All Superheroes Must Die (2011) Reviews

• Proof you can't make a superhero movie for $20,000

  alexwojtak2013-11-06

  This movie is absolutely abysmal. OK, I get that it's made with a limited time, on a limited budget, but at a certain point, you need to consider if you can still make the movie you're trying to make. I understand that the costumier had to leave early, so maybe consider whether you can still make a movie with costumed superheroes who have their powers taken away. Because if you take their powers away, and *spoiler* don't have them get them back in the final minute (Hey, that would have made a more interesting ending, huh?) then what you have is just people in costumes. If those costumes look like someone put underwear on their head, maybe consider making a different film. Amateur costumes can look good, but if you're lacking money, you need to put in time and skill to make up for it. You need to cover over the bad parts and accentuate the good. If, for example, the scene has someone bleeding to death from a stab wound, and someone is asked to go get a bandage, and that actor decides to saunter off with less urgency than I would go to make a cup of tea, then maybe as a director, it's time to offer a bit of direction. Like for example, "You're supposed to be the guy who's superpower was, up until now, super speed. RUN!" If I had super speed and lost it, I'd find it agonising that it took so long to get anywhere. In a race against time I wouldn't take such an agonisingly long time to do every single thing. Like the first round, where you have a 95 second fuse. From the moment they're told it's lit, they literally stand there for 52 seconds! I thought you were in a hurry to make this film? Maybe make a dash for the fuse, and the time you just saved filming that could have been more usefully spent? Like for example the guy you're fighting, Sledgesaw, could had had, for example, a saw of some kind? So his name makes sense? Rather than being dressed as a circus strongman from the fifties? Also, I presume you didn't show anyone's superpower due to budget, but surely you could have shown superspeed? Perhaps mix the powers up and have Shadow's being superspeed? Have the injection wear off at the last minute, film her carrying Charge away, speed up the film, and you've got a much improved ending. But that's the real issue. If you have to cut stuff while you're filming, you've not looked at how what you have left hangs together. If you've worked out a budget to start, and cut the parts you can't do, you can make what you have work better. You could barely forgive that rickshaw doesn't have a costume. James Remar can more or less carry those bits. Even Shadow doesn't have a costume so much as a hairstyle. In short, the film lacks polish. It lacks money. But it doesn't make up for those things with time, skill or ingenuity. It didn't have time to do things better with what it had, and due to the last minute hacked up script, it then lost any benefit it might have had from plot, writing or directing. But... surely they knew what the budget was? They had $20,000, so why not cut those extra scenes from the start and get the film to work with the funding they had?

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• A Disappointing Film From Jason Trost

  gavin69422013-01-27

  Four heroes find themselves abducted by their arch-nemesis and are forced to compete in a series of challenges in order to save an abandoned town full of kidnapped innocent civilians. Let me start by saying I love "The FP" and consider it a work of genius. Well-acted, well-scripted, well-shot, funny and so on. A truly great film. And I think we can learn something about filmmaking by comparing that film with this one, another Jason Trost joint. With "The FP", a short was made. I assume this was used as a fund-raiser to get the full picture done right. That was a great idea and it worked. Here, we have what was a thrown together film -- if what the trivia on IMDb says is true, it was written in four days, shot in two weeks, there was no budget and time constraints meant the script had to be cut on the fly. That is no way to make a movie. You do not necessarily need a budget, but you need to know what you are capable of and work with it. Here, we can tell it was rushed. The acting is only average, some of the lines seem out of place... and it just was not clever on the level of "FP". Another script revision or two, an extra day of shooting or two, it might have been worlds different.

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• Save your money and your time! This movie is rubbish!

  Michael-Hallows-Eve2013-01-05

  Not much to say about this movie apart from the fact that it was crap and a waste of my time! First of all, its about some so called "superheroes" that don't have any powers (yes its to do with the story), second of all the story isn't that great either to the point where I couldn't wait for this tripe to be over, thirdly it had Nick Principe (Chromeskull) and James Remar (Dexters father) in it for reasons I do not understand. I can only think that they owed somebody a favor, because it can't have been for the love of the script! It is NOT a horror movie as some web sites have made it out to be, in fact I'm not even sure that it would be classed as a Thriller. I feel like I wasted 75 minutes of my life watching it, and I want it back damn you! Anyway, I can only give this film a 1 out of 10. Save your time and money!

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• A Decent Effort on a Low Budget

  sacmaph2013-06-24

  Before judging this film too harshly, remember it was made on a tiny budget and in a handful of days. It's basically a glorified student film, and if I were marking it, I'd give it an A. It's an interesting concept and the acting, while mediocre, shows promise, especially that of Jason Trost and Sophie Merkley. There's an awesome scene where the bitchy journalist guy from "Never Been Kissed" is dressed up as Uncle Sam and is armed with a flamethrower. It's worth a watch if only for that scene. James Remar is pretty good I guess, although it's hard to tell when he's basically a cackling, moustache-twirling level of villain. But in any case, this movie is a solid effort from writer/director Jason Trost. I'm looking forward to seeing what he offers to the genre world in coming years.

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• Why so much hate?

  alexdelliott2013-10-21

  I would really like someone to explain to me how The Avengers, a film as generic as they come, gets praised as one of the best films of all time whereas a film like this that pushes the boundaries of film and focuses on the human characters rather than a bunch of gorillas with powers gets so many reviews hating on it. I'm not one of those to go easy on a film because it has a low budget, I either like a film or I don't. And I really liked this one. Our 4 superheroes are kidnapped and stripped of their powers by Jokeresque villain Rickshaw and forced through a series of 'games' designed to crush their spirits and kill them. Not only is this very entertaining, especially listening to Rickshaw's monologues which never get old, it also packs more emotion into its short 70 minute run time than The Avengers was able to pack in nearly 3 hours (if it isn't obvious already, I found The Avengers to be overrated though by no means bad). It's the sense of hopelessness and dread that maintains your attention and morbid curiosity as you come to realise that these games are played by Rickshaw's rules and aren't designed to be won. If what I've said here interests you in the slightest then I advise you watch this film. The acting is generally very good with special mention needed to James Remar and Lucas Till who played their characters brilliantly. There were no real clichés as all of the characters felt like human people rather than superhuman stereotypes like you get in many superhero films. I would even go so far as to say this isn't really a superhero film, the world feels real and gritty and even the costumes look home-made. Clearly there was a very small budget for this film but it only shows in the occasional action scene in which there are no computer generated effects. For the most part it allows the film to maintain its very real gritty look but at times it does become noticeable. But given the constraints on this film, I believe it is forgivable and there are no film-breaking moments in my opinion. It was a real shame this film was so short as I would loved to have explored the characters deeper but thankfully this also means the film doesn't outstay its welcome and it generally feels tight and well-paced. For this though there should certainly be a price drop but that is hardly a fault of the film. I tip my hat to Jason Trost and look forward to seeing what else he can do with a larger budget and more time, I wish I could make movies like he can. The film is by no means perfect, but it captures a true humanity that many superhero films skip over (with the exception of Watchmen). If you don't need CGI and big explosions to have fun and appreciate small scale films with superb acting then see this film and you'll quickly be intrigued and drawn into this dark world full of pain, suffering and death.

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