Sparks – 2013 – Another superhero story

Apparently, Sparks is based on a graphic novel that I never heard about. I haven’t really got what a graphic novel really is either if not a comic book. Maybe itäs my age playing tricks on me. In either case, the knowledge that the story will include superheroes and the fact that Jake Busey is in it made me interested. To my surprise, there is very little of both. The background of a meteor that strikes earth makes 13 people possess superpowers, which are later transferred into their descendants, doesn’t seem more far-fetched than any other superhero story. The genre is filled with men from another planet, kids being bitten by radioactive spiders, and failed experiments.

However, our main hero – Ian Sparks, does not have a superpower but, just like Batman turns to crimefighting after his parents are killed. We then get to follow him through his perspective. Eventually, he teams up with a superhero woman and together they start to fight crimes together. At least up to the point when they encounter super villain Matanza. This is the starting point for the decay of Ian Sparks. He breaks with his partner (and lover), or rather, she breaks up with him I think. It doesn’t really matter. The remaining film more or less deals with his struggle to get back on his feet. There are some pretty strange events but I’m not sure where they’re leading. I found the film pretty unfocused and there are too many strange things going on the be frank.

Yet, it kinda feels like a comic book. The characters are pretty wooden and two-dimensional. I can’t really figure out the point with it. It was ok to lose a couple of hours by watching it I think. But there won’t be any lasting impression of it. I already forgot most things happening in it anyway.