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Reviewed by Elliot V. Kotek
(from the 2009 Toronto International Film Festival)

Directed/Written by: Peter Stebbings
Starring: Woody Harrelson, Kat Dennings, Elias Koteas

Canadian actor Peter Stebbings (“K19: The Widowmaker”) takes the directorial reins for the first time to helm the low-budget, feel-good indie “Defendor,” starring Woody Harrelson as Arthur Poppington – an undeniably, but undefinably, mentally challenged man whose alter-ego is a semi-fledged superhero.

Arthur Poppington is the mild-mannered Clark Kent behind the defiant “Defendor.” Defendor’s goal: to take down “Captain Industry” or, rather, the captains of industry whom he holds responsible for his mother’s death many moons ago. To avenge wrongs done to his mother, Defendor brazenly takes on a corrupt cop (Elias Koteas) and in the process rescues a damsel/working girl in distress (Kat Dennings).

Defendor is an unbranded, unheralded kind of superhero without any super powers per se. A superhero without the high-end marketing but who dons tight, black, stagehand get-up and a self-applied shoe polish Lone Ranger mask before gaffer-taping a rough “D” to his chest. What he lacks in skill and technology he makes up for in his commitment to the convincingly cartoonish: killer wasps, rolling marbles, a truncheon.  

There is no doubt that, in this simple tale of the naïve vs. evil, there are many touching moments. The script allows real relationships of candor and mutual respect to develop between Arthur and Katerina, a prostitute who uses him at first for her basic needs (money and shelter), and between Arthur and his court-appointed psychiatrist, adeptly played by Sandra Oh (“Sideways,” TV’s “Grey’s Anatomy”). 

Despite the film’s simplicities, and the stereotypes inherent in any superhero flick, the pure intentions of the characters in the film enable the audience to rally around the child-like vigilante and join him in his quest to save his community. So let it be said, “Watch out termites. It’s squishing time.”

Photo courtesy of Toronto International Film Festival