Matthew Blackheart: Monster Smasher

Though it nudges viewers in the ribs a little too often, this comic adventure picture is surprisingly imaginative and self-deprecatingly funny. At a 1999 comic book signing in Manhattan, Matthew Blackheat (Robert Bogue) takes exception to his biography, which was written by teenaged Jimmy (Jay Baruchel). Jimmy relies on flashbacks to Blackheart's super-savior past to justify his biographical flourishes. In 1944, FDR commissioned Dr. James Franken (Kenneth Welsh) to construct Blackheart from the bodies of dead heroes; the resulting monster smasher was to be America's secret weapon against the Nazis and whatever bogeymen the future held. After a series of preliminary v...