Superhero Movies and Metal Man (2008)

There are no fewer than four superhero movies being released to theaters this year.  Some have already been released, and some are still to come.  Captain America: Winter Soldier, The Amazing Spider-Man 2, X-Men: Days of Future Past, and Guardians of the Galaxy have been some of the most anticipated movies as this summer blockbuster season began.  The public interest in these superhero flicks has been around since the seventies, come to the forefront with the turn of the millennium, and blown right open since 2008’s release of Iron Man.  That movie began the Marvel Cinematic Universe and people went from liking the singular films to loving the world connected between many different series.  It seems only fitting that I would end up covering an Iron Man knock-off for the Sunday “Bad” Movies.

That movie was 2008’s Iron Man knock-off titled Metal Man.  Ron Karkoska’s directorial debut told the story of Kyle (Sam Hoffmire), a man trapped in a metal suit.  He uses the powers that come with the suit and the help of Dr. Arthur Blake (Reggie Bannister) to stop Sebastian (P. David Miller)’s plan to use the suit for evil.  This is a lot of repeating the word suit.  It’s a low-budget movie that aims to be a decent quality knock-off film.

Metal Man got me to thinking about what makes a good superhero movie and what makes a bad superhero movie.  Why is Iron Man successful while Iron Man 2 isn’t?  How come The Dark Knight is so beloved while Batman and Robin is ridiculed?  Where does Metal Man fit into all of this?  I decided to look at the different components that shape superhero movies and franchises to find out what can strengthen or weaken the movies.  So here comes my amateur and entirely unreliable breakdown of superhero movies.

Origin

Where a superhero comes from is as important as what a superhero does to save people.  Their past has a huge influence upon their present and future.  Not only does the incident in which they found/created their power matter, but any events that had a large impact upon their life may have turned them to the side of good rather than evil.  They are the hero that they are for a reason.  That is why the origin is an important part of any superhero movie/franchise.

The Good: An important part of Spider-Man being who he is comes from his origin.  In Sam Raimi’s Spider-Man series, Peter Parker is bitten by a spider, discovers his special abilities, and uses the newfound powers to help rid New York of crime.  This might seem like a simple origin but there is a little more to it.  Peter’s Uncle Ben is murdered during a carjacking and tells Peter that “with great power comes great responsibility.”  This phrase resonates with both Peter and the audience.  Following the vengeful defeat of his uncle’s slayer, Peter transforms into one of New York’s greatest crime fighters.  Having the Uncle Ben death helps to make the transformation more satisfying.  He is driven to be honorable and heroic by the death of his uncle.  Thanks to Uncle Ben, Spider-Man works to stop anyone else from suffering a similar loss in their lives.

The Bad: Whereas Peter Parker felt a sense of responsibility to use his powers for good, the hero of Metal Man was only in the crime fighting for revenge.  His mentor had put him in the suit shortly before being killed.  Then Kyle’s family was killed by the same man.  Finally, the girl that he had a crush on was taken hostage.  He did not become a hero out of any sense of obligation to saving the general population.  Kyle became a hero because he was forced into the suit and the people he cared about were being targeted.  The problem with this origin is that there is no moral satisfaction in stopping the villain.  There is also no reason for the hero to continue fighting crime once the villain is defeated.  This kind of an origin takes the hero out of the term superhero.  He’s just an angry guy with powers.

Costume

Movies are a visual medium, as are comic books.  That is why it is important for a superhero’s costume to look good.  It has to be pleasant on the eyes while at the same time being practical for crime fighting.  As The Incredibles shows, you don’t want a cape if you are doing something near a plane.  A superhero is as limited by his or her costume as he or she is enhanced by it.

The Good: Avoiding the obvious in Batman, let’s look at the movie Captain America: The First Avenger.  Visually, the costume that Steve Rogers is given fits the propaganda style of the character like a hand into a glove of the right size.  It complements the 1940s setting of the film, not standing out at all.  The costume has no flair to it that would make it unmanageable while fighting evil.  It truly is the perfect costume for the 40s era Captain America.

The Bad: The idea behind the suits used in movies such as Iron Man and Metal Man is a solid one.  A suit of armor is used to allow the hero to obtain certain powerful characteristics.  This does not mean that the suit in Metal Man is flawless.  There are some major drawbacks to the suit, first and foremost being that the helmet can never be removed.  Kyle must always be wearing the helmet.  How will he eat if the Metal Man helmet is always on him?  There is a liquid fuel that powers the suit and fuels him, but what about when that supply runs out?  There is also the problem of the suit malfunctioning.  If the helmet were to break down, he would be trapped in a possibly immobile suit and die because he couldn’t move.  The man who created the suit is dead so he would not be able to get any outside help.  These are problems in the costuming area of Metal Man.

Villains

A big part of enjoying a superhero on screen is watching their struggle against a worthy opponent.  A formidable villain knows where to strike to take down a hero.  They build up a threat that has high stakes for both the hero and the general population, and will take a lot to overcome.  Most of all, a good villain is memorable and a really menacing figure.  They make trouble on a big scale and often use the hero as a means to their ultimate end goal.

The Good: The reason that I didn’t use Batman as the example of a good suit is because I wanted to save The Dark Knight for an example of a good villain.  By that, I mean Joker in the 2008 film.  Batman is a vigilante that stands for justice and values life.  With Joker comes chaos and death.  He is everything that Batman is not.  However, he is not just a good villain for being the antithesis of the caped crusader.  He also brings down Harvey Dent, Gotham’s symbol of good, and leads him to become Two-Face.  This is done through leading and persuading Batman’s actions.  Add to all this that Joker looks unique and is given great dialogue to play with, and you have one of the most captivating, memorable superhero movie villains to date.

The Bad: And we’re back to Metal Man again.  Do you know what the name of the villain is?  Neither do I and I watched it.  I also wrote his name at the beginning of the post.  I have to look up all of the characters’ names in order to write this post.  I don’t even know what the villain’s ultimate plan was.  He wanted the metal helmet so that he could do bad things with it.  I can’t remember if he said why, but that doesn’t matter.  Is the villain as strong as Metal Man?  No.  Can he outwit Metal Man?  No.  The only thing that the bad guy has going for him is that he knows who Metal Man cares about and he can threaten them.  There is nothing to get out of a villain like that in a superhero movie since he is so overpowered by the hero in every aspect.

Different Subgenres

As the popularity of superhero movies has grown, the movies have adapted themselves into differing subgenres in order to stand out.  This technique has helped to alleviate most instances of repetition by bringing something new to a concept that lends itself to repeated storylines.  Instead of having simple action-filled hero versus villain battles, there is a depth injected into the story, making it feel fresh.

The Good: For this part of superhero movies, we turn to Iron Man Three.  Like any superhero movie, it is primarily an action flick.  But there is more to the movie than that.  Iron Man Three has a lot of buddy movie influence to it.  A large portion of that is thanks to Shane Black who wrote and directed it.  The relationship between Tony Stark and James Rhodes pops in a way it had not in the previous two installments.  It even manages to have Tony working with a child for a large portion and make them play off of each other like a classic 80s buddy movie.  The third movie in a series hardly ever feels this fresh.

The Bad: The counterpoint to Iron Man Three is Metal Man, which is as straight-forward as a superhero movie can be.  Kyle becomes Metal Man, and takes down the people who want to use him for evil.  It doesn’t move out of the standard superhero format to try anything new.  Instead, it has an origin, then has the bad guy targeting the good guy and the good guy trying to stop the bad guy.  Some action scenes are thrown in.  It doesn’t try anything different than the numerous other superhero movies that are out there to watch.

The Actors

The single most important part of adapting a superhero film is to find an actor that can embody the character.  The actor should be able to portray the character and their alter ego (if there is one) equally well.  There should be a feeling that the character must be played by that person.  The adaptation would seem wrong if somebody else was in their shoes.  And the performance should be good.

The Good: The most standout example of casting the perfect actor for a superhero is Christopher Reeve in the Superman movies.  He WAS Superman.  He was able to portray the Clark Kent side of the character just as well.  In the years since, Brandon Routh, Tom Welling, and Henry Cavill have all played the same character, but none captured the hearts of the general public in quite the same way.  There is no real disrespect to the other actors by anyone.  It’s just a case of Reeve’s performance being magical and THE definitive version of the character on screen.  Nobody has been able to top his performance.

The Bad: This is another instance in which Metal Man fails to stand up under scrutiny.  The acting in the movie is not particularly good.  Reggie Bannister is the only person who puts in a memorable performance.  He is not Metal Man.  Metal Man is played by Sam Hoffmire, who gives no weight to his acting.  He seems like someone that the director pulled off the street to fill a role that had not yet been cast.  He was forgettable and could have been replaced altogether without it hurting the character.

 

All of these different aspects help to make superhero movies into the fun blockbuster films that they are.  They aren’t the only reasons that people love the movies, but these details were a big part of it.  Metal Man is missing many of the qualities that make a great superhero movie.  That left it lacking in any real thrills.  There is potential in a knock-off movie to make some enjoyable output.  Sadly, it didn’t happen with Metal Man.

I know this is a long post, but there are some notes to put in here as well:

• One superhero movie was previously covered.  It was Superbabies.
• There are a lot of knock-offs that have been included in the Sunday “Bad” Movies.  Tappy Toes, A Car’s Life, Snakes on a Train, Paranormal Entity, Nazis at the Center of the Earth, and Hansel & Gretel Get Baked.
• Metal Man was suggested by @J0shArcher.
• If you want to see a movie get watched of the Sunday “Bad” Movies, feel free to suggest it in the comments or to me on Twitter.