I just finished watching the movie Super starring Rainn Wilson and Ellen Page, and it was so mind-shockingly amazing that I just have to tell the world! As far as I can tell, this movie flew under the world’s radar with a weak April 3 opening on only 11 theaters (according to IMDB.com). It’s one of those independent films clearly riffing off of Kick-Ass, about a normal guy who dresses up as his own superhero to fight crime (among other agendas). But forget Kick-Ass, forget Defendor; Super is the new benchmark in awesomeness!

All thanks to Ellen Page as the ballsiest, most badass kid sidekick ever!

Though Rainn Wilson definitely gets some credit as the hero, Crimson Bolt. But once Boltie arrives on screen, the movie is taken to a whole new level.

She loves her costume; she made it herself

I don’t want to spoil too much of this movie because there are a lot of surprises and shocking moments that need to be seen to be believed. And I hope some of you rush right out and rent or stream this movie immediately after reading my review. You should, it’s that damn good. Like those other movies, Super treats the idea of a normal guy dressing up in a tight costume to fight crime seriously. This may be a dark comedy, if even a comedy, but the idea itself isn’t mocked or laughed at. This isn’t campy, it’s crazy. There are real questions of insanity and people off their nut in this film. Those ideas aren’t explored too deeply by the film itself, but you know that you’re not watching the boy scout Superman here. You’re  watching crazy people do crazy things in the name of good.

The story is about Frank D’Arbo, played by Rainn Wilson, of The Office. He’s happily married, but his former-addict wife has started getting back into drugs and hanging out with the wrong people. Frank finds himself unable to stop it until it’s too late, and his wife Sarah, played by Liv Tyler, runs off into the arms of Jacques, played by Kevin Bacon. That guy has enjoyed a summer of playing comic book super-villains, it seems. Anyway, Frank storms after Jacques like a man in love, and we learn that Sarah may be a little too coked out to really know what she’s doing or where she even is. But Jacques has the goons and the power, so Frank can’t get near his wife.

So obviously he becomes a superhero.

The Crimson Bolt!

The idea comes to him through several different sources: visions from God, a religious TV show about a campy, Christian-themed superhero and the comic book knowledge of local comic store employee Libby (Ellen Page).  Frank makes his own costume and takes it out for a test run, hiding behind dumpsters until he sees a drug deal going down. He then just straight up tackles the dealer and tries to wrestle with him, but the dealer gets up, fights back with a trash can lid and Frank runs off. He goes to Libby for help and information about superheroes without powers who use weapons. She fills him on on Batman, Green Arrow and more, and so Frank decides to start smacking people in the head with a big monkey wrench.

Wrench!

One hilarious montage later, and Crimson Bolt is all over the news for beating up drug dealers, child molesters, purse snatchers and more. The cops don’t like him, of course, but the public has started to like him. Frank tries to go after Jacques and his goons, but they have guns. They recognize him and chase him off. He needs help, so he turns to Libby, who just so happens to have figured out that the guy who came into her store asking about superheroes and weapons is the guy who is out in the street hitting people with a wrench! Libby has made her own costume and wants to help him. Frank is reluctant at first, but he eventually comes around.

And then the movie is kicked into a dark, hilariously brutal insane-o-fest the likes of which rarely grace the mainstream cinemas. If you thought the ending to Kick-Ass was awesome, then you will absolutely love the ending to Super, as Crimson Bolt and Boltie gear up to take on Jacques and his goons.  It’s amazingly gory and completely hardcore, but done in that OK Tarantino sort of way. Like how Inglourious Basterds was gory and hardcore, but not grotesquely so.

Ellen Page is amazing in this film. She was fun in Juno and cool in X-Men 3, but here she takes her adorable, petite personality and turns it up to 11. And it all comes out when she becomes Boltie.

Rainn Wilson has that effect on women

It’s part of that psychological drama I mentioned earlier. At the start of the movie, Libby is a friendly, nerdy sort of girl who really likes working in the comic book store. Once her eyes are opened to the ballsiness of the Crimson Bolt, let alone becomes Boltie, her world and her mind change. It’s like how Peter Parker becomes a jabbering, funny sort of quipster when he becomes Spider-Man. Libby becomes a psycho when she’s Boltie, and it’s brilliantly played by Page. She’s the best part of the movie. Her performance has to be seen to be truly enjoyed.

Rainn Wilson is also pretty darn fantastic. He’s best known, of course, as Dwight Schrute in The Office. And he’s great as Dwight. I’d always been a little worried that actors from The Office would never not be from The Office to me. Like seeing John Krasinski in a movie role. Wouldn’t it just be Jim on screen? Well Rainn Wilson definitely sheds the overpowering persona of Dwight, becoming this new character. It definitely doesn’t feel like it’s just Dwight dressed up as the Crimson Bolt. He’s loserishly charming, and I easily found myself rooting for the Crimson Bolt. Even when it seems like he’s just a crazy guy, he’s still sympathetic enough to be worthy of support.

So the two leads hit this one out of the park. Everyone else is pretty much just window dressing. Kevin Bacon stays supremely grounded as a drug-dealing kingpin, making sure the story stays as real as possible. This isn’t a superhero movie. It’s a crime movie, but one of the characters dresses up like a superhero.

Thankfully the costumes look great. They’re obviously cheaply made spandex, but the filmmakers wisely add enough seams, zippers, pads, bells and whistles to the Crimson Bolt that he doesn’t look like a loser in spandex. And Boltie’s more clean-cut costume just looks great, because spandex works on the ladies. They don’t look any more out of place than they’re supposed to. Hollywood has definitely learned an important lesson about superhero costumes over the years.

Go see Super. Right now! Seriously. The bar has been raised.