The Return Of Captain Invincible

Rating:
Summary: SO bad, it's great
Review: Finally my own copy of this cult masterpiece.

Just for plain loopiness you must watch, if not own this. Christopher Lee sings! The humour is corney but good natured, an everyday story of good versus evil (I have sent back the morally repugnant, socially decrepit peoples back to the bowls of the Earth they came from - Congratulations Midnight you really are a genius (or something similar)

This is a classic

Magnet On........

Rating:
Summary: An Incredibly Strange Movie
Review: I can't imagine the meeting where this film was sold. I can't imagine what studio thought "The Return of Captain Invincible" was a great idea. Think about how writer/producer Andrew Gaty and his co-writer Stephen de Souza must have pitched it:

"It's a movie about a superhero, but he's not a superhero any more. You see, his career was ruined by the McCarthy Communist witch hunts so he becomes a drunk and winds up in Australia. But it's a comedy because NO ONE takes superheroes seriously. And it stars Alan Arkin as the drunk superhero and Christopher Lee as the villain. AND it's a musical! With three songs by Richard O'Brien and Richard Hartley who wrote 'The Rocky Horror Show.'"

Who thought this was a great idea?

This movie, along with "The Pirate Movie", goes a long way to convincing me that Australians shouldn't make musicals.

Having said all that, and with the understood proviso that this is NOT A GOOD MOVIE by any means, this is an ENTERTAINING movie. It's the kind of movie that you want to show your friends to watch their reactions--especially if you don't tell them anything about it before hand. For example, the first song, with a stirring thirty second refrain of "Bullsh*t" that starts it, comes twenty minutes into the movie. Talk about surreal. If you had no prior clue that there was singing and dancing in the movie, you'd think that you were just watching a movie trying to be a campy superhero comedy. The song just knocks you for a loop. But the highlights have to be the VERY VERY strange musical numbers featuring Christopher Lee. On DVD, you can isolate these moments and share them with your friends without having to endure the movie that surrounds them.

I saw the movie first in its original VHS release. I can't say that I liked it, but it was memorable. I bought the DVD because of my memories of the Christopher Lee songs. They don't get much weirder than the climactic "Name Your Poison" number. The DVD pressing has no extra features and the screen aspect ratio is wrong. Even though the movie has been letterboxed and the transfer overseen by director Philippe Mora (Howlings II and III), the images are cut off to the left and the right. The end credits can not be read as they are chopped in half on the left hand side of the screen. It looks like the film was shot in 70mm but given a 35mm transfer. This causes some of Mora's compositions to suffer as he did put performers on opposite sides of the frame and in several cases, they are completely offscreen or cut in half in this transfer.

The script was co-written by Stephen de Souza (Die Hards 1 and 2, "48 Hours", "The Spirit" tv movie) tries to be funny. It misses the mark most of the time. It's hard to make camp work. You either have to be extremely outrageous (a la "Airplane!" or "The Naked Gun") or play it so seriously that the absudity becomes funny (the "Batman" TV show of the 60s). de Souza, who has admitted that he doesn't think people can take superheroes seriously, fails in making it work on either level. (Strangely enough, I kinda liked his script for "The Spirit." It was flawed, but seemed to have more affection for the material than his "Captain Invincible" screenplay.) The other writer was the film's producer, Andrew Gaty.

The songs are a mixed bag. The three by O'Brien and Hartley show some genuine wit (which should come as no surprise) and seem to have more in common in terms of style and tone with their score for "Shock Treatment" than "Rocky Horror." The other songs are mostly forgettable. I've seent he movie twice int he past week and I can't recall any of the music outside of the riotously absurd "Name Your Poison" number. The only other song to make an impact is Alan Arkin's heroes and villains number. I liked the lyrics, but the music (a country twang number) doesn't stick with me.

Each time I watched the movie, I couldn't help thinking "What a strange movie" every few minutes. It just gets weirder and weirder as it goes along. It's full of odd ideas and visuals, but most of them don't add up to anything. Just what is Julius (Mr. Midnight's sidekick)? If you think to hard about all the dangling elements and unanswered questions, you'll get a headache!

Bottom line: this is a great movie to watch with friends if you're looking for something to laugh at and be appalled by. Put this on a menu with "Buckaroo Banzai" and "Killer Klowns from Outer Space" for good mindless fun.

(C)2002 Joe Edkin

Rating:
Summary: An Incredibly Strange Movie
Review: I can't imagine the meeting where this film was sold. I can't imagine what studio thought "The Return of Captain Invincible" was a great idea. Think about how writer/producer Andrew Gaty and his co-writer Stephen de Souza must have pitched it:

"It's a movie about a superhero, but he's not a superhero any more. You see, his career was ruined by the McCarthy Communist witch hunts so he becomes a drunk and winds up in Australia. But it's a comedy because NO ONE takes superheroes seriously. And it stars Alan Arkin as the drunk superhero and Christopher Lee as the villain. AND it's a musical! With three songs by Richard O'Brien and Richard Hartley who wrote 'The Rocky Horror Show.'"

Who thought this was a great idea?

This movie, along with "The Pirate Movie", goes a long way to convincing me that Australians shouldn't make musicals.

Having said all that, and with the understood proviso that this is NOT A GOOD MOVIE by any means, this is an ENTERTAINING movie. It's the kind of movie that you want to show your friends to watch their reactions--especially if you don't tell them anything about it before hand. For example, the first song, with a stirring thirty second refrain of "Bullsh*t" that starts it, comes twenty minutes into the movie. Talk about surreal. If you had no prior clue that there was singing and dancing in the movie, you'd think that you were just watching a movie trying to be a campy superhero comedy. The song just knocks you for a loop. But the highlights have to be the VERY VERY strange musical numbers featuring Christopher Lee. On DVD, you can isolate these moments and share them with your friends without having to endure the movie that surrounds them.

I saw the movie first in its original VHS release. I can't say that I liked it, but it was memorable. I bought the DVD because of my memories of the Christopher Lee songs. They don't get much weirder than the climactic "Name Your Poison" number. The DVD pressing has no extra features and the screen aspect ratio is wrong. Even though the movie has been letterboxed and the transfer overseen by director Philippe Mora (Howlings II and III), the images are cut off to the left and the right. The end credits can not be read as they are chopped in half on the left hand side of the screen. It looks like the film was shot in 70mm but given a 35mm transfer. This causes some of Mora's compositions to suffer as he did put performers on opposite sides of the frame and in several cases, they are completely offscreen or cut in half in this transfer.

The script was co-written by Stephen de Souza (Die Hards 1 and 2, "48 Hours", "The Spirit" tv movie) tries to be funny. It misses the mark most of the time. It's hard to make camp work. You either have to be extremely outrageous (a la "Airplane!" or "The Naked Gun") or play it so seriously that the absudity becomes funny (the "Batman" TV show of the 60s). de Souza, who has admitted that he doesn't think people can take superheroes seriously, fails in making it work on either level. (Strangely enough, I kinda liked his script for "The Spirit." It was flawed, but seemed to have more affection for the material than his "Captain Invincible" screenplay.) The other writer was the film's producer, Andrew Gaty.

The songs are a mixed bag. The three by O'Brien and Hartley show some genuine wit (which should come as no surprise) and seem to have more in common in terms of style and tone with their score for "Shock Treatment" than "Rocky Horror." The other songs are mostly forgettable. I've seent he movie twice int he past week and I can't recall any of the music outside of the riotously absurd "Name Your Poison" number. The only other song to make an impact is Alan Arkin's heroes and villains number. I liked the lyrics, but the music (a country twang number) doesn't stick with me.

Each time I watched the movie, I couldn't help thinking "What a strange movie" every few minutes. It just gets weirder and weirder as it goes along. It's full of odd ideas and visuals, but most of them don't add up to anything. Just what is Julius (Mr. Midnight's sidekick)? If you think to hard about all the dangling elements and unanswered questions, you'll get a headache!

Bottom line: this is a great movie to watch with friends if you're looking for something to laugh at and be appalled by. Put this on a menu with "Buckaroo Banzai" and "Killer Klowns from Outer Space" for good mindless fun.

(C)2002 Joe Edkin

Rating:
Summary: An Incredibly Strange Movie
Review: I can't imagine the meeting where this film was sold. I can't imagine what studio thought "The Return of Captain Invincible" was a great idea. Think about how writer/producer Andrew Gaty and his co-writer Stephen de Souza must have pitched it:

"It's a movie about a superhero, but he's not a superhero any more. You see, his career was ruined by the McCarthy Communist witch hunts so he becomes a drunk and winds up in Australia. But it's a comedy because NO ONE takes superheroes seriously. And it stars Alan Arkin as the drunk superhero and Christopher Lee as the villain. AND it's a musical! With three songs by Richard O'Brien and Richard Hartley who wrote 'The Rocky Horror Show.'"

Who thought this was a great idea?

This movie, along with "The Pirate Movie", goes a long way to convincing me that Australians shouldn't make musicals.

Having said all that, and with the understood proviso that this is NOT A GOOD MOVIE by any means, this is an ENTERTAINING movie. It's the kind of movie that you want to show your friends to watch their reactions--especially if you don't tell them anything about it before hand. For example, the first song, with a stirring thirty second refrain of "Bullsh*t" that starts it, comes twenty minutes into the movie. Talk about surreal. If you had no prior clue that there was singing and dancing in the movie, you'd think that you were just watching a movie trying to be a campy superhero comedy. The song just knocks you for a loop. But the highlights have to be the VERY VERY strange musical numbers featuring Christopher Lee. On DVD, you can isolate these moments and share them with your friends without having to endure the movie that surrounds them.

I saw the movie first in its original VHS release. I can't say that I liked it, but it was memorable. I bought the DVD because of my memories of the Christopher Lee songs. They don't get much weirder than the climactic "Name Your Poison" number. The DVD pressing has no extra features and the screen aspect ratio is wrong. Even though the movie has been letterboxed and the transfer overseen by director Philippe Mora (Howlings II and III), the images are cut off to the left and the right. The end credits can not be read as they are chopped in half on the left hand side of the screen. It looks like the film was shot in 70mm but given a 35mm transfer. This causes some of Mora's compositions to suffer as he did put performers on opposite sides of the frame and in several cases, they are completely offscreen or cut in half in this transfer.

The script was co-written by Stephen de Souza (Die Hards 1 and 2, "48 Hours", "The Spirit" tv movie) tries to be funny. It misses the mark most of the time. It's hard to make camp work. You either have to be extremely outrageous (a la "Airplane!" or "The Naked Gun") or play it so seriously that the absudity becomes funny (the "Batman" TV show of the 60s). de Souza, who has admitted that he doesn't think people can take superheroes seriously, fails in making it work on either level. (Strangely enough, I kinda liked his script for "The Spirit." It was flawed, but seemed to have more affection for the material than his "Captain Invincible" screenplay.) The other writer was the film's producer, Andrew Gaty.

The songs are a mixed bag. The three by O'Brien and Hartley show some genuine wit (which should come as no surprise) and seem to have more in common in terms of style and tone with their score for "Shock Treatment" than "Rocky Horror." The other songs are mostly forgettable. I've seent he movie twice int he past week and I can't recall any of the music outside of the riotously absurd "Name Your Poison" number. The only other song to make an impact is Alan Arkin's heroes and villains number. I liked the lyrics, but the music (a country twang number) doesn't stick with me.

Each time I watched the movie, I couldn't help thinking "What a strange movie" every few minutes. It just gets weirder and weirder as it goes along. It's full of odd ideas and visuals, but most of them don't add up to anything. Just what is Julius (Mr. Midnight's sidekick)? If you think to hard about all the dangling elements and unanswered questions, you'll get a headache!

Bottom line: this is a great movie to watch with friends if you're looking for something to laugh at and be appalled by. Put this on a menu with "Buckaroo Banzai" and "Killer Klowns from Outer Space" for good mindless fun.

(C)2002 Joe Edkin

Rating:
Summary: Great concept. Poor execution. But not poor enough.
Review: There's a fine line between unintentionally hilarious and unintentionally unfunny. This movie straddles that line and falls. It mostly falls on the latter side. The unfunny one. Sure, Alan Arkin as an alcoholic super-hero is a great concept and there are some laugh-out-loud scenes, but it all wears thin within 15 minutes. The songs are all groan-worthy. (The "B.S." song doesn't even really qualify as a song. And I think Klaus Nomi is a genius!) Even Richard O'Brien's contributions are sub-par by RHPS standards.

I'd advise you to rent this before you buy it, even if you're the sort of person who belly-laughs at Ed Wood and finds the Phantom of the Paradise endlessly re-watchable. Too bad it's very unlikely you'll find a video store renting it. Maybe you can just borrow mine if you live near San Francisco.

Oh well.

Rating:
Summary: I might be old fashioned, but this is a damn good film
Review: This film has everything, attractive women without much on, an amusing plot, killer vacuums, hypnotic weapons, super heroes with faulty super powers and Christopher Lee singing some of the catchiest songs around. What more could one man ask for. Well this to have been re-released years ago, and Going Under on DVD as well, but lets not be greedy.
The basic plot (which I'm not going to go into too deeply) revolves around my childhood hero, a certain Mr Evil Midnight, and his plans to become the American President by appealing to the white Anglo-Saxon majority (Or at least they will be in the majority once his cunning, but perhaps slightly racist, evil plan is carried out) The only thing standing in his way is a drunken wreck of a super hero and a mildly attractive Australian Police Person. Armed only with their skills and integrity they attempt to stop the Evil one's plans and make the world a better place.
Shame, I kind of like the idea of a genius being elected to the Oval Office instead of the usual people who get in, but maybe that's just because I'm English.
But in conclusion, this film will make you laugh, and if it doesn't it might just make you smile. Well if you've got a sense of humour that is.