Joe Kucharski (joker-4) Hollywood has perhaps reached its saturation point with comic book and superhero movies with every film now becoming more of an event: a-list stars, groundbreaking f/x, tie-ins, lead-ins and hints at a larger universe packed with even more superheroes. Maybe it's time to take a step back. Show a real hero, totally DIY. Mike Barnett has attempted this.The WATCHMEN Blu-ray set contains a featurette interviewing "real life" superheroes. Mostly these were young men wearing bulky costumes of sewn together sports equipment and pronounced delusions of grandeur; although one interviewee was ex-military and simply patrolled as a concerned citizen in fatigues and a buzz cut. The HBO documentary SUPERHEROES amps this idea into a feature-length spectacle.Mike Barnett presents a typical day-in-the-life perspective of the non- typical man-in-tights. Or clunky plastic armor. With names, among others, like Mr. Xtreme, Zimmer and, ahem, Master Legend. Although their hearts are in the right place, a food-and-clothing drive conducted and distributed to and for the homeless of San Diego being a very worthy effort, their heads most definitely are not. Barnett shows these heroes as misguided - Mr. Xtreme possess no guide in life other than comicbooks, which he reads obsessively in his van – publicity-seeking – an unintentionally-hilarious Master Legend drinks and cavorts with college girls in that crime-ridden gotham of Orlando – or thrill-seeking – the NYC-based Zimmer who patrols dark streets just looking for a head to bash in. Unfortunately, Barnett's docu never presents a clear viewpoint. Are these losers real and sympathetic, slaves to a worthy ideal? Or are they to be mocked at? Severely. Throughout the film the viewer does both. But they shouldn't. At times, the film appears to be as just as a rambling mess as Mr. Xtreme on patrol: sometimes boring, at times embarrassingly cringe-worthy. Also unfortunately, the preventing of crimes, or exacting flying fists of justice as Zimmer so obviously wants, never occurs. Giant aliens don't attack. There are no criminal masterminds' plans to foil. Not even a simple grab-and-run from the local 7-Eleven. This exacerbates the question running through the whole film: so what?Hey, if anything, the film invites you to grab a drink with Master Legend. He has a Facebook page.

MartinHafer This is one of the strangest documentaries I've ever seen--though I still wondered as I watched it if perhaps this ISN'T a real documentary but a giant put-on. I did a bit of internet research and, yes, it DOES appear that these are real people! The film is about some VERY strange people who have created their own costumes and patrol city streets in the US and Canada as self-styled superheroes. At first, I thought they were all crazy. But, as I watched, I realized some were indeed very crazy (including the psychologist who seemed to think these folks were normal!) but some actually had some depth to them and contribute a lot to their communities. You'll see this in the second half of the film as many of them do a lot just to look out for folks in the neighborhood--helping the homeless, giving out toys to the underprivileged at Christmas and other community service activities. However, actually fighting crime and putting themselves into harm's way--that made me worry a lot about some of these folks.The film is, at times, inspiring and others very funny. One of the funniest moments was Vigilante Spider and his comment about girlfriend (29 minutes into film). Another was seeing Mr. Xtreme getting his butt kicked in a martial arts competition (as apparently he did NOT have superpowers when it came to fighting). And, I also had to laugh about Master Legend--apparently his superpowers needed to be recharged regularly with beer! Although these are very strange folks, provided they DON'T get themselves killed by taking the law into their own hands, they could be very much like the Guardian Angels...in funny costumes. Well worth seeing...and weird.

Raoul Duke So I watched HBO's 2011 documentary called superheroes. So was it good, I say up up and away (is that what superman used to say?) or in other words good. This documentary exposed me to a phenomena that I did not know existed, where people take the liking of superheroes way to far. Well that's not entirely true I saw a Mexican documentary a few years back, about Mexican wrestlers who were just people with a cause and a mask to draw attention to themselves called "super amigos", that was also very interesting and good. Basically this documentary is about a bunch of vigilantes most of whom are either out of shape, old, or drunks. There was a team out of New York which was actually composed of some very organized highly trained bad asses. But for the most part these are people with a super hero fetish who are just trying to do some good. My favorite line from the doc was when a super hero was describing his day it went as follows. "he's a regular guy who gets up,.... says goodbye to his girlfriend....., and goes out on the streets in costume." Then the documentarian asks "So you have a girlfriend?", and the super hero replies, "No ... I was just speaking metaphorically." I think that one line says it all, these guys are pretty freaking out there. However, they do good, they seem to help homeless people and shine a light on a common problem in this world, which is that most people turn a blind eye to injustice in this world including cops. So is this movie for everyone, well maybe some comic book geeks may be offended, but it has a good mix of entertainment value and educational value as well (it is a documentary after all). So mostpeople should find something to like about this flick I know I did. if you like concise reviews of interesting films please read my other reviews at http://raouldukeatthemovies.blogspot.com/

Danny Blankenship Just recently watched this HBO documentary titled properly "Superheroes" and oh boy it's neat and interesting to see just how far our love of comic books and superheroes has come. You guessed it real life ordinary people have resorted to dressing up as actual crime fighters and help the less blessed often giving food and shelters to the homeless at night. Really great access to this uncommon and feel good underworld as director Michael Barnett takes his projector all across America from coast to coast New York to California for a look at a group of unsung heroes who fight crime their own way it's really a good hearted style of vigilantism! True these fighters are not actual super people with powers like those in the comics, still they have enough determination and will to be a service to society. And true they are not law enforcement certified, yet they do a lot of good deeds and services that law enforcement does not as the film points in Orlando, Florida the police are wrongfully throwing the homeless in jail and always looking for petty little things to arrest people, yet these people of masks and caped crusaders and homemade costumes help those in need as many American cities are tired with police corruption. So we all need a new line of "Superheroes"! Overall nice little showcase by Michael Barnett I know it's unrealistic and far out still a select group of dreamers and hopeful people of good hearts rule the night in a city near you. Vigilantism needs to rock on!