Elite Entertainment has some sort of distribution
deal with director Philippe Mora, and Elite has even been involved in
the production of Mora’s recent ACCORDING TO OCCAM’s RAZOR (1999).
Apparently, the folks at Elite believe that Mora is God’s gift to
filmmaking. Mora’s career has it’s up and downs—he’s directed
such genre favorites as MAD DOG MORGAN (1976), THE BEAST WITHIN (1982),
and the critically-acclaimed COMMUNION (1989). But this is the man also
responsible for the two worst films of all time, THE HOWLING 2 and THE
HOWLING 3 (1987). Despite the huge back catalog that Elite is sitting
on, they still insist on ramming the latest Philippe Mora oddity down
the throats of genre fans. Elite’s last Mora release was the terrible
THE HOWLING 3 and now they’re back with the director’s 1983
superhero action/comedy/musical, RETURN OF CAPTAIN INVINCIBLE. Man, this
flick is weird. The producers and director’s wanted some kind of major
cult oddity, so they hired Richard O’Brien (composer for the ROCKY
HORROR PICTURE SHOW) to pen all new show tunes for RETURN OF CAPTAIN
INVINCIBLE. The film stars Alan Arkin as the super hero Captain
Invincible, Christopher Lee as his old enemy Mr. Midnight, and
Australian actress Kate Fitzpatrick as Arkin’s love interest, police
woman Patty. Naturally, a movie like this bombed big time when it
premiered. Elite seems to love releasing genre films from the 1980’s
lately (DON’T MESS WITH MY SISTER, HOUSE ON SORORITY ROW, POPCORN), so
RETURN OF CAPTAIN INVINCIBLE fits right in with those films. This is a
Director’s Cut of sorts, with added footage not seen in theaters.
After World War 2, the U.S. government turned it’s
back on the crime-busting super hero Captain Invincible (Adam Arkin),
who can fly, has super speed, can control magnetism, and possesses a
computer brain. Shattered by this revelation, Captain Invincible
disappears from society and becomes an alcoholic living in on the
streets of Sidney, Australia. During these years of post WW2, Captain
Invincible’s nemesis, the racist Mr. Midnight (Christopher Lee) has
risen to prominence as a land developer (think Donald Trump with a
megalomania streak). In reality, Mr. Midnight has masterminded a
criminal empire that extends to the U.S. government itself. Mr. Midnight
uses his resources to steal the government’s hypno-ray, so that he can
control people’s minds and set himself up as the dictator of America.
The U.S. President (Michael Pate) witnessed Captain Invincible in action
when he was a kid, and now makes a plea to find and secure the services
of the missing hero. An Australian police officer Patty (Kate
Fitzpatrick) finds Captain Invincible on the streets of Sidney and
attempts to recruit him into action. However, the hero wants nothing to
do with the U.S. government or the people who quickly turned against him
years ago. Finally the President himself shows up and sparks his
interest by saying that only he can defeat Mr. Midnight. Captain
Invincible finally agrees to help, but all those years in a drunken haze
has diminished his super powers. He can longer fly, use his computer
brain, or control his magnetic powers. So the government sets up a
training facility to rejuvenate Captain Invincible. With Patty’s
encouragement, our hero gets in shape just in time to challenge the
dastardly master plan of Mr. Midnight!
RETURN OF CAPTAIN INVINCIBLE is essentially a
challenge from the filmmakers to produce a movie with so much badness in
it that it just has to be good. The film opens on a positive note, with
doctored newsreel footage of Captain Invincible in action against
gangsters and the Germans during WW2 (with some hilariously hokey
special effects). Then the action switches to the present day 1983 where
the nonsense begins. This is a very schizophrenic movie and director
Philippe Mora can’t make up his mind whether to make this a super hero
picture, an AIRPLANE-like comedy (with lots of sight gags and
one-liners), or a musical. Mora does include lots of tributes to
everything from the Golden Age of Serials to DR. STRANGELOVE. The music
numbers are ridiculous, with the President breaking into a song (called
"Bull Shit") during a time of crisis. However, one of
Christopher Lee’s songs about alcohol is right on the money when Mr.
Midnight attempts to lure his enemy back to the bottle. Other comic
highlights include the befuddled superhero attempting to gain control of
his powers (his magnetic powers rip the shirt buttons off the women
revealing the skimpy clothing underneath), and when he and Patty are
attacked by a room full of living vacuum cleaners. The movie ends with a
strong dose of patriotism which seems relevant in today’s political
climate. This is just one truly WEIRD movie, something that only
Philippe Mora could come up with with (ever see COMMUNION?). Alan Arkin
plays Captain Invincible pretty ingeniously, and is convincing in this
"fall from grace" role. But it’s Christopher Lee who makes
this oddity worth sitting through. He’s campy and seems to enjoy doing
the role of Mr. Midnight. He breaks into song several times and is fond
of keeping half-naked women around (my kinda guy!). His singing is an
acquired taste, but his presence is welcome, even in a film like this.
Elite presents RETURN OF CAPTAIN INVINCIBLE in the
original widescreen ratio of 2.35.1, with 16x9 enhancement. Despite the
unflattering nature of the film, Elite does another bang-up
presentation. The transfer is clear and colorful and projects a good
sense of depth. The blacks are truly deep and skin tones are properly
tweaked. The cheap special effects scenes are of a blue screen nature,
but are surprisingly effective to those who’ve seen Christopher Reeve’s
SUPERMAN. The movie does offer up some eye candy cinematography
(including many Australian locations) which holds up well in the
transfer. The soundtrack is Dolby Digital 5.1, and feature some solid
acoustics without any distortion or anomalies. The soundtrack provides
some good ambiance, but lacks any real sound placement capabilities. The
soundtrack does deliver the music very well, however, with good bass.
But not everyone will want to hear Christopher Lee’s singing voice.
Those who enjoy ROCKY-HORROR type stuff will get a charge out of this,
all others beware! Elite’s disc offers only one extra, the original
theatrical trailer, which is full frame, mono sound, and runs 2:32.
Though I find RETURN OF CAPTAIN INVINCIBLE to be
bad in nearly every way, a movie like this one is bound to have it’s
fans. And if you are a fan of this film, you will love what Elite’s
DVD has to offer. There are no great extras here, but Elite’s transfer
is commendable and the Dolby Digital 5.1 soundfield provides plenty of
sound dynamics for the show tunes. As flawed as this film may be, it
still is more fun than Mora’s other pictures (like THE HOWLING
sequels). Christopher Lee, like Dr. Evil in THE SPY WHO SHAGGED ME,
steals the film and provides one of the few reasons to see it.
