I love cheesy B...D List movies. I love superheroes. I also love falling in rabbit holes on the internet. I just so happened to fall into one of those rabbit holes and I discovered a film called Sparks. I wasn't doing anything else, so I sat down and watched it. It was alright.
The film revolves around Sparks. Growing up, he was in a car accident, that killed his parents and doused him in a chemical. This gave him a healing factor. Being an angry young man he became a hero. Eventually, he meats Lady Heavenly, another hero. The two fall in love and become one of the top duos in the game. Everything changes when they track the killer Matanza to an alleyway. After locating his hideout in the sewer Sparks blacks out and Lady Heavenly is sexually assaulted. They're rescued by Lady Heavenly's former partner Sledge and everything goes down hill for Sparks from there. His grandmother is murdered, and he returns home waiting for someone to kill him. I'd give you more, but I don't want to spoil it.
I enjoy the fact that the film is presented in a classic noir style. Not a lot of films do that anymore, especially not superhero films. It breathes some fresh air to the genre (even if the film is form 2013). The characters are likable, at least the ones you should like. However, with the exception of maybe two characters, it's pretty clear who the bad guys are before the twist comes in. My biggest issue with the film is that there are some awkward special effect scenes that I can't help laugh at. I can't imagine that there was a huge budget for this film, so it's understandable.
I'll be honest, I want to call this movie terrible. The effects are terrible, outside of some seasoned actors, the acting is terrible. There's moments when the lighting is just terrible. Despite all of that, I can't call it bad. Even if I laughed at some moments that were supposed to be serious due to effects or the silliness of costumes. One thing I can't fault them for, is telling a great story. The story saved this film. Not just the main story we were following but great care was taken in building a world with heroes while also explaining why there aren't more of them. People with powers feel like sideshows, Only a very small portion of the world has super strength or healing factors. An even smaller portion has actual powers like shapeshifting or pyrokenisis.
If you enjoy Sin City you'll probably like Sparks. Both have the same kind of flaws. But, they tell great stories with interesting characters. If you've got 90 minutes, and want to see something with heroes besides DC or Marvel. Maybe something a little darker than average, then this is worth your time.
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