Hero Tomorrow poster

 

A review by Robert Long II ©2010
Directed by Ted Sikora
Written by Milo Miller & Ted Sikora
Starring Perren Hedderson, Jocelyn Wrzosek, Shelley Delaney, Bryan Jalovec

Special Features include audio commentary, auditions, making-of, original trailer, and much more

With the recent release of such superhero movies as Kick Ass and Iron Man 2, this is a good time to do a review on the Ohio-lensed flick HERO TOMORROW. Interesting movie. It is kind of an art-house comedy/drama in my book. Have you ever watched an Albert Brooke’s movie? It has that flavor.

 

Hero Tomorrow main characters

Here’s the story. A young wannabe Cleveland comic book artist by the name of David (Perren Hedderson) is taking a straight nose-dive into loserville. This dread-locked groundskeeper is almost constantly stoned on weed; when he is not doing something irresponsible; he is working on his comic book character Apama. He describes it as a new sort of hybrid American Indian spirit animal like Wolverine, but nobody in the publishing field is biting. It probably doesn’t help his case that his comic book character looks like an escaped mental patient that has soiled his outfit.

His long-suffering girlfriend Robyn (Jocelyn Wrzosek) works at a comic book store called Hero Tomorrow. Besides being incredibly knowledgeable about all things graphic novel related, she is also an aspiring fashion designer. With an upcoming Halloween party coming up, she presents David with a costume based on his comic book character. This only furthers his descent into madness as he dons the uniform and actually starts to believe he is Apama. How many ways can we recount that this is not a GOOD thing?

Vamp

True to form, David as Apama TRIES to do heroic feats, but they just end up in disaster. He patrols his neighborhood but comes across as a peeping tom stalker. He tries to help a damsel in distress but finds he cannot change out of his secret identity fast enough. He attempts to go out in the woods as his character and become one with nature – with disastrous results. And at one point, Apama punches out an animated squid. Yes, you heard me right.

 

Ok Corral

So this all leads up to the ending which I cannot tell you – the readers about – without spoiling it. I can tell you this much; there is a fairly cool twist at the last battle, and the end is different from what folks may be expecting. What I took away from this film is that nothing is ever strictly black or white – there is a lot of gray area for all the characters involved. There were no true heroes, nor any true villains.  What is a breath of fresh air is the final message to it all; sometimes you have to let go of your dreams and come back to cold reality.

Perron Hedderson

 

As I said this movie reminds me of an Albert Brook’s comedy.  It has some hilarious bits to it (the scene in the comic shop during the end credits is incredible), and it has some parts where you want to pause the DVD and reach into the screen and have an intervention with the character of David.  Not a perfect movie, but it hits more often than it misses. It is a well shot film with solid acting and excellent production values. Seek it out.

 RATING: 7.5 out of 10 superhero comics

For more information on the movie and to order your own copy of the DVD, click on the image below to go to Hero Tomorrow’s Official Site:

 

HT website