Set in a stylized version of the 1940's, a vigilante superhero with no powers (Chase Williamson) tells his crime-fighting story to a reporter, starting from his Bruce Wayne-like origin, to his brief team-up with female icon Lady Heavenly (Ashley Bell), to his current predicament of being railroaded by a psychotic preacher (William Katt). SPARKS is absolutely loathsome, soaking in a pool of utter misogyny and crass storytelling. It crams so much plot, murky details and vile towards women into a 90 minute running time that it keeps forgetting to actually have its heroes do, you know, heroic things. While am I harping so much on its treatment of its female characters? Because Christopher Folino's script frankly will make Mark Millar, Frank Miller, Alan Moore, and the DC Comics editorial staff blush. Let me lay it all out: Pregnant women are violently killed, the hero's grandmother is murdered by goons when his identity is revealed, Lady Heavenly later is raped and has her lower body mutilated off-screen, and then the titled character walks away from his partner/girlfriend in order to hook up with a shapeshifter (Marina Squerciati), who he gladly bumps and grinds with when she's transformed as his former flame and later pimps her out to anyone with $20. Blegh! Even if you're a sadist and tolerate this heinous material, you still have to sit through a ton of bad green screen shots, an Act Two that is completely pointless, and a mystery that is unreservedly easy to solve. Stay far, far away from this miserable mess if you know what's good to you.
FINAL REVIEW: 1 / 5
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