MYSTERY MEN

MYSTERY MEN. Kinka Usher, dir. Writing credits: Bob Burden (original Dark Horse comics), Neil Cuthbert. USA: Dark Horse Entertainment, Lawrence Gordon Productions (prod.) / Universal (dist.), 1999. Featured players include Hank Azaria, Claire Forlani, Janeane Garofalo, Greg Kinnear, William H. Macy, Paul Reubens, Geoffrey Rush, Ben Stiller, Tom Waits.

Sends up, among other things, the po-mo city mise-en-scène of such films as Tim Burton's BATMAN (film 1989) and Ridley Scott's BLADE RUNNER, including suggestions in the establishing shots of alternative-Earth technology (note esp. the lighter-than-air craft). See also for a battle truck—non lethal in this case—and the motif of the captured (super)hero, in a chair with high-tech equipment superimposed on him; their presence in this film is a good indication they have become clichés.