Customer Reviews

Defendor

5 star:		(18)
4 star:		(15)
3 star:		(4)
2 star:		(3)
1 star:		(3)

 

 

While marketed as a comedy, Defendor is actually a dark and touching crime drama. But while you can't expect Woody's comedy antics a la Zombieland, expect one of the best performances of his career.

By day, Arthur Poppington is a construction worker with a below-average IQ. By night, he's Defendor, dishing out justice with makeshift weapons (reminding us in his gruff Batman voice that "guns are for cowards"). But while the movie starts out light and funny, it evolves into something both dark and sad. With the flood of recent superhero movies, Defendor reminds us that reality isn't always so super.

The real story here is the unlikely friendship between Defendor and a drug-addicted prostitute, in his ongoing mission to take down Captain Industry. Woody is terrific in the role, bouncing between his wacky self and a vulnerable man-child who still believes in justice.

For this being his first directing gig, Peter Stebbings hits a bullseye. There's great cinematography and lighting, and Stebbings playfully throws out a few superhero flick cliches. John Rowley serves up one of the best movie scores I've heard in a while, with a powerful and dark superhero soundtrack. The supporting cast is also top-notch, from Elias Koteas and Sandra Oh to Clark Johnson (The Wire/Homicide).

You will enjoy this movie if you go into it with the understanding that it's not a comedy. It's a dark drama with splashes of humor and violence, and a very powerful ending.

While KICK-ASS (Opening April 16, 2010) got all the press, DEFENDOR has all the heart. A sweet but dark combination of TAXI DRIVER and BATMAN, DEFENDOR answers the question of 'what if super-heroes' existed in a very sentimental yet mature manner. Woody Harrelson's portrayal of Arthur Poppington is just as worthy of an Oscar nomination as his role in THE MESSENGER. Harrelson's Poppington is a mentally challenged adult dealing with a very dark and tragic childhood by taking on the persona of 'The Defendor,' a comic book inspired super-hero. Writer-Director Peter Stebbings captures the true magic and meaning comic book heroes have in our modern society. Placing the innocence of Harrelson's Poppington/Defendor in the midst of a very real city suffering from corrupt cops, drug dealers, child sex trafficers and abused prostitutes makes for a very unique and adult viewing experience. The film is a sometimes lyrical poem, a sad reminder of how it is and how it would be for a real super-hero. Yet, unlike KICK-ASS, DEFENDOR is a reminder that there is value and valor in morality, courage and doing the right thing in the face powerful evil. DEFENDOR, like KICK-ASS, does goes for the laughs. There are moments of brilliant and hilarious humor to be found here, both dark and sweet. Unlike KICK-ASS, there are also moments of genuine sentiment and inspiration. The two films tell the same story in very different ways. It's a shame that KICK-ASS will make millions and become a pop-culture hit while DEFENDOR will have to tough it out on home video. Hopefully, DEFENDOR will develop a cult following and in time get the true praise and audience it deserves.

When I saw the previews of this I thought it would be a formulaic comedy, with Woody Harrelson playing a jerk.
I was surprised to find the previews misleading, and Woody's character is actually mildly retarded, and somewhat delusional. It has its moments of humor, but none of it is cruel. Arthur is slow and believes he's a super hero, but no one makes fun of him. In fact they're all somewhat in awe of him and his misguided beliefs in absolute good and evil. It is poignant and actually has some tear jerk moments, along with its moments of almost slapstick humor.
Bottom line - see it.

Reading the user reviews I was pretty sure what I was getting into with this and I was right in the best way. In the wrong hands this could have gone awry and played too much for the laughs. But as it stands here, it's a dark (gun metal gray) comedy but very, very touching.

Woody Harrelson plays the title character who is a bit "slow" and fancies himself a super hero though he has no super powers what so ever. He holds a menial job on a city's street crew and is watched over by his boss. At night he tries to right the wrongs and do away with "Captain Industry" so the world will be a better place. This puts him in harm's way with a big time thug and a corrupt cop. But he's honest to a fault and his honesty doesn't go unnoticed.

It's difficult to say how much I liked this film. Much of this has to do with Woody. Though I don't know if it's his best performance ever, I liked it more than anything else he's done. For my money he played the character to a "T". Yes, Defendor is slow witted but it might also be that he's just horribly naive. He has no wiles at all. He had a bad, neglected childhood, with a mother who succumbed to the dark side with drugs and booze. He was raised by his grandfather who just wasn't very good at it. Defendor wants the world to be a good place. A place he never had.

I like Elias Koteas a lot and he does a good job here. I only know Kat Dennings from "Nick and Nora's Infinite Playlist" but she's really good here as a girl who may very well go the way of Defendor's mom unless something or some one helps her change direction.

The direction might be considered by some to be too "meat and potatoes", but I think that is what it needed. Too much over statement might have pulled the heart out of it. Here, you get to know the characters. Even as scummy as the Elias Koteas cop is, he isn't just a two dimensional bad guy. There seems to be a certain weariness to him.

This is well worth the time spent to watch it. It's a very unique and well thought through piece with a good (maybe a bit sappy) ending. Take the time.

Improperly marketed as a dark comedy, Defendor is more of a Taxi Driver-style character-driven drama featuring the great Woody Harrelson as Arthur, a somewhat mentally challenged man who decides to don a home made costume at night and become a superhero. He befriends a young prostitute (Kat Dennings) and runs afoul of a crooked cop (Elias Koteas) before going face-to-face with the mob, as things gradually begin to go from bad to worse for just about everyone involved. Though Defendor is definitely not what you may expect if you've caught any of the film's trailers, that isn't necessarily a bad thing. The film is well shot and well paced, and Woody Harrelson is so good here that you just can't help but love him and feel for him. Also featuring some great supporting work from Michael Kelly, Sandra Oh, and Clark Johnson; Defendor is something that is definitely not for everybody, but if any of the aforementioned sounds at all interesting to you, then by all means check it out. Woody Harrelson is worth the price of admission alone.

*Minor Spoilers* On paper- there isn't a lot of originality here. The 'emotionally/mentally disturbed individual who gets in way over his head' archetype was previously done in the excellent Special, although the level of brutality reaped on Defendor/Arthur Poppington is more akin to what happens to Dave Lizewski in Kick-Ass. The 'Hooker with a Heart of Gold' supporting character 'Cat/Angel' (played by Kat Dennings) is -on the page at least- so cliched that it's almost a moot point to mention it. Whilst there are a few twists in turns in the script, if I was an investor, I might have considered this too derivative of previous movies to bother with funding it.

Which probably explains why I'm writing reviews on Amazon, and don't work in the film industry, as the people behind this movie did a great job. Woody Harrelson is excellent as Arthur Poppington, and turns in a subtle yet earnest performance. (Indeed, it would be hard to single out one actor for special praise, as they are all uniformly excellent, including the child actors.) The pacing of the film is great, the editing (with old School Star Wars-style wipes) thoughtful, and the DOP does an astonishing job with the lighting and the fiming, to the point where this movie 'feels' substantially more expensive than it actually was.

There are only a couple of points that belie a tight budget- the score is good, but clearly done on a synthesier/with a band, as opposed to an orchestra, and the director Peter Stebbings shoots the whole movie in about four locations, doing his best to dress it up to look different (and the fake snow looks like polystyrene chips). Finally, the cover of the DVD is so bad that it almost put me off buying it- I wouldn't be surprised if people thought this was a DTV cash-in made on the heels of Kick Ass, instead of the low-budget labour of love that it clearly is.

Whilst there are a load of movies in the 'kidding-themselves-on superhero sub-genre'(as well as the aforementioned Special and Kick Ass, there's also been the enjoyable The Specials, Mystery Men and James Gunn's forthcoming Super) this is still an enjoyable (and emotional) movie that really cuts to the heart of what superheroes inspire in people. This film is ultimately not envelope pushing (but how many Superhero films really are?) but still enjoyable. More so than Kick Ass, it also makes me never want to put on a costume and try being a superhero- and one hopes that anyone tempted by the prospect of being a 'real life' superhero will pause for thought after seeing this [on a side note, an interesting but brief documentary on 'real life' vigilantes/super-heroes can be found in the special features of Watchmen: The Ultimate Cut ].

Wasn't sure about watching this movie at first. but am so glad I did. One of the best I've seen in awhile. It's funny, sad and heart-warming, all at the same time. Woody Harrelson does such a good job playing Defendor! Very well cast movie.

"Defendor" is excellent, but it is not easy. The script updates and adapts Don Quixote, point for point, and it reminds us how Cervantes's simple idea remains a potent satirical and comic innovation. There is very, very, very little sentiment or sappiness thrown about here, and all hands, from the prickly Dulcinea (Angel, Kat) to the wiser Pancho (Patrick), remains true to what made Cervantes powerful for being uneasy.

The Don read the heroic tales, saw a real world gone awry, and opted to see it in the moral absolutes. We have been conditioned by some damaging interpretations in the 1960's, where Quixote gets to be a sap, a dreamer, and a lovable loser, as he becomes a "man of LaMancha" or someone who thinks "they might be giants." Cervantes's Don is worthwhile because he is, unquestionably, someone we laugh at, and yet we know why he does what he does. Woody Harrelson has an enormous task in front of him: he has to make a creature whose sympathy is in honesty and whose ridiculousness is in the same trait.

However, by choosing to make this Defen-don retarded, we have an unnecessary problem. Perhaps only a mentally retarded individual has the license to believe in justice? Perhaps, satirically, it is "retarded" to believe in justice? Perhaps it requires an inability to understand the complexity of society to see the truth of evil? Regardless, it is a complexity of plotting and theme that adds to the difficulty of reception for an audience.

The movie? It's great.
The subject matter is rated R, but that's the world. The hero is rated G.

This is a strikingly good film, both as a sneaky literary adaptation and as an apt satire of crime, capitalism, and lies. Overturn the stupidity of Hollywood's marketeers and see it yourselves.

Defendor is a unique dark comedy about how seemingly ordinary individuals can have a profound impact on other people's lives. Being a big fan of Michael Kelly is what initially made me watch this movie, and I was certainly not disappointed by his performance, or by the rest of the cast. Not your typical superhero-type film with a typical warm and fuzzy happy ending either, which I thoroughly enjoyed.

To kids, comic books are dramas, even when the hero and the villains say hackneyed and silly things. The story remains powerful and true to kids who read comic books, and Defendor reminds adults of that magic.

Woody Harrelson stars as Arthur Poppington, an emotionally, socially, and educationally stunted man who works for a city construction crew by day. At night, he dons a self-made vigilante costume to fight crime as Defendor. He doesn't appear to be a very effective crime fighter: He gets beat up often, he uses kids' weapons (marbles, a slingshot), and he struggles to define and locate his nemesis, Captain Industry.

The movie is successful, because the tone is strong. Writer/director Peter Stebbings does not make fun of the disadvantaged Arthur Poppington. Naturally, most of the other characters think there's something wrong with him, but Woody Harrelson never mocks Poppington's shortcomings, something I doubt Stebbings would have allowed him to do. Excellent performances by Kat Dennings and Michael Kelly contribute greatly to the success of the film.

Defendor is not a true comedy. It has the guise of a comedy and even funny moments, but it's ultimately a drama, and one that is quite tragic. Stebbings embraces all of the superhero and comic book lingo and clichés, but he isn't making a comic book film (like The Crow or Sin City). Instead, Stebbings has written and directed a good dramatic tale that happens to have echoes of comic book stories.