Defendor
| Movie | |
|---|---|
| German title | Defendor |
| Original title | Defendor |
 | |
| Country of production | Canada |
| original language | English |
| Publishing year | 2009 |
| length | 98 minutes |
| Age rating | FSK 12 |
| Rod | |
| Director | Peter Stebbings |
| script | Peter Stebbings |
| production | Nicholas Tabarrok |
| music | John Rowley |
| camera | David Greene |
| cut | Geoff Ashenhurst |
| occupation | |
| |
Defendor is a Canadian superhero - tragicomedy from the year 2009 . Directed by Peter Stebbings , who also wrote the script . The independent film with Woody Harrelson in the lead role tells of an ordinary, but mentally retarded construction site worker who at night assumes the identity of a real life superhero named "Defendor" in order to fight the crime. Defendor had its world premiere at the Toronto International Film Festival in September 2009. The film was released directly on DVD in Germany on May 20, 2010 .
action
While preparing a psychological report , Arthur Poppington tells the psychologist Dr. Park fighting against evil as the superhero "Defendor". Since he has no super powers, he uses a trench club, marbles, a slingshot and wasps. His archenemy is "Captain Industry", who supplied his mother with drugs and thus killed. A flashback shows that as a child Arthur misunderstood his grandfather, who never spoke of a specific individual.
One night Arthur meets the drug addict prostitute Kat as Defendor. She gives him the idea that the Serbian mafia boss Radovan Kristic is Captain Industry. Kristic is a drug, gun and people smuggler who has relationships with the corrupt cop Dooney. Kat was Kristic's favorite girl "for half an hour", now she is under Dooney's "protection". In the fight against Kristic (for Arthur Captain Industry) and Dooney, Arthur soon had minor successes. So he learned that a delivery of weapons should arrive at the ship dock in three weeks. Eventually, however, he is discovered while being shaded, beaten up and has to be hospitalized. While he seems to be sleeping there, Kat says goodbye to him. Before she leaves, she says that Kristic is a size too big for Defendor, that there are enough bad people out there and if he wants to vent his anger, then he can do the same with her father, who has abused her. Arthur, who overheard everything, then goes to Kat's father, beats him up and puts him in a garbage can. He is then arrested. In court he shows himself unreasonable. Only when his foreman Paul thinks Arthur is a crazy, naive man who is on the road as a superhero, the hearing is adjourned so that a psychological opinion can be drawn up. This certifies Arthur, among other things, depression, the inability to foresee the consequences, a lack of common sense and social immaturity.
In the meantime, the superhero Defendor becomes the cover story in the media and the question is raised whether a self-proclaimed superhero is good for the city. The judge lets Arthur decide on the basis of the report: Either he stops practicing vigilante justice as a Defendor and from now on lives with Paul, with whom Arthur is on friendly terms, or he goes to jail. With a heavy heart he gives up his superheroism. Shortly afterwards he receives the threat that Kat has been kidnapped and that she would die if he spoke. This moves him to become active again as Defendor and to save her. Kat manages to free herself by shooting Sergeant Dooney between the legs with his gun. Defendor then informed the police that the weapons delivery should arrive at the ship docks at night. Since he is not taken seriously, he drives to the docks himself, but lays a trail with magnesium torches for the police. When he finally fights against his archenemy Captain Industry (Kristic), he is shot by him. While he is dying, Kat comes to him. She vows to quit drugs, find a real job, and buy a typewriter.
The police manage to arrest Radovan Kristic and Sergeant Dooney. The press then reported that Dooney was sentenced to 26 years in prison and that Serbian mafia boss Radovan Kristic was extradited from The Hague . Defendor is posthumously made a hero, and people lay wreaths of flowers at a memorial site, which his psychologist also comes to. With Defender's work, people have the courage to defend themselves against crimes again. Kat, who wanted to become a writer when she was a schoolgirl, writes about Defendor for the local newspaper and has apparently broken away from the crack .
background
Defendor is Peter Stebbing's screenplay and directorial debut . He wrote the first draft of the script in 2005. At first he tried unsuccessfully to sell the script to various large Hollywood studios. While the studios didn't want to shoot the film because it didn't fit into a clear genre, the actors were thrilled with the film. Nicholas Tabarrok of the Independent - film production company Darius film finally took care of the financing of the project, part of the approximately 4 million was US dollars expensive film from the Canadian film subsidies financed. Since there was still a lack of finances, the shooting was finally postponed to January 2009. The film was shot over 20 days, in and around Toronto and Hamilton , Ontario .
After the film was completed, Sony Pictures secured distribution rights in the United States and in large parts of Europe , Asia and South America . Sony Pictures decided, however, not to bring the film into the US cinemas, so that the film producers at Darius Films carried out the distribution in the US cinemas themselves. The distribution rights in Canada went to Alliance Entertainment under an agreement to finance the film . In Germany , the Sony Pictures film was released directly on DVD on May 20, 2010 . On January 21, 2012, the film had its free TV premiere in Germany on ProSieben .
Reviews
Defendor received mediocre to good reviews, which mainly brought Woody Harrelson's portrayal to the fore.
“Woody Harrelson gives the dumb comic fan who wants to avenge his mother's drug death on the fantasy figure 'Captain Industry' a lot of dignity. [...] But with all the positive things that can be reported about Defendor, two things stand out negatively: The somewhat too simple plot and the sometimes too slow pace. The film is enriched with western motifs, especially through its score, but the confrontations between good and bad are comparatively sparse, albeit seemingly realistic. The small budget of $ 3.5 million could play a decisive role in this. […] Nevertheless: Defendor is a film that brings a breath of fresh air into the genre and, in addition to some absurd humor, finally asks and answers the question of the psychological constitution and the sanity of the vigilante hero. A question that Tony Stark would have to put up with at some point. "
“Defendor is not a comedy, but it still has some nice grins in it. The developed drama is just as convincing as the acting actors. With Defendor, a special film comes to us that will disappoint the popcorn-eating superhero fan. But if you expect more than just action and special effects, you could have a good experience here. "
“'Defendor' balances on a fine line between pitch-black comedy that almost lets a lovable hero die over and over again, and drama that thematizes a mentally retarded normal who thinks he is a superhero. It is this indecision that makes 'Defendor' an interesting but not necessarily worth seeing film. Because to really convince, the film is on the one hand not funny enough and on the other it remains too superficial. "
Cinema describes the film as a superhero grotesque, in which Forrest Gump plays Batman. Thanks to the "touching appearance of Woody Harrelson" you have to like the hero.
Web links
- Defendor in the Internet Movie Database (English)
- Official site (English)
- Defendor's review of reviews in the Internet Movie Database
- Defendor at Metacritic (English)
- Defendor at Rotten Tomatoes (English)
Individual evidence
- ↑ Release certificate for Defendor . Voluntary self-regulation of the film industry , February 2010 (PDF; test number: 121 530 V).
- ^ Greg Quill: Peter Stebbings: Pushing himself to make changes . In: thestar.de . Toronto Star . January 10, 2009. Retrieved April 24, 2012.
- ↑ John McCrank: Woody Harrelson puts new spin on movie superhero . Reuters . September 12, 2009. Retrieved April 24, 2012.
- ↑ Peter Stebbings in the DVD commentary
- ^ Lutz Granert: Defendor - film, cinema, DVD . In: moviemaze.de . MovieMaze.de. Retrieved April 24, 2012.
- ↑ muri: Defendor (2009) Review: DVD . In: outnow.ch . OutNow.CH. May 16, 2010. Retrieved April 24, 2012.
- ^ René Loch: Defendor . In: filmszene.de . Filmszene.de. Retrieved April 24, 2012.
- ↑ Defendor - Film . In: cinema.de . Cinema . Retrieved April 24, 2012.