In Chuck Palahniuk’s 1996 novel Fight Club – and to a lesser extent, director David Fincher’s 1999 film adaptation – the author floated the possibility of a being that was omnipotent but not benevolent. “You have to consider the possibility that God does not like you,” said Tyler Durden. “In all probability, he hates you.”
Inspired by the tsunami of caped crusader movies currently washing through Hollywood, Melbourne-based writer-director Robert Mond poses a similar question in the context of superheroes. What if a person or an organisation could give you super powers but they didn’t care for you, or for society? And what if such powers could be absorbed by swallowing a pill but your system rejected them?
It’s not uncommon to see a body horror element in these kinds of stories on film (characters in the recent Fantastic Four movie were stuck in laboratories and fretted over their new abilities, for example), while villains frequently let incredible new powers go to their heads.
But there’s something quite different about Mond’s self-professed “anti-superhero” movie, The Subjects. This energetic, low-budget venture strips away the romantic idea that superpower-enhanced humans are blessed by fate and views them instead as lab rats embroiled in a cause out of their control.
The film is a single-setting thriller that revolves around a group of strangers trapped in a soundproof studio. They have agreed to be here in the name of science – or more bluntly, to earn an easy $800 by swallowing a pill and staying in a room for eight hours while being observed by a video camera.
This is a clinical trial put on by pharmaceutical company SunSkye, which has brought together a tapestry of mostly familiar personalities. There’s girl next door Nikki (Katharine Innes), potty-mouthed brute Giggles (Frank Magree), airheaded party-goer Jenna (Emily Wheaton), chilled out dude Corey (Paul Henri), “time is money” straight-talker Devin (Spencer McLaren), nervous introvert Lilly (Charlotte Nicdao) and magician John (Paul O’Brien).
Giggles has participated in these kind of trials before and is convinced the group is swallowing placebos. But necking a bunch of dud pills does not an interesting movie make; the story really kicks into gear when complaints about an upset tummy result in one of the characters spontaneously combusting about 20 minutes in.
From then on it’s a wild ride, built around constantly surprising the audience and offering them something quite different (though undoubtedly inspired by) the same-old same-old, save-the-day pap playing at the local multiplex.
Characters develop incredible powers and must quickly come to terms with them in a universe incompatible with training montages or cheesy speeches about great power coming with great responsibility. Interactions between the cast feel a little laboured – there’s lots of macho waffle between the blokes – and the story takes a while to loosen up and make the most of its interesting ideas.
But when an extra cast member unexpectedly appears, it becomes clearhow much thought Mond has invested in his screenplay, particularly its structure, which is more intelligent than it initially appears. Experimentation with time travel, teleportation and the impact new superpowers have on how the story has unfoldedto this point are among the film’s most interesting thought bubbles.
The Subjects is lit and graded blandly and brightly – a moodier or higher contrast look might have better suited the script’s dark elements – and the performances are nothing to write home about. But at its best The Subjects is an antidote to the standard-rate cookie cutter superhero format audiences know all too well.
It’s presented in a colourful way and loaded with kooky ideas. And while budgetary constraints are apparent – particularly in the special effects – so is Mond’s madly inventive brainstorming, which approaches the superhero genre with refreshing ambition.
• For screening information about The Subjects, visit its website
