John F. Parker

Mark A. Lewis's tragic-comic adventure ILL FATED plunges the viewer into the boxed-in world of Jimmy, a small-town teen who seeks a better life but who sees dead-end signs at every turn out of town. His vague plan to leave and "look into college" is complicated by a revolving door of small-town complications - the demands of his lumpen best friends, his troubled girlfriend, his promiscuous stepmother and cuckolded stepfather. But the biggest complication of all is the return of his womanizing biological dad Earl, who'd fled in Jimmy's infancy after impregnating the wife of a violent convict (also his best friend). Earl's return is a catalyst to disaster, and a palette for director Lewis to paint a hyper-realist picture of small-town dystopia.

誰もが知っているアメコミのヒーローを巨費を投じて復活させた超娯楽作。素朴な田舎を背景に少年時代のスーパーマンを描いた、郷愁に満ちた序盤からデイリー・プラネットの記者として活躍する本編に入っても、暖かみを伴った面白さは一瞬たりとも揺らぐ事は無く、悪の天才レックス・ルーサーの陰謀を食い止めるクライマックスまで一気に見せきる。