SuperLopez 2018

In topics few people reading this site really care about, I decided to switch from Netflix to Hulu as my streaming site of choice for a while. And as I have just under a month left of Netflix before my membership runs out, I decided it was time to try and watch some of the movies that have been sitting in my queue for months. But instead of that, I watched this film which I had just heard about coming onto Netflix a few days ago. It’s a Spanish superhero parody movie, but it’s actually quite similar to Mystery Men as it’s not just a movie parody of Superman, but the original comic was a comic strip parody of Superman and this is an adaptation of that comic. As for the actual movie itself, it was pretty slow, but it did have a few good laughs mixed in between a lot of nothing.

What really works the best in this film is the comedy through the characters even though it comes in brief spurts. Lopez is an average schlub, but he uses his powers to give him only slight advantages over other people. There’s a Lois Lane type who gets hired just because the hiring manager, and Lopez’s friend Jaime has the hots for her and wants to date her. Instead, Lopez overhears with his x-ray vision and super hearing that she remembers him from college, kind of likes Lopez, and thinks Jaime is a creeper. Jaime is the loser best friend who likes to pretend to put different hats on when talking to Lopez, going from his “friend hat” to his “boss hat” or vice versa. The not-quite-Lois-Lane is the weakest character who has a bit of agency but basically boils down to the love interest who helps SuperLopez out during the climax of the movie.

The biggest issue with this film is the overall pacing. There are funny moments here and there, but a lot of time is spent just setting things up in a very slow process with very little or very subtle humor. We get a few mediocre jokes like how the baby has a mustache that immediately grows back even when shaved, and a few self-depricating jokes about Lopez’s costume when he finally gets one, and how he uses his powers. But there’s a lot of time just spent at his workplace and the weak love triangle between not-Lois, Lopez, and Jaime. The entire movie has very few actual action sequences, and most of those have the air taken out of them because Lopez doesn’t really know what he’s doing.

There are still some fun moments here and there, during Lopez’s first super event during his adult life as he attempts to stop a runaway subway train, which we later find out that the villainous daughter Agata pulled a Mr. Glass and created the disaster to lure out Lopez in the first place. The scene is reminiscent of the first half of the train sequence in Spider-Man 2 only without the webbing. Lopez gets hit by the train without being able to slow it down, and eventually uses a fire hose to stop the train and slingshot it backwards in the other direction. The other best moment happens after he gets his costume and is trying to tell not-Lois that he’s actually a superhero while she thinks it’s an elaborate scheme to break up with her. They are in front of a big monument and as Lopez changes into his costume, he’s surrounded by costumed panhandlers who think he’s trying to hone in on their territory.

As far as the actual action sequences go, there are some decent special effects. Lopez’s flying scenes are decent as well as funny and when Agata truly becomes the supervillain of the movie and turns her father’s floating throne chair into a giant mecha suit, it looks slightly on the cheap side, but still pretty serviceable. There are also a few interesting moments of Spanish philosophy like how Lopez’s father talks about how the wheat that grows taller than the rest gets cut down. Or when not-Lois discusses where superheroes come from and mentions US, England, or Japan, basically anywhere except for Spain. All in all, the film made me laugh quite a few times, but it was a little painful to watch during the doldrums in between the funny moments. Until next time, this has been Bubbawheat for Flights, Tights, and Movie Nights.