What looks like a fascinating concept on paper is executed in villainously poor fashion in All Superheroes Must Die, a micro-budget thriller that twists almost every convention of the oversaturated genre, but is drastically let down by innumerable plot holes, a jagged script and empty performances all round.
Sick to death of playing the speed bump to the good guys and their well-meaning plans, supervillian Rickshaw (James Remar) has knocked out and stolen the powers of Charge (Jason Trost), Shadow (Sophie Merkley), Cutthroat (X-Men First Class' Lucas Till) and The Wall (Lee Valmassy), the town's four resident superheroes. Meanwhile, he has rigged several town landmarks – and many more innocent civilians – to explosives, meaning the heroes have no choice but to play by his wicked rules.
Directed and written by lead actor Trost, the film can never seem to decide between being a serious look at the sacrifices made to be a hero, or a tongue-in-cheek satire of the suspension of disbelief required by the genre. It constantly flexes between sharp, intimate flashbacks showing the closeness of the group before becoming superheroes, and incredulously over-the- top delivery from Remar and Sean Whalen – as side villain Manpower – none of which hit their mark.
The rest of All Superheroes Must Die is a mish-mash of unexplained plot points and unprovoked character turns. The story jumps regularly, giving the impression that a short shoot forced pages to be ripped out of the script at will. And while some films of this nature do a fantastic job of stretching the production value, Superheroes looks every bit like a low budget cellar dweller, doing little to mitigate a collection of lacklustre individual parts, forming an utterly forgettable shell of an intriguing idea.
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