The Return of Captain Invincible (1983)

Dreadfully Boring

The movie's neither hopeful in contrived ways, nor hopeless in different contrived ways. Somehow it manages to be wonderful

This is a small, humorous movie in some ways, but it has a huge heart. What a nice experience.

All of these films share one commonality, that being a kind of emotional center that humanizes a cast of monsters.

The Return of Captain Invincible It seems a law of nature that a certain percentage of movies just don't age very well. Some can be viewed decades later and still impress the first-time viewer, others you have to had seen during it's time in order to appreciate it later. Unfortunately, "The Return of Captain Invincible" belongs to the latter category.It's not a bad film, by no means. "TRoCI" comfortably between Superman-spoof, musical satire of the US- / Australian way of life but unfortunately it's also a little too 'harmless' for most (modern) viewers. A little less slapstick and a little more grittiness / realism could have made "TRoCI" a comedic predecessor of Zack Snyder's "Watchmen".Like with most of his roles, the performance of Alan Arkin is beyond criticism. He remains the world's most funny unfunny man. He seems to conjure up comedy as through magic and almost unexplainable. And as what is commonly known as a "Christophile", an ardent fan of Sir Christopher Lee, I consider it blasphemous ever to write a negative word in the same sentence. Indeed, "Citizen Cain", "The Godfather" or "The Seven Samurai" are all good pictures, which only have one fault: neither of them stars Christopher Lee.Thinking what directors like Robert Altman, Blake Edwards, Jim Abrahams or David Zucker could have made from this material, the films weakest link remains the director. Philippe Mora seems more at home with schlock-horror flicks, rather than either comedy or musical. On the comedic side, his direction is restraint while there seems an almost desperate attempt to be the next "Rocky Horror Picture Show" – it isn't; by the standards of a musical, it's "Shock Treatment" at best. The songs are simply neither strong nor memorable enough, with the exception of "Name your Poison", performed by his highness Sir Christopher himself. The line "There's nothing sicker in society than the lack of liquor and sobriety" is worth an Oscar itself and makes one dream: what if Richard O'Brien had written the songs, what a musical it could have been.I have to admit, I have a hard time giving a film that features either his eminence Sir Christopher Lee or Alan Arkin a bad rating – an old habit that I have broken only for "Star Wars II – The Clone Wars". That said, the 7 out of 10 points I'm giving should probably been a 6 or 5 ½. Oh well.

The Return of Captain Invincible tries too hard to be something really wacky and crazy and subversive as a spoof on super heroes, but it doesn't (ahem) fly. Some of it may just be my fault, that the film reminded me just too much of other films (the opening newsreel, for example, is so much like The Incredibles as to boggle the mind thinking Brad Bird may have even watched this for inspiration, and don't get me started on the flying scenes with Invincible). But some of it falls on the director, Philippe Mora, and even on Alan Arkin. I usually enjoy Arkin a lot in his performances, and can be very funny and affecting in roles. Here he's not given a whole lot to make Invincible worth trying to make likable (an ex-drunk brought back into service and is a big-ass magnet who can sometimes but not always fly) or worth a damn. And, a bigger problem, he's just not that funny in the part.True, little things do make up for it... or make that one big thing, and that's Christopher Lee. As Mr. Midnight, a diabolical villain with a deformed creature as his minion and with lots of baddies and other mass weapons at his disposal (and a bad-ass cave with diagrams of New York City to boot), he steals the show. This is putting it mildly, perhaps, since there isn't much show to steal from him. Mora tries to build around his two leads with a lot of awkward pacing and jokes that fall flat (the 'Bull-s***' song by one of the generals in the war room is overreaching), and at other times dialog is just off-balance alongside the directing.Another problem is this: if you have a kooky comedy-musical, make good songs, that's it, or at least have interesting musical numbers. The song cues that come up here are just badly staged and not clever or entertaining... that is, except for the ones where Christopher Lee shows up. This isn't simply a case of favoritism, though Lee is amazing when given a small opportunity. He somehow gets the material better than even the director does, and when he puts on those two numbers in his cave (or one and a half if you count the one where he and Arkin split the number), one of which near the end and all about making fun of Invincible for being a drunk and tempting him, it's brilliance! If you must, if nothing else, do watch his scenes on Youtube; perhaps someone will do everyone a favor and edit together Lee's scenes, which is worth stopping doing whatever it is at any moment of the day to watch and absorb.The rest of the film, sadly, is kind of a bust. It's too dull, lifeless, and Mora, for all of his little tricks with the camera (a dutch angle here and there, some intentionally silly green-screen effects) can't overcome the material being so wobbily and uninteresting. If you have to watch a comedy about a drunk superhero, just watch Hancock - or (if you're reading this post 2014) Birdman.

This movie is an excellent parody which explains why some viewers may find it distasteful or cheesy. It is an Australian and not a NAmerican movie, and given that NAmerican culture is so widely exported it is natural that other nations will try to interpret it and to comment on the same, although from their own idiosyncratic point of view, and nobody is more idiosyncratic than the Australians. Yes, it is low budget, and often simplistic, and the ending is predictable, as NAmerica so often is itself. However the fallen hero, redemption through the intervention of a loyal companion whose faith renews his own, the battle not so much against evil as against his own weakness (the mai-tai scene is sublime), all of these are the ingredients of every epic story from Ragnarok to Superman. I recommend an open mind and a mellow drunk or similar to watch this absurd gem.

"The Return Of Captain Invincible" starts with one of the greatest spoofs of a newsreel show I have ever seen in cinema as a pre-title sequence. Funny moments and tragicomic situations follow back-to-back, but the definite scene-stealers are the songs (two of which feature Christopher Lee's voice). How much better can a song about the eductive power of alcohol start than with these immortal lines: "Mai Tai say that I'm Old-Fashioned / Tres vin ordinaire / That I want a fresh Manhattan / With white Anglo-Saxons everywhere / A Black Russian's / No Pink Lady / Give her the Singapore Sling / And Moscow Mule is not your baby / So Highball the Vodka and name your sting"? But I'm digressing: if you have a nostalgic love for old superhero movies, are not opposed to a little parody on the US and Australia alike, and are willing to follow that film in its occasionally whimsy turns, this is your choice for a late night film with friends (and don't forget to "Have a short or a Port or a snort of any sort" while watching)!