SYNOPSICS
Surge of Power: The Stuff of Heroes (2004) is a English movie. Mike Donahue has directed this movie. Forrest J. Ackerman,Jason Allen,Alison Arngrim,Gene Barsamian are the starring of this movie. It was released in 2004. Surge of Power: The Stuff of Heroes (2004) is considered one of the best Comedy movie in India and around the world.
Comic book fan happens upon a merchant who reveals Issue No.1 of "Surge of Power", introducing the wacky world of Big City where Gavin Lucas is out and proud about his comic reading penchant and longing to be a superhero. This science-fiction spoof is complete with mad scientist, Professor Ronald Richards, his nemesis and former partner, Hector Harris who sabotages Ronald's secret experiment (how naughty!) and a classic "freak accident" that causes superpowers! Hate crimes and bank robberies and fear, Oh, my! Gavin enlists the reluctant Professor in zany crime fighting exploits, fashioning a "battle suit" and Gavin's "Surge of Power" identity, repeatedly rescuing the same Young Man and investigating a bizarre crime wave that indicates a new super-villain in Big City more powerful than Surge of Power! Even with input from science-fiction veterans Nichelle Nichols, Lou Ferrigno and Noel Neill, can Surge of Power thwart the evil plans of the mysterious Metal Master? Are capes in fashion?...
More
Surge of Power: The Stuff of Heroes (2004) Reviews
Cute gay superhero flick with lots of inside jokes
I picked this up as an online rental just because it was highly rated in the gay/lesbian section and I'm glad I did. "Surge of Power" is a cute low budget film with obvious but undeclared gay characters. I enjoyed the story and got many of the insider references placed there just for the gay comics nerds like me. While Vincent Roth's acting skills may not have been super great, his enthusiasm, personality, cute face and chiseled body went a long way in making up for his other deficiencies. Getting through the opening credits, you realize that this is a dream project for Roth and it shows in the script, costumes and other design touches attributed to him. There were a number of guest appearances by actors associated with comic book and science fiction TV shows like the original Lois Lane (Noel Neill), the Hulk (Lou Ferrigno), and Star Trek's Uhura (Nichelle Nichols). These appearances and other things served to both legitimize as well as poke fun at the movie. Another guest was actor Trev Broudy who was severely beaten in a hate crime in 2002 in his first acting appearance following his recovery. While the movie may have been a low-budget vanity project, the superhero special effects seemed appropriate most of the time. I found the movie entertaining as light-hearted fare in the superhero genre. I didn't have high expectations for the movie and was pleasantly surprised at the overall quality of the film. If you are a gay comics fanboy, I do recommend this a fun rental.
World's best bad movie.
Gavin Lucas is a comic book geek. He is a lawyer for a company that develops new technology. He's also gay. It's never stated, but really, no doubts here. Gavin is running some papers to one of their scientists, Professor Ronald Richards (Robert Hurt) when a jealous rival scientist, Hector Harris (John Venturini) tries to steal some of Professor Richards research. Gavin intervenes, and there is an accident. A very special accident. Unaware of how things are different now, Gavin goes with his friends to a costume party where everyone is dressed up as Superheroes. After the party, and a hilarious cameo of Bobby Trendy as himself (If you don't know who he is, tell him. I'm sure he'll be crushed.) Gavin jumps in to save the hot guy from the park from a hate crime. Being pounded on, he releases his powers for the first time. Blessed with superpowers, an energy surge that he can release to blast things away, Gavin decides to become Surge. Enlisting Professor Richards help he gets a costume with lots of gadgets. However Surge is aware he has a weakness. Whenever he hears dance music, his powers fizzle! (Gay!) Unfortunately, Hector Harris is also getting a costume, and planning his career as a Super Villain, The Metal Master! (Can you say Magneto Rip off with costume by Wilson's Leather?) The movie claims to be A New High in Low Budget Camp. And that claim is true! This movie is one long running joke about the classics and clichés of the Superhero genre. Surge is a fanatic about his cape, even though everyone and everything conspires to convince him it is a bad idea. Everyone mentions no one is doing capes. It gets caught in a phone booth door after his first costume change. (Ever notice phone booths these days are glass?) A villain tries to pin him to the ground with it. Etc, etc, etc. They talk about superheroes in other cities; they mean Batman and Robin, but call them the Wombat and Pigeon. There is the other hero who crawls on walls and wraps people up in webs starts with an 'S' The Silkworm! (He was bitten by a radioactive Silkworm.) The only hero they mention by name is Superman. And no one would dare sue the one who said it the unforgettable Noel Neill, the original Lois Lane from The Adventures of Superman TV show! That's the other recurring hammer; Cameos! Noel Neill, Marv Wolfman, Comic book writer and co-creator of The Teen Titans and Blade, Len Wein, also a comics writer, creator of Swamp Thing and Wolverine, Bobby Trendy, Butch Patrick (Eddie Munster), Rose Marie, (Dick Van Dyke Show), Erin Murphy (Tabitha Stevens of Bewitched), Allison Arngrim, (Nellie Olsen from The Little House on the Prairie.), Bernard Fox (Dr. Bombay from Bewitched), Marty Croft of H.R. Puffnstuff and Land of the Lost fame, Bob May, the voice of the Robot in Lost in Space, Trev Brody, the out actor who was gay bashed in 2002. Now he does a lot of voice over work, due to vision loss, including the Voice of Captain America for the video game Avengers. Liz Sheridan (Seinfeld's "mom") finally, two real treats, Lou Ferrigno, the Incredible Hulk. (He is still incredible at age 52) and the incomparable Nichelle Nichols. That's right; Lt. Uhura is the Omen, Big Cities Hero of days gone by. The last running joke are gay jokes; when Gavin greats his friends; "Hey, is that a banana in your pocket?" (Friend pulls out a banana) "It's a great source of potassium but I am happy to see you." And at the party, two fellows come to check out Surge's .cape. #1"That's a nice cape." #2 "It's so big can we touch it?" Gavin, "Sure." (Feeling the fabric) #1 "It's so thick!" (Gay, gay, GAAAY!) This movie is just so campy. Not since John Waters came off his last bender has any movie worked this hard to camp it up this much. It like the old Batman TV show on steroids and poppers! And for being a no budget wonder, it has surprisingly high production values. The special effects are at least as good as those you see on the made for Sci Fi movies. The acting could be compared to the very best provided by the porn industry. But it's okay. Everyone is having such a good time; it comes across as hilariously cheesy, instead of just Cheesy. I am deeply torn on rating this movie. It's bad. I mean, really bad. But I loved it so much! Deep love with inappropriate .never mind. I liked the movie. It is FUN. It has a message of love and acceptance, and about being a hero in your everyday life. It's so warm and uplifting. And bad. I love it. I guess I will have to forgive it its flaws, but grade it in the middle. One star for production, Five Stars for fun engendered. Three on average. Four if you are a comic geek or gay. Five for Gay Comic Geeks like me.
10 snaps for a gay superhero
I just saw the movie tonight at the Gay & Lesbian Film Fest in Palm Desert, California. It was a funny movie - patterned after other comic book superhero movies, but with gay characters. My favorite parts were the cameos. Nichelle Nichols was awesome & looks as beautiful as she did when she filmed Startrek. I always enjoy seeing Lou Ferrigno of Incredible Hulk fame - and he looks terrific and as muscular as ever. It's nice to see him in a speaking part & wearing his hearing aids - he is a great example of a real-life superhero. The movie had gay characters, but they weren't all just stereotypical buffoons like in many gay movies & sitcoms. Though romance was in the air, the characters abstained from any physical contact - in the tradition of true superheros. It is a low budget, independent film - and as such I wasn't expecting a Spiderman-type blockbuster movie with special effects in excess. Instead, the plot and characters carried the movie, with only minimal special effects. I hope the movie finds a distributer, or at least shows up as a DVD, so I can see it again.
An underrated superhero comedy
The current rating for this film is about 3, with a large number of 1 votes being cast. I can only speculate, but I suspect the 1 votes are mostly coming from humourless fanboys seeking to view everything that stars like Lou Ferrigno have ever done (like cameos in the two recent Hulk films) checking out this film on that basis, and being unable to deal with its awesome gayness, which is mostly revealed through double entendres in a tamer way than the Ambiguously Gay Duo. (But I am disappointed I didn't detect a reference to Surge Studios...) Either that, or people are not being properly recruited before receiving their gay cards. Truthfully, it is a bit odd that nearly everyone in the film reads as gay. Even in a Big City, that's not realistic. Not that it has to be realistic (it is a superhero movie after all) but then it should be explained. The acting in this film is absolutely dreadful. It's NOT the worst I've ever seen, but it's pretty bad. And the effects and editing some times are just as painful to watch. But there is something so charming about the story. True, some of the charm radiates from Gavin/Surge as a person. But it's a good, sweet, and funny story as well, and the writer deserves the credit. Oh wait! It's the same guy. That's either really adorable or really creepy in a Tom Cruise's ego kind of way. I'm going with adorable until proved otherwise. I wish this film had at least 20 times the budget to see what could be done with it. Consider Hancock, for example. This film is a treat for fans looking for cameos and references to science fiction or superhero films. You've got the Hulk, Uhura, others (hey, I can't know everyone), and references to pretty much everything. The recurring appeals to the Christian religion seemed out of place to me. It's a science fiction superhero movie -- not exactly the place to get all religious on us. However, nobody in the film actually received help from a deity to do anything, and that dovetails in with one theme of the film, which is self-confidence. In summary, I'm looking for more from this team, and somebody needs to fund them properly.
Surge is campy fun...
I rented Surge of Power from Blockbuster and found it to be good, clean campy fun. Even though I agree with some of the comments regarding the weaker acting performances, but overall I thought some of the strongest performances came from Tangen, Roth, Venturini, and the slew of guest stars like Nichelle Nichols, Lou Ferrigno and Noel Neill. This was kind of a throw-back to the old campy Batman series starring Adam West and Burt Ward, so I think the performances were supposed to be tongue-in-cheek and over-the-top. I especially liked the battle scenes between Surge and The Metal Master and I really enjoyed the bank robbery scene with Noel Neill. The costumes were great and the cheesy effects added to the kitsch. The gay stuff was ambiguous so I think everyone of all ages could enjoy this movie. I can't help but wonder -- is there going to be a Surge 2?