Duane Andersen Archives - Sean Kelly On Movies

A former superhero has a midlife crisis in Superpowerless. For most of his life, Bob (Josiah Polhemus) has enjoyed a career as the superhero Captain Truth. However, a few years ago Bob began to lose his superpowers and has been making an attempt to settle into a normal life with his girlfriend Mimi (Amy Prosser). When his former sidekick Sam, aka Liberty Boy (H.P. Mendoza) releases a memoir, Bob decides to also write one, hiring on the young and beautiful editor Danniell (Natalie Lander). As he revisits his life as a superhero, Bob begins to dread a future where he has to be normal. Superpowerless is a film with the very simple description of "ex-superhero has a midlife crisis." The film has the familiar beats of such as story, such as Bob's relationship with Mimi starting to get strained, as Mimi campaigns for a new promotion at her job. At the same time, Bob becomes increasingly attracted to his twenty-something editor Danniell and begins to wonder if his relationship with Mimi was the reason that he lost his superpowers in the first place? On paper, a film that theorizes "what would happen if Superman lost his powers and had to live as a normal person" sounds like an interest concept. However, there isn't really all that much to Superpowerless that differentiates the film from every other midlife crisis themed story. In fact, Bob's past as a superhero is more backstory than anything else, with the film having no real active superheroes on screen, with the exception of Kato-mask wearing Liberty Boy. Superpowerless is a fine enough film, but nothing too spectacular. 7 / 10 stars FAIR