thebitterguy

So, last night while Cynra was hacking her way through A's, B's, C's & D's, YHB took a moment to take a look at SideKick, The Movie. The film is an independent Canadian superhero movie, which sounds like a bad idea but is executed surprisingly well.

The story is about a disturbingly generic comics fan (IT worker with reams of longboxes in his apartment, and more in his storage space) who discovers a co-worker of his has powerz, and his attempts to make him into a superhero.

It's an interesting film, especially when you consider it was made for 25K. There's a benefit to making a film about superheros where the character's abilities are all bought with Invisible Power Effect 1/2 (aaaand there's my nerdiness for today).

The gifted character, Victor, turns out to be a bit of a dick who uses his powers for selfish reasons, at best. Man. If only it were possible to find any geopolitical parallels in that relationship. I wish I could, but that's not the sort of thing that that you find in independent Canadian film, right? No one would possibly posit this nation as the sidekick to a morally dubious superpowered individual, right, ha ha ha ha?

It's not light in any way. Victor's sublimated homosexuality represents itself in a number of ways, including his vicious, demeaning attack on a group of gay-bashers (his one "good deed") and his overcompensation in his own love life. Norman, played by Perry Mucci, is the standard fantasy obsessed socially isolated geek, clinging to his comic store owner until after closing time.

The story is well put together, and you get some chances to think Victor might actually go towards the light, but he ends up making the bad decisions, whether for reasons of power or just greed (no geopolitical parallels. NONE!)

Overall, it's good for a no-budget film, and until Richard Comely wins 6/49 probably the only Canadian superhero movie we'll ever see.