Eye Candy #192 - "Defendor"

Defendor: Billed as an action comedy, the preview would have you think this was a laugh-riot comedy.  Except it’s not.  It’s funny for about the first 3 minutes, and then the rest of the film is very, very grim, with such “fun” subjects as murder, mental illness, sex slavery, and prostitution.  Woody Harrelson is Arthur Poppington, a dim-witted construction worker that moonlights as a vigilante, Defendor.  Arming himself with his trusty VCR, handfuls of marbles, and several jars of angry wasps, he fights crime around the city, crossing paths repeatedly with dirty cop Dooney (Elias Koteas).  Defendor’s main nemesis, though, is “Captain Industry”, the man that Arthur holds responsible for his abandonment as a child by his mother, who found her way into drugs and prostitution and who eventually died as a result of it.  Arthur befriends a young prostitute  Kat, and she helps him track down “Captain Industry”, or rather a surrogate for him, Russian human trafficker Kristic.  While it‘s easy to root for Poppington (Harrelson does a good job in the lead), “Defendor” is an uneven film, mocking its title character as well as demonstrating that that the morals and standards of the archetypal superhero story aren’t compatible with the real world - Good doesn’t always win out, Evil can win, all of which is a very hard world view.  And yet the film still wants you to root for Defendor.  Sandra Oh and Michael Kelly are here in support.   This was first directing effort for actor Peter Stebbings and it left a lot to be desired.   Woodchuck sez, “Disappointing.”