The Untypical Superhero: Super (2010)

Typical superheroes have great looks, a tragic past, incredible strength, and flamboyant weapons. However, not all superheroes are the stereotypical crime fighters that are pictured. The film Super (2010), directed by James Gunn, illustrates this notion in various ways exemplifying how an atypical man can find the power within and become the enticing, crime fighting hero that saves humanity.

Rainn Wilson is known for acting abnormal characters and is highly identifiable by his awkward personalities. Like previous characters: Dwight Schrute from The Office or more recently Det. Lt. Everett Backstrom from Backstrom, Wilson portrays the nervous quality in his character Frank Darbo who later becomes The Crimson Bolt. After his wife Sarah, a recovering drug addict, is victimized by a drug dealer, Darbo takes it upon himself to become her savior after researching non-super powered heroes. Despite his discoveries on common heroes, Frank lacks many usual superhero qualities that add to the unconventional, yet unique, hero he becomes.
 

Family & Religion in The Boondock Saints (1999)

 

It is obvious in various Irish movies that family and religion play a major role; some portion of those films inevitably revolve around one or both of those aspects. After recently watching Calvary (2014), an Irish film directed by John Michael McDonagh, I have found it executes both aspects, family and religion, like the motion pictures Waking Ned Devine (1998), Leap Year (2010), and The Boondock Saints (1999). 

The Boondock Saints, directed by Troy Duffy, is about the MacManus brothers, Connor (Sean Patrick Flanery) and Murphy (Norman Reedus, from The Walking Dead fame), who become vigilantes in Boston to rid the city of drug dealers and their crimes. The two brothers emphasis on pursuing justice through the murders they are committing is directly tied to their Irish Catholic religion. The religious element is evident in the way the brothers recite the “Family Prayer” which is, “And Shepherds we shall be For thee, my Lord, for thee. Power hath descended forth from Thy hand Our feet may swiftly carry out They commands. So we shall flow a river forth to Thee And teeming with souls shall it ever be. In Nomeni Patri Et Fili Spiritus Sancti.” The latter can be translated to “In the name of the father, of the son, and the Holy Spirit.” Every time this prayer is quoted in the movie, the MacManus brothers then murder one of their horrendous victims.