SIFF: Mirageman

Mirageman, the first Chilean Superhero.  And, near as I can tell, they're right.

But, lets talk about the movie.

Take a dash of revenge fantasy, a dollop of Telemundo series Pilot, a helping of the 70's live action Spider-man movies, a big pile of chopsocky.  Glue it all together with a kick-ass 70s funkadelic soundtrack.

Mirageman, while being a bit campy, is just plain fun. A pair of brothers take vastly different paths in life after a traumatic event in their childhood which leaves one horribly beaten, the other raped and their parents killed.  One brother ends up in a psych ward, the other feeds those aforementioned revenge fantasies by working out incessantly, training in martial arts and, oddly, working as a bouncer in a strip club.  While I get the working as a bouncer part, working in a strip club just seemed a bit... odd.  But, regardless. 

One night, while out on a run, the brother comes across a robbery/rape/B&E job in progress.  He beats down one man, stealing his ski mask and proceeds into the house to save the occupants by taking on two more intruders, just to leave without a word.  Luckily, the person he saved was a television personality, so the tale of his act of heroism is quickly spread far and wide.  And he runs with it.

What follows is the ups and downs of a fledgling crime-fighter, including the inevitable side-kick wanna-be's.

Some people will think that the film, rather than balancing on the fine line between goofy and serious tends to sway wildly back and forth between the two.  Personally, I think that is what defines true camp.  Take something like The Trail of the Screaming Forehead or The Lost Skeleton of Cadavra, two very goofy movies that take themselves entirely seriously, managing to bounce with fervor between the two realms.  But then, not all camp is good.  Some camp is bad, just like anything else.  Some is good, some is bad.  Personally, I think this one is good.

Another minor niggling point is the hit-it-and-quit-it fight sequences.  Very few fights lasted more than a punch.  I thought they managed to have enough variety, even with that shortness, to make it not that repetitive.  But, for the aficionado, you'll probably be bored well before the third act.

One of my favorite aspects of the movie is the fact that they don't actually say which brother is which.  It can be implied, but, from what I saw, they never outright state who is who, which just leaves the story ripe for the eventual reveal that the stronger of the two was the one who was raped, thereby surprising everyone.  Of course, they might have said it at some point and I just missed it.

My score?  4 out of 5, but a 9 out of 10.  Damn 5 point system.

EDITED TO ADD: Ok, I think I need to clarify. I understand that the younger brother was the one who was raped and the older brother was the one who was beaten horribly. I'm wondering if they clarified which brother was which in the movie. Was it the younger brother in the psych ward or the older brother? Most people have said 'Well, physically, the brother outside appears older' but, I'd counter that with the fact that he works out while the other is agoraphobic and hasn't left his room in a while, which could make it hard to tell that one is actually older than the other. I agree, it is likely the older outside, but I do think that it'd be an eventual reveal to show that he is in fact the younger and the reason the older is in the pysch ward is because he can't accept that he wasn't able to protect his younger brother.