ChicRawIdol A brilliant film that helped define a genre

Fairaher The film makes a home in your brain and the only cure is to see it again.

Ginger Very good movie overall, highly recommended. Most of the negative reviews don't have any merit and are all pollitically based. Give this movie a chance at least, and it might give you a different perspective.

Cheryl A clunky actioner with a handful of cool moments.

Joris A superhero movie is best when it subverts the genre itself, like in Chronicle or Birdman. Defendor does just that. What happens when someone with a vulnerable mental state claims to be a superhero, fighting Captain Industry? They are looked down upon. They are seen as harmless and pitiful. Until they start to take action. Then they need to be contained and get psychological help. This movie tries to shine a light - through the psychologist - on that vulnerability and shows us there's something noble, even something pure in people who (try to) fight injustice. Woody Harrelson is in top form playing the protagonist Arthur aka. Defendor. His quest to defeat Captain Industry is a sobering and fruitless one, but the public begins to care for him. Maybe just because of Athur's general naivety. A graffiti artist paints a wall with his portrait, calling out to "fight back". That's what this movie was about for me. Fight back. Fight the self-righteous world who divide 'normal' people from those whore aren't according to some arbitrary measurement. Defendor is a warm eulogy for those defying normality and a subtle criticism on what is perceived as sane.

FlashCallahan A crooked cop, a mob boss and the young girl they abuse are the denizens of a city's criminal underworld. It's a world Arthur Poppington doesn't understand........... or belong in, but is committed to fighting when he changes into a vigilante super-hero of his own making.Calling himself Defendor, and with no power other than courage, he takes to the streets to protect the city's innocents......Even though it was made before, this film is overshadowed by two other films in this little sub-genre, Kick-Ass and Super, and to be fair, they are far superior to this.Kick-Ass was better written and directed, and the much needed humour was excellent. Super was just a bludgeoning short of Grindhouse, and its in your face violence and performances made it stand out.Here we have Harrelson, as good as ever, but the script is poor, and it's playing the mental health card way too many times, just to play it safe, and in the end, it's treating the audience like morons.But Woody is as reliable as ever and makes the film just worth watching. But you'll have a sense of déjà Vu if you see it.

DarthPaul85 This movie is to Super what Super is to Kick-Ass.By that I mean it's totally different in almost every possible way, they just happen to share the concept of "normal guy tries being a super-hero." All three are VERY different movies.You can call this movie a "dark comedy," but I would also classify it as a straight "superhero movie." Just in this case, the superhero is mentally handicapped. Does that automatically make it a comedy? Not necessarily. About the end of Act I, I realized the movie works best if you just take it as face value- giving you laughs where they're inevitable, but also taking itself seriously enough to have a real emotional reaction. I can't really place a genre for this film.Positives: the movie is pretty original for a genre that's been done to death lately. The story itself is actually interesting, and though it's a completely unbelievable series of events, somehow they are portrayed in a realistic manner. To the point where you laugh at the absurdity, then realize "that might just work." Some of the performances are good- everyone skates a thin line in this movie- as if it's all how adults seem to a 10-year old. I think the term is "kid gloves." And though it's not a demanding genre, the cinematography was good too- not "in your face" gritty, but unglamorous enough to feel real.Negatives: The movie's tone is very hard to pin down for the first 35 minutes or so. Basically it's uncomfortable at first- you don't want to laugh at Harrelson because he's mentally handicapped (because that part of the movie is done straight, humorlessly). Unlike Super, which paints the protagonist as someone who's right all along (and should know better), Defendor doesn't know better, and we're not sure if he's on the right side or not for most of Act I. Think of Mel Gibson in Conspiracy Theory.The characters also make a few glaring "common sense" errors that really bugged me. Like, significant "a real person wouldn't do that" ones, where if they didn't happen the movie could have ended right there.Lastly, it doesn't help that the movie is misadvertized as a quasi-spoof of super-hero movies, or at least as a flat-out comedy. Once I let that go (again, end of Act I), it really pulled me in, but until then I was just irritated with it, simply because it wasn't matching my expectations.So if you think the movie looks interesting (or funny, even), definitely give it a shot. It's a charming story, but it's got some rough edges, and it's not for everyone.

billcr12 Woody Harrelson is hilarious as Defendor, a dim witted, crime fighting super hero. After showing a serious side in The Messenger, the actor proves his amazing versatility in this one. A psychiatrist, Dr. Park(sexy Sandra Oh), interviews Arthur(Harrelson) who explains the reason for his arrest for assault began with a corrupt cop named Dooney, who smokes crack and patronizing hookers. Art believes that the officer works for his enemy, Captain Industry. He lives alone, and one day he meets Angel, the hooker who was previously with Dooney. He is badly beaten by friends of the cop and Angel plays Florence Nightingale. She stays with him for a while at a building depot. Defendor gets shot by Dooney's men, and survives after surgery. He learns that Angel was abused by her father and when he tracks him down, he beats him up, which explains his arrest. Dr. Park sympathizes with him. He makes the news and tries to rehabilitate Angel, while fighting corruption. Defendor is worth it for Woody Harrelson's presence alone.