The Specials (2000)

Every popular film genre has to have its parodies. In recent years the comic book superhero film has produced numerous blockbusters so it is inevitable that there must also be parodies of superhero films. “Mystery Men” is probably the most famous, but it isn’t as good as this undeservedly obscure film.

‘The Specials’ are a league of superheros who protect the world from evil, fight crime and do all the normal superhero things. They are in general a second-rate bunch of superheros with some eccentric powers and not as famous as other groups who better powers and – more importantly, more lucrative merchandising contracts. They are led by The Strobe (Thomas Haden Church) a humourless leader prone to long-winded speeches who is unaware that his wife Ms Indestructible (Paget Brewster) is having an affair with the group’s most popular member, The Weevil (Rob Lowe). Other heroes include the super-intelligent Mr Smart, dumb-but-strong U.S. Bill, teleporting Deadly Girl, shapeshifting Alien Orphan Doug, former villain Amok and egg-laying new recruit NightBird. As the group threatens to implode due to the various arguments among the member they must all ponder whether they really want to be part of ‘The Specials’.

Not much really happens in the plot, the film-makers probably didn’t have much of a budget so we don’t really get any fight scenes or action. Instead it is character focused, largely without obvious jokes and mostly relying on a witty script to deliver the humour. There are some brilliantly deadpan performances from the cast as they deliver the humorous dialogue and there some amusingly absurd situations.

The direction is uninspired and the sets are basic but such things aren’t really too important for such a film. The acting features some great comic performances and the characters generally end up being quite likeable.

In summary, The Specials is an amusing low budget film. Probably the comedy will not be to everyone’s tastes but it deserves to be more successful

Rating : 7 / 10

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All content ©2003 William Marnoch.

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