All Superheroes Must Die

Combining comic book movies with the plot of Saw, All Superheroes Must Die ambitiously attempts to double dip. Striking amidst the early days of the MCU, the film aimed to invent a new breed of hero for cinema-goers... if anyone would have watched. While the Saw franchise started strong and struggled to create compelling puzzles in its later installments, All Superheroes Must Die immediately failed to produce any interesting challenges. Alongside its lackluster puzzles, the film introduces audiences to a forgettable cast of superheroes with powers so generic, they are never even used. Complete with a mediocre cast and incredibly simple dialogue, the film is a spectacle of wasted potential. All Superhoes Must Die promises many interesting ideas, but fails to deliver them.

What looks like a fascinating concept on paper is executed in villainously poor fashion in All Superheroes Must Die, a micro-budget thriller that twists almost every convention of the oversaturated genre, but is drastically let down by innumerable plot holes, a jagged script and empty performances all round.

Sick to death of playing the speed bump to the good guys and their well-meaning plans, supervillian Rickshaw (James Remar) has knocked out and stolen the powers of Charge (Jason Trost), Shadow (Sophie Merkley), Cutthroat (X-Men First Class' Lucas Till) and The Wall (Lee Valmassy), the town's four resident superheroes. Meanwhile, he has rigged several town landmarks – and many more innocent civilians – to explosives, meaning the heroes have no choice but to play by his wicked rules.

Directed and written by lead actor Trost, the film can never seem to decide between being a serious look at the sacrifices made to be a hero, or a tongue-in-cheek satire of the suspension of disbelief required by the genre. It constantly flexes between sharp, intimate flashbacks showing the closeness of the group before becoming superheroes, and incredulously over-the- top delivery from Remar and Sean Whalen – as side villain Manpower – none of which hit their mark.

The rest of All Superheroes Must Die is a mish-mash of unexplained plot points and unprovoked character turns. The story jumps regularly, giving the impression that a short shoot forced pages to be ripped out of the script at will. And while some films of this nature do a fantastic job of stretching the production value, Superheroes looks every bit like a low budget cellar dweller, doing little to mitigate a collection of lacklustre individual parts, forming an utterly forgettable shell of an intriguing idea.

*There's nothing I love more than a bit of feedback, good or bad. So drop me a line on jnatsis@iprimus.com.au and let me know what you thought of my review. If you're looking for a writer for your movie website or other publication, I'd also love to hear from you.*

Before judging this film too harshly, remember it was made on a tiny budget and in a handful of days. It's basically a glorified student film, and if I were marking it, I'd give it an A. It's an interesting concept and the acting, while mediocre, shows promise, especially that of Jason Trost and Sophie Merkley. There's an awesome scene where the bitchy journalist guy from "Never Been Kissed" is dressed up as Uncle Sam and is armed with a flamethrower. It's worth a watch if only for that scene. James Remar is pretty good I guess, although it's hard to tell when he's basically a cackling, moustache-twirling level of villain. But in any case, this movie is a solid effort from writer/director Jason Trost. I'm looking forward to seeing what he offers to the genre world in coming years.

Felt more like a college project film. Lackluster acting and poor writing. Not really sure what could have been here because it was so poorly presented. The actress that plays Shadow is absolutely worthless in this film. Just pass on this one.

I love the dark feel of the film that was not like your typical "super hero" movie. It seems that some of the critics of this film didn't understand it. Anyone who was a fan of "watchmen" would enjoy and understand this picture.

These characters were not over the top and exaggerated, they were portrayed as real/average people that happen to have super hero problems. This isn't a story that is tied up in a nice little bow at the end, where most Hollywood movies do. This is an edgy story that mirrors the unfortunate reality of actual life. The acting was solid, the directing was clean, and the writing was creative.

Maybe I am guilty of understanding what it really takes to make a film happen, and understand the constraints of time, schedules, and how filmmakers have to often make hard decisions on the fly to make something as big as a film happen.

I still say good job, and I look forward to more.