Editor’s Note: This film review was originally written way back in 2010, and originally published by Associated Content.
Defendor is one of those little films the world passed over, but it is destined to become a cult classic. Defendor was launched at the Toronto Film Festival in September 2009, and then had a very limited US theatrical release early in 2010 before recently hitting DVD.
Trailers available online give the impression the film is a straight comedy about a regular guy trying to be something great, but the truth of the actual film is somewhat different. The film is about a mentally challenged man who dons the superhero persona “Defendor” to fight crime in an effort to avenge the death of his mother, a prostitute who overdosed on drugs. Abandoned at a young age, the simple Arthur Poppington (expertly performed by Woody Harrelson) is raised by his grandfather, a World War I veteran who blames the death of Arthur’s mother on “the captains of industry”. Arthur’s fractured mind creates an amalgam villain called “Captain Industry” who he is committed to bringing to justice.
Arthur works for the city as a flagman and lives in a maintenance storage facility. He befriends a young prostitute and drug addict named Kat (played by The House Bunny’s Kat Dennings), an obvious stand-in for his long-lost mother. In exchange for access to his debit card, she assists him with information in his search for “Captain Industry”.
The trailer showcases the humorous aspects of the film. “Defendor” employs a bizarre arsenal of improvised weaponry including marbles, a sling shot and squeezable plastic containers of lemon juice. His costume is just black clothes with a large “D” on the chest, crudely crafted from duct tape. He patrols the city at night in a maintenance truck with “Defendog” scrawled in Sharpie under the Mac hood ornament. It gives the impression the film will be a funny but otherwise empty throw-away experience, leaving it to join films like the 1994 Damon Wayons project Blankman, also about a special-needs superhero.
Twenty minutes into the film, this presumption has already faded. There is much more to this little film. It’s an incredible story about honor, perseverance and, above all, redemption. While there are definitely funny moments, the overall tone of the film is much more emotional. At various moments, the film stirs reactions of sadness, pity, fear and hope. But never disgust. According to an online interview with writer/director Peter Stebbings at Playback, studios didn’t want to touch his script because they couldn’t figure out what genre to sell it in. Undoubtedly, this also contributed to the lack of a theatrical release. The studios are both right and wrong. Defendor doesn’t fit the traditional Hollywood molds, but they should have taken the chance on it anyway. It’s a wonderful film that will resonate with audiences for some time, and will no doubt take its place among the favored cult classics.
