp half of the subtleties at play herein. Language plays a significant part in the movie and I wish the English translators did their best to render it understandable to someone not acquainted with the Polish communist newspeak and associated double-talks.

A cult movie in Poland that might not be not accessible enough for other viewers. This movie makes fun of live in communistic Poland , so it does require some knowledge about those times.

I'm surprised by the quite high rating (7.5 when I'm writing this review) for this movie. It's not that I don't like spoofs or that the movie makes fun of comic books , no . It's just that this movie is simply unfunny.

The opening credits , which are sung by some actress are simply ANNOYING. The story here is obviously a joke and wants to make fun of Superman like comic books . The main hero is pretty much Polish Clark Kent/ Superman . He is called however AS (ACE in English). In this movie he has to solve the mystery involving water and stop the plans of evil maradjah .

I would gladly watch a movie that makes fun of comic books ( which obviously are silly by definition) , but unfortunately the jokes in this movie are completely lame . I fail to see any humor here . The jokes like "Alcohol is the biggest poison ever" or the fact that the bad guy needed a kid's book to finish his master plan are not funny in my opinion. Most of the jokes are language jokes that might be hard to understand for foreign viewers. The funniest thing in this movie movie are the special effects IMHO. The acting is also nice.

This is one boring , unfunny and forgettable movie . I'm from Poland and I don't like it. I guess it's really a cult movie not for everyone. Still , it is a little bit better than "Kick ass" or "Superhero movie". Now those were ANNOYING piece of s**t movies. I'm still waiting for a good comedy about superheroes. I give it 2/10.