Movie Review — “Surge of Power: Revenge of the Sequel”

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Setting out to make a bad movie is rarely a good idea. And making a sequel to something you’d love to label “a cult film” is even more dubious.

“Surge of Power: Revenge of the Sequel” is a cut-and-paste/jokes with no punchline follow-up to 2004’s “Surge of Power: The Stuff of Heroes.” You don’t have to have attended a comic book convention to have ever heard of it.

Actually, you do.

It’s a superhero spoof made from a deathly combination of inept actors, tin-eared joke writing where the default gag is always swishy, retrograde gay, and snippets of convention video from a vast array of nerd-adored TV shows and movies,  from a “Doctor Who” nobody remembers to TV’s original Lois Lane, “Gilligan’s Island” and “Star Trek: The Next Generation” and “Battlestar Galactica” (original series) refugees.

There’s many a cameo, but barely a laugh in the entire 89 minutes of this.

Vincent J. Roth returns as “Surge,” comically closeted superhero who is a Big Enough Man in Big City to take his ex-nemesis, Metal Master (John Venturini) out for a drink after the supervillain gets out of prison.

Because “Everybody deserves a second chance…or nine.”

But Hector aka “Metal Master,” estranged from his homophobic parents (Gil Gerard, TV’s “Buck Rodgers” and Linda Blair of “The Exorcist”) has a confession to make.

“I feel naked without my powers, don’t you?”

Which puts him in the employ of veteran villain Augur (Eric Roberts) and sends Surge from Big City to Las Vegas in his superhero Mazda RX-7 to foil an evil plot.

“Sin City will NEVER be the same!” Augur chortles.

“What about Big City?” Hector corrects.

That’s a blown-line, and it may be the funniest one in the movie.

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Cheesy costumes, cheap but cute effects, and a tidal wave of guest appearances ensue. Self-aware jokes at Frank Marino’s Vegas drag show and elsewhere, all of which help Surge come to grips with who he is, with the help of his on-car computer (comedy writer Bruce Vilanch) and supernatural savior, Omen (“Star Trek” retirees Nichelle Nichols and Roert Picardi).

It’s meant to be viewed with a crowd of fellow travelers/Comic Con goers, preferably drunk ones. Sober? The attempts at jokes don’t land and cameos are no substitute for story, performances or wit in the script.

This super hero spoof is a played out idea excruciatingly executed.

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MPAA Rating: PG-13 for some suggestive material

Cast: Vincent J. Roth, Eric Roberts, John Venturini, Nichelle Nichols, Linda Blair, Frank Marino, Lou Ferigno

Credits: Written and directed byAntonio LexerotVincent J. Roth.  An Indie Rights release.

Running time: 1:29

About Roger Moore

Movie Critic, formerly with McClatchy-Tribune News Service, Orlando Sentinel, published in Spin Magazine, The World and now published here, Orlando Magazine, Autoweek Magazine
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