I suppose to some degree this movie was meant to be subversive. An all-American, golden-age super hero named Captain Invincible (think Superman) is called out of retirement to help the United States government on a mission to defeat his arch nemesis, Mr. Midnight. Unfortunately, Invincible is an old, washed up alcoholic that's forgotten how to use his powers.
He swears! He drinks! There's sexual innuendo! He laments, constantly, all the time, about how things "used to be better back in his day" in such a way that makes me think he yearns for the days where he could be openly racist. There's even a gender politics joke that despite being written in 1983 feels like it was said in 2023, where Captain Invincible is exhausted by the idea he can't say "police woman" anymore and instead has to say "police person." Some things never change, I guess.
A few jokes do, in fact, land. There's a pie fight in a deli that ends up pretty fun, with a good punchline to boot. It's nice to see Christopher Lee as Mr. Midnight, and he indulges in as much theatricality as he can muster, rolling his R's with the best of them. There is some fun to be had.
But it is the text book definition of "mid" otherwise. A curiosity.
He swears! He drinks! There's sexual innuendo! He laments, constantly, all the time, about how things "used to be better back in his day" in such a way that makes me think he yearns for the days where he could be openly racist. There's even a gender politics joke that despite being written in 1983 feels like it was said in 2023, where Captain Invincible is exhausted by the idea he can't say "police woman" anymore and instead has to say "police person." Some things never change, I guess.
A few jokes do, in fact, land. There's a pie fight in a deli that ends up pretty fun, with a good punchline to boot. It's nice to see Christopher Lee as Mr. Midnight, and he indulges in as much theatricality as he can muster, rolling his R's with the best of them. There is some fun to be had.
But it is the text book definition of "mid" otherwise. A curiosity.