Now, our Frank knows that we're all meant to be doing our bit for the environment, but recycled gags? Come on! As you might be able to gather, the new superhero spoof movie Super Capers didn't exactly tickle our movie critic's entertainment-buds. Strap your cape on and get ready to fly at the speed of sound… into a cinematic brick wall.

True, spoofing various genres of movies can be intentionally mindless. However, being mindless doesn't necessarily mean that spoofs can't be immensely enjoyable or at least fit the bill as a passable guilty pleasure, right? In writer/director/co-star Ray Griggs's woefully toothless send-up of superhero silliness Super Capers the word mindless certainly does not enter the cinematic fold.

What does come to mind though is monotonous, juvenile, pointless, forgettable, sophomoric...get the picture, folks? Not since the insufferable and inane Superhero Movie has an annoying parody on super-powered heroes been so strained in its convoluted wackiness. Indeed, Super Capers is in need of its own creative rescuing.



There is nothing remotely enlightening about Griggs's misplaced irreverent chuckles at the expense of ready-made ridiculous farces that are admittedly some of the over-the-top superhero and/or fantasy flicks in general. Basically, Super Capers methodically apes in lacklustre style some of the biggest fantasy/adventures that range from the notable Star Wars film series to the popular Back to the Future instalments. This is NOT the art of spoofing something adequately targeted more so than it is considered lazy-minded "Copycat Theatre".

Uneventful and desperate for spontaneous giggles, Super Capers leans on the sheer notion that merely being off-kilter in its dopey-eyed confines solves the movie's solution for wayward, off-beat chuckles. Convincingly uninspired in its transparent quest for manufactured hilarity, the generic Super Capers is its own trivial, tepid joke-the best irony of all, huh? If one gave construction paper and magic markers to a disengaged preteen they would probably eke out a more probable premise for the spinelessly witty Super Capers.

Justin Whelan (the former Jimmy Olsen from TV's "Lois & Clark"...talking about stunt casting) plays superhero-in-waiting Ed Gruberman, a poor soul that gets into legal complications when battling the wrong designated villain. As a result of his misdeed, Ed is sentenced by the judge (Michael Rooker) to attend the local superheroes training academy known as Super Capers (get it, huh?). Although Ed lacks that "invincible profile" that traditional superheroes possess he does get to mingle with a bunch of rejected rescuers that do have some semblance of superhero ability.

Predictably, these supernatural saps are as dysfunctional as they are dynamic. Among Ed's superhero-in-training mates are the Superman-esque spokesman Will Powers (Ryan McPartlin), Ice Princess Felicia Freeze (Danielle Harris), telekinetic token Herbert Brainard (Samuel Lloyd) and Puffer Boy (Ray Griggs), a Nervous Nelly type that can turn into a blowfish. Together, this rag tag group must learn to conquer evil as they master their special skills.

Soon, the gifted goofy gang is required to go back in time to find some gold piece of sort. Thus, they travel on this bus as they venture into the past where the obligatory highjinks ensue. The plethora of corny jokes, disdaining puns, lightweight lampooning, synthetic over-the-top characterisations and sketchy pseudo-riotous bits, gimmicky cameos (yes, 60's TV icons Adam west/Batman and Lost in Space's and Petticoat Junction's June Lockhart make appearances)-all are jumbled together like some messy tossed salad.

Consequently, Super Capers is relentlessly reckless in its distracting dumbness. Griggs has no clear vision for the mangled mockery being perpetuated. Breezy and bone-headed, there is no rhyme or reason for this shameless sham of an interminable laugher. The worst offence about Super Capers is that it can't even be joyless in its sparseness on its own merit. Borrowing other material and the recycled gags that come with it is downright tacky and miscalculating.

The question remains as follows: will there be any topical matter worth spoofing that knows no boundaries by stunted moviemaking Neanderthals? Well, there is always that little hobby of making tuna fish sandwiches while hanging upside down. At least this would have been a different kind of spoof that Griggs and cohorts couldn't corrupt too much with their comical carelessness.

Frank Ochieng

© Frank Ochieng 2009