B-Movie Review: Supersonic Man (1979)

This week, I again return to inflicting pain upon myself by watching one of the worst films ever made.  To give it a bit of a break, Supersonic Man was made in the late 70s, so there were few good super hero movies to learn from.  But this flick is just so randomly bad that in the end I can not forgive whoever was responsible for its inception.  As far as being a horribly fun B-movie goes, Supersonic Man may be worth a watch to those that enjoy those sorts of things.  Just don’t expect much going in.

The basic story revolves around the titular SupersonicMan.  He is floating around in space, apparently asleep or something, when his alien boss wakes him up and sends him off to Earth to stop a madman from blowing everything up.  So off he goes, flying through space and striking all sorts of wonderfully super-heroic poses as he moves along.  Actually, it looks more like he was uncomfortable while filming and was maybe trying to keep his limbs from cramping up.  But whatever the reasons for Supersonic Man’s ridiculous flying habits, he eventually does make it to Earth and sets up shop there doing… something.  We never actually learn anything about the hero.

Most of the movie is spent jumping between the damsel in distress and the evil bad guy.  The baddie kidnaps the girl’s father because he’s some sort of genius (though apparently not smart enough to have avoided being in this movie) and then tries to capture her so he can use the daughter to get the genius to help him design evil technology.  But then Supersonic Man shows up and starts getting into everyone’s business (in addition to hooking up with the daughter).  In the end, Supersonic Man and his amazing moustache save the day from evil bad guy and his 1950s-designed robot with a flamethrower.

I can’t rightly say that this movie had any character development at all.  Lemme think about that one for a sec… Nope, none.  The titular character shows up when needed and uses whatever super powers he happens to need at the time.  From flying to lifting cardboard tractors to making things randomly explode or disappear, he can do it all.  It’s like the writers (and I use that term loosely) just left it up to the action coordinator to decide what powers would seem most interesting in any situation.  Top this crap sundae off with a truly horrific performance by everyone involved (particularly the evil bad guy) and you’ve got a movie that is virtually unwatchable.

If, after reading this, you have some strange urge to watch Supersonic Man, I strongly suggest that you do it with a buffer of comedy and order the Rifftrax version of the flick.  It may just be the one thing that keeps you sane.

Photo Credits -           

Supersonic Man courtesy of thegreatwhitedope.com