Special is a well-made movie. The visual style and performances work excellently to build characters and situations that we care about. Unfortunately, the filmmakers' overeagerness to create drama and catharsis undermine the premise of the film and strain suspension of disbelief beyond the breaking point. Michael Rappaport's mild- mannered schlub Les joins a clinical trial for an antidepressant. Shortly after beginning his dosage, he gains super powers. Or does he? Unfortunately, the film doesn't let the ambiguity linger: the first time he shows off his powers to his doctor, we see from an objective perspective that they're all in his head. The doctor instructs him to stop the dosage, while Les hears him "telepathically" encourage him to continue and enhance his powers. He dons a costume and sets out to fight crime, tackling random people and drawing attention from the police. While running from cops, he gets picked up by the two wealthy young sponsors of the drug, who tell him to stop taking it, since his adverse reaction could ruin their chances of marketing their product. And here is where the movie ceases to play by its own rules. The main source of dramatic tension is the contrast between Les' delusions of being super powered, and everyone else's recognition of his actual normalcy. A strong hook with a lot of potential. However, this dynamic depends on other people's reactions to Les being recognizable as the kind of thing a normal, sane person would do. But this is not the case. Firstly the villainous sponsors. After thousands of successful cases, one subject with side effects will destroy the marketability the drug? Rather than simply putting a warning label "0.01 % of users may experience hallucinations, paranoia," or bribing some bureaucrat, they seem to think the best way to deal with the Les problem is by bribing him, the guy they think is crazy, even after he stabs Jonas in the ear with a chopstick. They later try to beat him to death and run him over, as a plan B. Wholly unbelievable. After escaping his would be murderers, Les runs to his local convenience store and throws himself, bleeding and exhausted, at the mercy of the checkout clerk, whom he once tried to ask out. It turns out she has a severe stutter, which is why she didn't respond to him before. How could a woman with a prohibitive speech impediment hold a job where she has to talk to customers all the time? Then, telling her he "finished the bottle of pills," Les convinces her to let him stay the night in the store bathroom. Who in their right mind would let someone with severe head wounds and a possibly lethal drug overdose go to sleep, instead of going to the hospital? I understand why the filmmakers put these scenes in: so Les can overcome adversaries and engage in a sweet character moment. But they are simply too absurd to accept, and pulled me out of the story completely. The film is still worth watching, but could have been so much better if it simply committed to its premise and avoided the illogical melodrama.
Review of Special
