The Ultimate 911

Rating: 5/10 (30 April 2012)

This film is based on the American comic book characters. Comic books aren't particularly American, the special thing about American comic book characters is their nature of fighting for justice etc.
Hence this film is about comic book characters rescuing the world. Needless to say, although the parallels to 911 are obvious - the film does not allow itself to be critical of politics and government; it blames "human nature".
So the film ends up with that old, perennial mistake which all so-called pragmatists commit - the ends justifies the means, instead of starting as you intend to continue, or as Ghandi said, the means define the end.
The use of comic book super-hero characters, not surprisingly, produces very flat characters. The photography is stark, dull, dark as we know from Batman films and washed out in day time scenes. There is nothing pleasing about either.
The music consists of old pop songs which perversely do not fit in with the particular époque of the scene - though the songs, and their words, are interesting and sometimes fit in with the scene.
The film is gloomy. The subplot leading to the main plot is - who is murdering our super-hero comic book characters? - The film in untangling this subplot shows the comic characters with all their frailties.
Why watch the film then? Because it sets one thinking about how much we are manipulated by people claiming ideals for doing bad things, how "ideal" people are just plain people with their quota of desires and character flaws. The people we are referring to not being the "baddies", but those we are told are the "goodies": "our" side.
The film could have been radical in both its message, style and photography - how would Jean-Luc Godard have dealt with this theme using the comic book concept? It certainly would have been amusing. There is no humour or twinkling of the eye in this film - it is as depressing as the exploitation of 911 was. Doom and gloom.