Not-so AMAZING (well, kind of Amazing)
Review by Trevor Denning (@BookStoreThor)
Spider-Man, Spider-Man, does whatever a spider can. But what about this guy Sam? Is he doing everything he can? Or anything? Anything at all?
Plenty of people love Spider-Man, in large part because he’s the everyman hero. Batman doesn’t really have superpowers, except he clearly has the genetics of an Olympic athlete. Superman is, well, super. But Spider-Man? He’s just a normal guy, with lots of everyday problems, who has mid-range superpowers and a desire to do the right thing.
Not-So-Amazing isn’t a Spider-Man fan film as much as it’s a film about a Spider-Man fan. Made for next to nothing and released for free online, it’s clearly a labor of love. But when I saw that it’s two and a half hours, I my first concern was, “Love of what?”
Sam is a Spider-Man superfan. He knows all the lore, collects the rare comic books, and jerks off to Spider-Man porn. It’s an empty existence, cyclical and selfish. Obsessed with this imaginary world, he spends all his time and money trying to experience in every possible way: intellectually, tangibly, even sexually. Sam is the epitome of fan culture taken to its logical extreme, which is to put it bluntly, masturbatory.
Do I appreciate that allusion in a movie, or ever want that image in my head? No. Did I want to write about it, even though it’s too apt? Absolutely not. For the purpose of the narrative it’s authentic, it works, it develops the character. It’s justifiable. And it’s also unnecessarily off-putting, which sums up many of my feelings about the movie.
The profanity and racial slurs are so abrasive and pervasive that they would peel Spider-Man himself off a wall, never mind your paint. Again, authentic, perhaps justifiable, but unappealing. One reason we watch movies is to escape the real world, to see people who live, and speak differently than anyone else we know. In a recent interview story guru Robert McKee said, “We love to see scenes where characters speak really well,” adding, “The dialog ought to be pleasing in the sense of a verbal spectacle.”
Yet Not-So-Amazing has its bright spots. Writer/Director/Star Calob Robinson understands moviemaking in a way Hollywood seems to have forgotten. His protagonist Sam is instantly recognizable and relatable. We see Sams everywhere these days: obese young men, lacking direction, who devote themselves to fandoms for some sense of purpose and meaning. Robinson zeros in on that desire for purpose and builds on it.
To say that Sam wants to be a superhero is to sell his story short. But he does have a desire which drives him to action.
Right now the culture makers are giving fans a glut of content. Are you a fan of Disney’s Marvel movies? Well, now there’s not just a new two hour movie once or twice a year, but nine hours of WandaVision, six hours of The Falcon and the Winter Soldier, and another six hours of Loki to consume. Keep gorging yourself, superfans!
The MCU has become comic book porn without the sex. Just as sex is designed for enjoyment and procreation, art (even comic book art) should both delight and inspire more art.
Doing the opposite and responding to the art with more art, essentially have a conversation with the content, is one thing that makes Not-So-Amazing remarkable. That it’s technically proficient with good coverage and above average camera work earns it some bonus points. Unfortunately, by the midpoint it’s obvious that the editors are too in love with their work to make necessary cuts. Yet I have to commend them for stepping off the Marvel merry-go-round long enough to make something new.
The second thing that makes Robin’s movie noteworthy is that it’s an honest celebration of what fans love about superhero movies. They’re entertaining, and inspiring. It would have been trendy to make a movie that leaves our loser hero right back where he started and a “by the way, life is meaningless, everybody laugh” coda. Not so here. In the end, Sam accepts that he will never be amazing, he’ll never be a superhero. But he still aspires to make his world a better place and that inspires the people around him.
What we see in this fan film is effectively someone turning off the porn and going out to make a real relationship. It’s clumsy, awkward, and at times painful to watch. While way too long and unrestrained, the one-two punch of creating in a toxic, consumption curating culture, and then building on what it is that fans love rather than tearing it down, makes Not-So-Amazing, well, kind of amazing.
Click the age-restricted link below to enjoy the show.
