Directed by: Jason Trost
Starring: Jason Trost, Lucas Till, and James Remar
Plot: 4 superheroes are stripped of their powers and forced by their arch-nemesis to compete in a deadly game
Review:
Also known as: Vs.
This is the second feature film from aspiring filmmaker and star, Jason Trost. He plays a vigilante named Charge, a superhero with brute strength and great endurance. He teams up with three other superheroes: Cutthroat, Shadow, and The Wall. Do not get concerned with what their powers are. We never see them. They have been stripped of their power by Rickshaw, a mobster with a bone to pick with these masked heroes. He has also left them unconscious in a shanty town, one where they might test atom bombs in.
Except I don’t think it is supposed to look that way. It just happens to look that way because this movie is super low budget, and that is apparent in every facet of the film. For instance, superhero costumes always look a little silly, but the big studio blockbusters do there best to not make them look like they bought spandex at the local sporting goods store and slapped a makeshift emblem on the chest. Thats exactly what they look like here. It isn’t all bad though. Having superheroes who are stripped of their power really saves you some cash when it comes to special effects. Charge is the only one with powers, but his super strength pretty much is only depicted through Indiana Jones car crash punches. The type that are pretty much all sound effect.
A villain known as Manpower
The cast is made up of relative unknowns. Charge is played by Trost, as I already stated. He still has a long way to go, but he has potential for an action movie leading man. And not the sarcastic one-man-armies from the 80s. He’s more like that steely resolve/quiet intensity action hero like Bronsan or McQueen. I know that is quite the bar to measure him by, but I am talking category, not quality. The only other hero I recognize is Lucas Til, who I only know because he played Havok in X-Men: First Class. The cast’s inexperience shows. Almost none of the dialog feels natural, which is too bad, because Trost seems to have crafted a pretty deft script.
Standing against these heroes with his own costumed allies is Rickshaw, played by James Remar. You will know him best as Dexter’s dad on Dexter or one of the many other “Oh hey its that guy” roles. I thought he might lend the movie a bit of credit, but he chews the scenery like he was going hungry. He’s like Gene Hackman’s Lex Luthor meets Saw’s Jigsaw. It doesn’t make for a good marriage.
All Superheroes Must Die is a little too big for its britches. The action was ambitious but put together pretty shoddily. The characters were well-defined but not well-performed. Trost shows promise, but he still has a long way to go.
Rating: 3/10
