Surge of Power: The Stuff of Heroes

Yet another one of those films, which I cannot decide if they should be reviewed here or not. Given that this played in a few LGBT film festivals, I am gonna write a very short review. Besides the fact that most characters in the film are gay, there is nothing queer about it. There are no talks of love, closeness or nothing. For some, this may be a good thing, because it shows that the film is focussed on the core subject; but for others (people like me), it is a slight disappointment. Because truth be told, I would have never touched this movie of not for the gay context.

Gavin is a comic book nerd and a lawyer for a company developing new technology. He is good friends with the scientist Robert and one day an accident happens and Gavin realizes sudden subtle changes inside him. One night after a party, Gavin jumps to save a hot guy from hate crime on an alleyway, thereby realizing his powers for the first time. With the help of scientist Richard, he realizes that he now has energy surge that he can release to blast things away. However every time he hears dance music, the power goes away (how gay!). He gets a costume for himself to save people from evil. We also have a rival scientist Hector planning his carrier as a super villain (The Metal master). After a series of events, a huge fight happens between the two, with Surge emerging as a winner and finding the love in a man whom he saved for the first time.

The movie claims to be a new high in low budget camp movies and it is true. This movie is one long running joke about the classics and clichés of the Superhero genre. Sadly, I didnt laugh on most jokes. Maybe because I wasn't aware that this is a spoof and my expectations were completely different. As mentioned before, tThe 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. The acting in the film is not the worst but it is pretty bad. And same is true for special effects and editing. But the film still has some charm and mostly because of Gavin/Surge's character. For example, Surge is a fanatic about his cape, even though everyone and everything conspires to convince him it is a bad idea. And we see how it comes in the way of enacting his full potential as a super hero but in a campy sort of way.

With a half baked script and bad acting, I am not sure if I can recommend this film but what the hell, I am sure there are folks who enjoy spoofy campy fun. To each his own. (3/10)