With an influx of comic book based films coming out in the wake of Spider-Man, where such secondary characters as Elektra and Ghost Rider received their own movies, it's always great when something like Defendor comes along to take the piss out of them. Sure, it may not be a superhero flick per say, but don't tell that to our main character Arthur Poppington (Woody Harrelson).

You see, Arthur's not exactly the brightest, most socially adept guy around and you can't really blame him considering he lost his mother at an early age and spent his childhood with his gruff grandfather and a stack of comics. It's really no surprise when he starts donning a makeshift crime fighting costume, dubs himself "Defendor", and sets out to try and clean the city up of baddies - even if most of his attempts are during minor offences like bullying and drug dealing.

That's all about to change for him when, out on patrol one evening, he busts up the head of undercover cop Dooney (Elias Koteas) whose been feeding crack-cocaine and getting sexual favours from downtrodden prostitute Kat (Kat Dennings). This puts Arthur on Dooney's enemy list and they find their paths crossing numerous times simply because: a) he's a corrupt cop and b) he happens to be in cahoots with a local slave/drug trader that Arthur believes to be his arch enemy "Captain Industry".

Along the way to a finale that was surprisingly downbeat; Arthur finds himself befriending Kat (despite the fact she's kind of a jerk to him), ends up being arrested and forced to see a psychiatrist, and becomes a sort of cult hero amongst citizens. But what makes our ride there so watchable is the fact that writer-director Peter Stebbings isn't playing this out as an over-the-top comic book movie or just another silly superhero comedy along the lines of Mystery Men. Stebbings has managed to give Arthur naïve innocence and enough mental scars that you're almost willing to believe along with him that he's going to succeed while feeling sympathy for someone who's obviously escaping into the world of fantasy to avoid real-life.

Years ago, after jumping from television hit "Cheers" to such innocuous fare as White Men Can't Jump and The Cowboy Way, I never really paid a lot of attention to Harrelson. I always found him to be pretty likeable in his roles (and he was pretty damn awesome in Kingpin) but he didn't really start clicking with me until he started appearing in more non-mainstream fare such as No Country for Old Men and A Scanner Darkly. Then came Zombieland, a film that single-handedly proved he could be a cool hero and do comedy just as effortlessly. What's best about his turn in Defendor is he's taken a character that could be a parody and infused genuine charm and emotion into it. He certainly steals the film from his co-stars with Dennings somewhat hard to take in a non-stereotypical role as our drug addicted young prostitute with daddy issues and Koteas turning in yet another solid performance as our hard-assed detective.

Since he's typically known as a character actor on numerous, mostly syndicated, television series it's great to see such a confident directorial debut from Stebbings. Granted, the idea of spinning the superhero genre into darker, satirical places isn't a new one and was even explored with this year's Kick-Ass but Defendor stays away from that film's austere version of heroes to paint a portrait of a lonely guy, abandoned young who's just looking to do some good in the world and finally be recognized without forgetting to layer in a few comedic moments and nods at both comics and vigilante flicks - it's pretty cool to be getting something so weighty and well-done when, after looking at the goofy box artwork, all I was expecting going in was another lame parody much along the same lines as Blankman and My Super Ex-Girlfriend. Check this one out, you might be surprised. (Chris Hartley, 9/5/10)

Directed By: Peter Stebbings.
Written By: Peter Stebbings.

Starring: Woody Harrelson, Kat Dennings, Elias Koteas, Michael Kelly.