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Image // Alliance Films
Defendor // Words // Dan Wheeler Defendor is the superhero movie you deserve, but not the one that cinema has supplied for the past few years. In a Hollywood landscape dominated by remakes and comic book adaptations, this directorial debut by Peter Stebbings didn’t manage to secure a nationwide release in the States, despite featuring the acting talents of Woody Harrelson (ZombieLand) and Kat Dennings of Nick and Norah fame. Okay, so this isn’t The Dark Knight or Kick-Ass, but it isn’t trying to be. The story itself has enough depth and originality to challenge the best writers in the business today.The plot follows delusional Arthur (Harrelson) and his confused outlook of the world as a good vs. evil utopia, in which he attempts to correct the imbalance alone. The streetwise, ‘druggie’ Kat (Dennings) who he runs into on his adventures, doesn’t exactly make matters easier for Arthur, providing a harsh reality check about the real world. Perhaps at first Defendor might seem like your average ‘unlikely hero against the world’ scenario, but delve deeper and this is really a tale of self-discovery and redemption. Harrelson’s performance as the self-proclaimed hero under psychiatric care is one of his best and has been argued award-worthy by several critics. So give Defendor a go. It offers something different in a genre that has become overcrowded with tried and tested ideas. Kudos to Stebbings, look out for his work in the future.