Movies based on comic books or featuring superhero characters have become very popular in the last several years. I tend to see most of those movies since I usually enjoy that type of movie. I first say Mystery Men several years ago, when it was first available to rent. I just watched it again and while it wasn’t as good as many movies featuring superheroes, it was still entertaining.
Captain Amazing had been fighting crime in Champion City and was very popular. No one had figured out that he was actually the wealthy Lance Hunt. Three friends, Roy, Ed, and Jeffrey, wanted to be superheroes like Captain Amazing and had started fighting crime together. Roy called himself Mr. Furious and basically just got mad and yelled. Ed was The Shoveller and beat people up with his shovel. Jeffrey threw forks and the occasional spoon as The Blue Raja. The group didn’t have much luck dealing with criminals and no one took them seriously.
Casanova Frankenstein had been locked up in a mental institution for twenty years when he was declared cured and released. He immediately started planning how to take over Champion City and got his old gang, the Disco Boys, together. Casanova even managed to capture Captain Amazing. Roy found out what had happened and convinced the other two that they needed to rescue Captain Amazing. They decided to recruit some new members and were joined by The Bowler, Invisible Boy, The Sphinx and The Spleen. The group had to figure out how to work together in a limited amount of time while Casanova got closer to setting his plan in action.
Mystery Men was based on The Flaming Carrot comics published by Dark Horse Comics and written by Bob Burden. The first time I heard of that comic was when I did a bit of research on this movie online. From what I’ve read, it does seem like several things were changed around for the movie. Captain Amazing wasn’t in the comic. Instead the main superhero was the Flaming Carrot and the different members of the Mystery Men group worked with him. The characters that did make it into the movie from the comic seemed to be toned down a bit. It does seem like the comic featured some very odd superheroes.
This movie was really about three ordinary men who wanted to be superheroes. They came up with names and outfits and went out to fight crime and ended up failing much of the time. None of them had any real powers. Ed was the only one that really managed all right in a fight and that was just because he was beating people with a shovel instead of flinging forks or standing around yelling in some sort of temper tantrum. Things really didn’t improve when they added some new members to the group. The Invisible Boy was only invisible when no one was looking at him. The Spleen had a gas problem and The Sphinx just spouted off strange sayings most of the time, though once he did control something with the power of his mind. The bowling ball that The Bowler used - which contained the skull of her murdered father - at least did some damage when she used it. They were really rather pathetic for a group of superheroes. Captain Amazing was a bit more like a superhero, though he wasn’t typical either. His costume was covered with logos from company sponsors and he had a publicist. His main reason for fighting crime was gaining popularity and not helping people.
The villains in Mystery Men were just as bizarre. Casanova had a very unique look and he did have a typical villain plan of trying to take over the city. I did really like his name for some reason. Casanova Frankenstein just sounds like the name of a villain. It didn’t seem like he had any kind of superpower to use. He did have different gadgets, including a huge machine that figured into his plan, that he used. Casanova also had one long, sharp fingernail that he used as a weapon during a fight. His henchmen were obsessed with disco and wore wildly colored outfits. None of them had any powers either and they used a lot of big guns to fight.
Many of the superhero movies that have been made in the last several years have been more serious overall even though they included a bit of humor. Mystery Men used a lot of humor and wasn’t serious in any way. There is no way to take a movie serious that has people who think they are superheroes because they throw cutlery or hit people with shovels who are facing off against disco fanatics. A lot of what was going on was very silly, which will turn off a lot of people. That didn’t bother me because the movie did entertain me. Even the scenes including fighting made me laugh because of how the characters were fighting, like when Casanova and Mr. Furious faced off against each other. The group ended up getting some non-lethal weapons designed by Dr. A. Heller that were so odd I couldn’t help but laugh at them.
Action was added throughout the movie in different fighting scenes. Those scenes tended to add humor as well, so they didn’t seem that violent. The action scenes were decent and did help to keep things interesting. Something that happened to two characters was rather graphic and gross. Certain things were done with special effects that looked well done and worked for the movie. The effects weren’t over done like has happened in some movies.
There was an attempt to add romance to the movie by developing a relationship between Monica and Roy. She worked at a restaurant that Roy and his friends frequently visited. The relationship really wasn’t believable and didn’t work well at all. Monica wasn’t around much, and for many of the scenes she did share with Roy, it seemed like she didn’t even know he was around half the time. She had all but ignored him and then suddenly did a turn around and was interested in him. Her being in danger was even tossed in at one point as a way to subdue Roy. That just felt forced and it didn’t need to be in the movie.
There were several characters in Mystery Men and none of them ended up receiving much development. Roy was more outspoken about how he wanted the group to do things and he didn’t like it when some things changed. Ben Stiller was good in the part and not annoying like he has been in some of his movies. Ed was trying to take care of his family while still following his dream of being a superhero. He was torn between the group and his wife at times. Ed did let others influence him at times. William H. Macy was wonderful in the part. Jeffrey still lived with his mother and talked in a fake British accent for some reason. I did like Hank Azaria in the part, but the voice did get a little irritating a few times.
The Bowler wanted to avenge her father’s death, which was why she joined the group. She would start talking to her bowling ball like her father was talking to her. Janeane Garofalo fit the part well. The Spleen wasn’t well liked by Ed, Roy, or Jeffrey, but he still got on the team. He was irritating and his power was nasty, so it was understandable why he wasn’t that well liked. Paul Reubens was fine in the part. The Invisible Boy really didn’t do much of anything. The Sphinx mostly just rattled off some odd sayings. Dr. A Heller was a man who invented non-lethal weapons that were surprisingly effective. Claire Forlani didn’t have much to do since she was only in a few scenes.
Casanova Frankenstein wasn’t a nice guy and spending twenty years in a mental institution hadn’t done anything to change him. He had an elaborate plan to take over Champion City and he wasn’t going to let anyone stop him. This was probably one of the most unique characters that I’ve seen Jeffrey Rush play and I think he did very well with the part. Eddie Izzard turned up in a few scenes as one of Casanova’s henchmen. Lance Hunt was one of the wealthiest men in Champion City and he was very well known. As Captain Amazing, he was very concerned with getting a lot of publicity and keeping his sponsors happy. The main part of his disguise was that Lance wore glasses. Greg Kinnear was fine in the part.
Main Cast
Hank Azaria - Jeffrey/The Blue Raja Claire Forlani - Monica Janeane Garofalo - The Bowler Eddie Izzard - Tony P Greg Kinnear - Lance Hunt/Captain Amazing William H. Macy - The Shoveller Kel Mitchell - Invisible Boy Paul Reubens - The Spleen Jeffrey Rush - Casanova Frankenstein Ben Stiller - Roy/Mr. Furious Wes Studi - The Sphinx Tom Waits - Dr. A Heller
Kinka Usher - Director
DVD Information
Mystery Men is available on DVD in either the full screen or widescreen format. The special features include a commentary by the director, ten deleted or alternate scenes, theatrical trailer, production notes, music highlights, information on the origin of the comic book characters, and featurette called Spotlight on Location. That featured some of the cast and the director talking about making the movie. Some footage from the filming of the movie was included.
Mystery Men is one of the more unusual superhero movies but I still thought it was entertaining. It was very silly at times, which could turn off some viewers. This isn’t a movie that everyone will like. Fans of the cast might enjoy it.
This is part of elvisdo’s 2007 Canadiania Write-off. Cody Kurz, from Saskatchewan Canada had an uncredited role as Jay Mann.
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