Defendor

In the slew of comic book movies/vigilante stories that have been appearing on the silver screen, a la kick-ass, the losers, and the recent addition to the Boondock Saints franchise, one movie, though left mostly unnoticed, stands out from the bunch in the questions it asks and the

emotions it evokes. This movie is Defendor ("or", not "er") and it tells the tale of Arthur Poppington and his life as a construction worker/vigilante in the streets of a crime-ridden city. During the day, he carries on as an average joe construction worker, but at night, he becomes Defendor: protector of justice and punisher of drug pushers and wrongdoers.
The roller coaster ride of a movie takes you through Defendor's search for the evil mastermind, "Captain Industry", an ambiguous character created by Defendor that plagues the streets with drugs, guns, and all sorts of other illegal activity. Defendor's tyrade starts when he catches a crooked cop participating in not-so-savory activities with a young prostitute, played by Kat Dennings, and proceeds to throw marbles at him and then beat him with a WWII trench club - which are part of his ghetto-rigged assortment of spy tools and crime fighting apparatus.

The story continues as he runs into the same cop again, and begins to unravel a growing

crime syndicate. Now from this description, you could be describing

any

vigilante/crime fighting movie, but there are a few things that Defendor brings to the table that bring some fresh perspectives to a classic plot. The first is the mental state of the main character, which is not psychopathic or clouded with visions of ultimate justice. Instead he's rather mentally handicapped due to drug abuse of his mother - as we discover later on. This presents the scenario of a man who does not necessarily know the difference between what's acceptable and what's not in society, so all he knows is that he wants to punish the bad guys because they did something wrong. This is brought to light very well in the interview segments of the movie, which happen with a clinical psychologist, Dr. Park, played by Sandra Oh, in which he is being evaluated for mental stability after the destruction of local dry cleaners.

These segments are interlaced into about the first three quarters of the movie and provide more insight into his motives, which are surprisingly simple and honest, throwing the perspective of his actions into a completely different light. It's really the impressive way Woody Harrelson plays the main character, that brings the underlying plot devices to life. While slightly handicapped, he still functions as a regular individual in society and interacts well with others, he merely shows more of a sheltered personality that is mixed with the pure sense of justice than a child has, that bad guys get punished and good guys punish them.

As much as I've already described, you can only really get an idea as to what this movie is

about by watching it, since it's hard to really delve into the psychological phenomenons and statements that the movie makes without creating spoilers. Yet another interesting aspect of the movie is the way it presents comedy. In the beginning, some of Defendor's antics are just genuinely amusing, even though they are usually mixed directly with tragedy at multiple points during the movie, giving the same actions multiple meanings and thus changing Defendor's motivation as the plot progresses. As underrated as this movie was, it's really something everyone should watch, whether you're looking for a good chuckle, good drama or even something that invokes some thoughts at the end, this movie will satisfy in many different ways.