The Specials (DVD)
Directed by: Craig Mazin
Written by: James Gunn
Starring: Rob Lowe, Jamie Kennedy, Thomas Haden Church

Just when I thought comic books had been completely “spoofed out”, along comes another wackysuperhero comedy that somehow manages to bring with it a unique and fresh experience.

Certainly, the world of comic books can be a pretty ridiculous one, and it doesn’t takea lot of talent to poke fun at it. Many comic book spoofs just come across as competitions to seewho can come up with the most bizarre superheroes and villains.Luckily, The Specials does not rely on easy jokes like these, and in fact, the actual super powers of each of the characters in the movie are pretty much irrelevant.To be honest, I couldn’t even tell you what half of their super powers were.It is the personalities and the acting that makes each character funny, not the schtick. For most of the movie, you aren’t even necessarilyaware that these characters are superheroes, and this, I think, is one of the movie’s greatest strengths, and also its main weakness.

Here is a basic run-down of the story:

The Specials are a ragtag team of superheroes, outcasts who couldn’t make the cut with other supergroups. They are filled with self-doubt and bitterness, as they struggle for validation in their lives. Led by The Great Strobe (a self-assured, Tick-esque personality played by Thomas Haden Church), and his wife Miss Indestructible (Paget Brewster), we follow them as they welcome young newcomer Nightbird to the team, and as Kosgrow Toys releases a toy line based on their likenesses. Amidst this high honour that is being bestowed upon the team, some personal issues threaten to break up the group. The Specials must learn to put aside their differences in order to do what’s right, and in order to continue on with their average, mundane second-string superhero lives.

Does this sound promising? Well, I have to say that I thought the movie was hilarious. It really took me by surprise. I wasn’t exactly dying with laughter for the whole movie, but a lot of the jokes were the kinds of things that tended to get funnier with repeat viewings.

Although The Specials obviously makes me think of both Mystery Men and The Tick on more than one occasion, it feels for the most part very different.

The Specials often goes for a gritty, realistic feel, where the superheroes swear, talk about sex, and bicker with each other. In this film, superhero teams operate like businesses, as they try to enhance their public image, avoid bad press, and recruit more popular heroes from other superpower teams as they become “free agents”.However, The Specials also brings with it a kind of “cute” humour, with characters such as the alien orphan (a humanoid resembling a grown man, but who acts like a 2 year old kid), and U.S. Bill (a simple-minded fellow who just isn’t too bright). I think the combination of the two styles of humour makes it unlikely that anyone will be turned off from the movie completely, but it also prevents most people from continually laughing throughout the film’s entire duration. Also, by mixing the two styles of comedy, they sacrificed some of the potential laughs that could have resulted if they went all the way in one direction. In general, though I think their balance of gritty humour with “cute” humour still worked considerably well.

There are certain parts of the movie and certain characters that people will either love or hate. For example, I personally found the dim-witted U.S. Bill to be one of the funniest characters in the movie, while others despised him. On the other hand, many people thought Amok was the best part of the movie, but I felt that his bad boy attitude seemed a little too forced at times.One character that was consistently “off the mark” was Eight. The concept of a being with 8 consciousnesses may have seemed funny on paper, but on the screen it only meets with blank stares. The dance scene at the end of the movie, too, seemed like little more than a time filler.

The Specials is a low-budget independent film (depending on your definition of low-budget), and it is the brainchild of writer James Gunn and his friends. It is probably the low budget elements of this movie that give it most of its charm and originality.

The filmmakers cut costs by using almost no special effects, which, for a superhero movie, is completely unheard of. With the exception of the ending sequence, on which probably over 50% of the budget was spent, we never see any super powers in use. It is a superhero movie where there isn’t a single fight, and no real arch-villain – for the comic book purists, this will make it feel incomplete. Personally, I happened to like it this way. It proves that it is possible to spoof a genre without operating completely within the genre’s trademark format.

The lack of special effects also forced the humour to be dialogue and character-based, which adds to the realistic feel of the film. For anyone who is a fan of independent films that are mostly dialogue based (ie. Clerks), you will definitely find yourself at home here.

The other 50% of the budget was probably paid to Rob Lowe (who, as they mention in the DVD’s audio commentary, had a larger trailer than anyone else working on the movie). Because of the budget constraints, there aren’t many big name actors in the movie. Again, I think this is a good thing. The Specials are supposed to be the world’s “fifth best” superhero team. In other words, they live in obscurity, overshadowed by other supergroups. It only makes sense to have more obscure actors playing the characters in the movie. Still, you will probably recognize many of the actors, although you may not be able to place them immediately. Jamie Kennedy, who plays Amok, was in the Scream movies, and Kelly Coffield, who plays Power Chick, used to star on the TV show In Living Colour. Oh, and there is also a brief appearance by Sabrina herself, Melissa Joan Hart.

The story is actually really well written. At first I thought there would be too many characters to keep track of, but they managed to let each character come into his or her own.In the little moments when the movie tries to be sentimental, it succeeds, and I think this ispartially a testament to the great acting, but also to the fact that you really start to care for the characters. Maybe it’s because with all their whining and fighting, they feel like real people. They don’t have the weight of the world on their shoulders, they just have small every day problems like you or I.

Another interesting thing they did with this movie is they mixed in mockumentary style interview footage with each character, giving often hilarious results. They also included a short “documentary” on the history of The Specials, complete with cheesy muzak and overly enthusistic dialogue from the hosts, Weevil and Power Chick. This stuff was all just sort of randomly thrown in there, but it added a lot to the movie, and enhanced the gritty feel.

The Specials’ DVD contains some great extras as well, which added to my appreciation of this movie.

First, you get about 10 deleted scenes, some of which are just as funny as the stuff in the movie. There is a full audio commentary with James Gunn as well as the director and producer. Aside from containing the usual ass-kissing, this very amusing and fun with lots of great stories about the shooting of the movie, and how they overcame the many obstacles of low budget filmmaking. Gunn also reveals the truth about an attempted kiss with Jordan Ladd (Nightbird) in the movie. You really get the feeling that this is just a group of friends making a movie because it is what they love to do.

Also included for posterity are full versions of the Specials toy commercial, and the fake wedding video footage they shot for Strobe and Miss Indestructible’s wedding. Let me tell you, I could watch that toy commercial a million times and never grow tired of it. It spoofs so perfectly all those toy commercials we were bombarded with while we helplessly watched cartoons in the 80’s.

You know, my only real complaint about The Specials is that it is a little on the short side (the ending definitely seemed abrupt), and this seems inexcusable with the huge amount of untapped potential they had to work with. The concept is a great one, and I know they could have done a lot more with it.

But this is just a minor trifle, because even though I was a little doubtful, The Specials succeeded in thoroughly impressing me. Although it is still fairly unknown, it is clearly destined to become a cult classic. Hopefully its release on the DVD format will help it to reach the audience it so greatly deserves. If you were one of the many people who thought Mystery Men missed the mark, then track down The Specials, because you will probably find that this movie is right on target. — Sean