As an avid comic book fan, I was really looking forward to seeing this movie for a long time. Since it hardly ran in German theatres, I had to wait for the video release. But unfortunately, the film was not as good as I hoped it would be.
The main reason might be that the crazy comic cliches are only hinted at, but never really executed. There are these wonderfully silly characters - The Shoveler, Mr.Furious, the Spleen - but they never really get fully into action, neither are their "super-powers" really made fun of. There is this scene at the restaurant at the beginning when Shoveler and Blue Raja mock each other about their code names - this is the kind of humor I would have liked to see much more. Superhero cliches are a wonderful stuff to make fun of - sideswipes to real DC and Marvel superheros would have been easy, but unfortunately do not happen.
"Mystery Men" tries too much to be an action flick instead of highlighting the humor part. Simply putting silly characters into a story does not make it funny - the silly characters have to do more silly things, talk silly, act silly. Instead, the characters take themselves much too serious for guys who fight with shovels and forks. Therefore, this film is a lost chance. A pity.
The main reason might be that the crazy comic cliches are only hinted at, but never really executed. There are these wonderfully silly characters - The Shoveler, Mr.Furious, the Spleen - but they never really get fully into action, neither are their "super-powers" really made fun of. There is this scene at the restaurant at the beginning when Shoveler and Blue Raja mock each other about their code names - this is the kind of humor I would have liked to see much more. Superhero cliches are a wonderful stuff to make fun of - sideswipes to real DC and Marvel superheros would have been easy, but unfortunately do not happen.
"Mystery Men" tries too much to be an action flick instead of highlighting the humor part. Simply putting silly characters into a story does not make it funny - the silly characters have to do more silly things, talk silly, act silly. Instead, the characters take themselves much too serious for guys who fight with shovels and forks. Therefore, this film is a lost chance. A pity.