Director: Leon Ford
Starring: Ryan Kwanten, Maeve Dermody, Marshall Napier
Distributed by: Vivendi Entertainment
MPAA Rated: PG-13
Running Time: 93 minutes
Our Score: 4 out of 5 stars
If you are unaware of the name Ryan Kwanten, you may recognize the name of Jason Stackhouse from “True Blood”. Ryan is really breaking out from his role in “True Blood”, especially since last year’s great film “Red Hill”. This film is a fun twist on street super hero vigilantes, it’s “Kick Ass” meets “Batman”. It’s funny and also has some decent action and effects for a low budget film. I see Ryan Kwanten really coming the next big action star. He is slowly expanding from his star-role in Australia and building off his popularity from HBO’s “True Blood”. I think he is going to have a big break any day now.
The story follow shy and awkward office worker by day and vigilante super hero by night, Griff (Kwanten). Griff finds escape from “ordinary” life by this secret identity. Griff’s plans change when he meets Melody (Dermody), a who becomes fascinated by his fantasy identity. The two falling for each other and end up working together to defeat the everyday normality of life.
The special features on his disc are decent including a few behind the scenes featurette to start. There is one about the “Anatomy of a Scene” focusing on the following aspects; “Opening Sequence” and “Steadicam Shot”. It is definitely worth a watch. There are few deleted scenes, nothing special but also worth a watch. I really enjoyed the feature “Appear Calm: Diary of a First Time Director”, which covers the film from pre-production, to shooting, to post-production. There is a feature called “Rain Stops Play”, which is interesting and deserves a watch. “Patrick’s Set Tour” is brief but fun little set visit. Lastly we get a music video of “Don’t Give Yourself Away” by The Shadow Bureau, decent video but good song.